Brett Cullum - Page 10

I realize part of the fun of THE SECRETARY is it never comes down heavily on one side or the other on the gun debate, but that also means I sat there frustrated as I felt there was little point to whipping out pistols and taking on issues.

It is perversely funny, profane at many points, but in the end shows huge heart and calls for the virtue of love and service to your fellow man. It's not exactly a family-friendly show, but it is one your 16 year-old son would prefer to see over THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

This is an irreverent retelling with no apologies about what it is doing.  The performers know this, and camp it up to the level of… well… that drag queen who hosts the whole thing.

The common themes seem to be 4am, animals and their instincts, an obsession with INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, and lots of introspective angst about miscommunication.

Technically the effects still work, and I watched as the shocked younger members of the audience witnessed practical effects to contrast all the CGI they had grown up on. PHANTOM OF THE OPERA still has the same magic three decades later.

It's basically THE SOUND OF MUSIC set in a cabin and good fun for the entire family! Well…. Addams Family perhaps.

In a way it is like watching a heady special episode of CHEERS set in London in the early 1620s. It seems like a place where everybody would know your name, and in the case of Will they did.

THE MOORS seeks to say something about the visibility and state of women today through the lens of satirizing Victorian era romantic literature like JANE EYRE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, or THE WOMAN IN WHITE. I am not sure it wholly achieves what it sets out to do, but it certainly has a lot of fun along the way.

Originally conceived by playwright Young Jean Lee, it was performed as spoken word broken up by punk rock songs about pain and death. Somehow performer Alli Villines has turned it into a ukulele folk festival! But I ask dear reader, what could be more punk rock than a collection of named ukuleles played without an ounce of irony whatsoever?

This is an intense drama exploring the depths of a man who feels ostracized by a group that is already shunned by society. It's a play about loneliness and deathwishes that spiral out of control.

OLEANNA demands to be seen again, and The Landing Theatre Company has just the right chops to bring it to life at 14 Pews. It feeds off the intimate space, and they have found two actors who have the energy to deliver the message at the right pitch to make the audience squirm.

Ambition, love, why we do the things we do, all of these topics get drawn out into the ether between the jokes and name-dropping. It's a deep piece despite it just being a rave and rant about a famous lady who hoards her stuff.

This iteration of the Tamarie Cooper Show explores the leading lady's emotional baggage, battle against minor depression, and all of the discarded bad ideas that the troop has come up with when they were in line at 4am at Taco Bell. In other words, business as usual for Tamarie and her cast of usual suspects.

In this age of whiz bang computer generated spectacles like STAR WARS or the AVENGERS, it's nice to sit down and take science fiction back to its roots. REPLICA aims at the human condition, and recreates it a little too perfectly to make anybody comfortable. 

There is no other company in Houston that is better equipped to handle his material, and this production cements that with ease. It is presented with a casual decadence that perfectly captures the world of the black American musician during this time.

The play presents an interesting dilemma - what if genetic testing advanced enough that you could tell your baby was going to be gay? Would a straight couple still be willing to have it?

THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR is a fluffy piece, but has real bite when we look across at our current state of political officials. It almost hurts to laugh so hard at the Russians.

It's not a reinvention, but a celebration of the classical musical that delivers familiar songs and themes. It is well worth coming to this CABARET where indeed… life is beautiful.

EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK is a lovely portrait of what family means in the face of the unthinkable. It's a positive and affirming show that taps something anybody can relate to, the need for your family to understand exactly what you are facing.

DARK MATTER is a complex show that requires the audience make connections for themselves. It is challenging theatre presented by passionate artists who find ways to keep it light enough to be entertaining.