UPDATE: Review by Javier Sanchez at the Daily Texan online, November 12 UPDATE: Review by Dan Solomon at Austinist.com, November 12
UPDATE: Review by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com/Austin, November 12
UPDATE: Opening from Brian Paul Scipione's feature story in the November, 2009 edition of INSITE magazine:
Benjamin Wright had never written a play before so he took the world’s best advice on, well, the world’s best advice on just about everything, K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
He took on the world’s classic struggle: good versus evil and approached it from theater’s most classic format: the melodrama. He utilized classic haracterizations, the Snidely Whiplash and Dudley Do Right archetypes of cops and robbers and added some alluringcowgirls and thus Lonestar, Texas: A Popcorn Throwing Rock Country Musical was born. It debuted at his alma mater, University of California at Los Angeles five years ago when he was still an undergrad.
“A lot of people came,” Wright tells us, “and threw a lot of popcorn.” Normally, projectiles are the last things a neophyte playwright wants hurled at his debut. Certainly praise is preferable but as anyone who’s read the title of this article can tell, this performance is designed for popcorn throwing. And yet, while the advent of castingfood pellets at the cast was considered a success for five years, Wright is upping the stakes. “For an audience in Austin, we needed higher standards.”
Strike the musical vamp, dim the lights, hold your breath, and cue the Vestige Group.
(click to download November, 2009 issue of INSITE magazine -- 5.75 MB)
UPDATE: Lisa Scheps of KOOP-FM interview Benjamin Wright, Susie Gidseg and Jonathan Terrel for her program "Off Stage and On The Air," October 26
UPDATE: A song from Lonestar: A Woman in Need, posted October 23
Received directly:
The Vestige Group presents
Lonestar, Texas: A Popcorn Throwing Rock Country Musical
Book, Music and Lyrics by Vestige company member Benjamin Wright
Directed by Susie Gidseg and Jen Brown
Friday, November 6- Saturday, November 21
Runs Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 pm at The United States Art Authority
Ages 21 and up only. Street parking only.
In a Snidely Whiplash/Dudley Do Right story that takes place in a Texan trailer park town, we meet a lecherous Texas Ranger who turns out not to be so rangerly. We meet a misunderstood youth just trying to escape his life in Lonestar. Let's not forget the damsel in distress and a whole mob of sexy cowgirls.
Lonestar, Texas: A Popcorn Throwing Rock Country Musical is a whimsical tale about the dark and depraved places one will go when forced to survive in the confines of a decaying small town. We'll leave the judgments of good and evil up to the audience who will be fully armed with beer and popcorn. So, saddle up for a rockin' trip to Lonestar, Texas.
Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .
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