LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, Zilker Productions, July 12 - August 17, 2013

[performing at the Sheffield outdoor amphitheatre, Zilker Park - click for map]

presents

Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman * Music by Alan Menken
Based on the film by Roger Corman, Screenplay by Charles Griffith

July 12 - August 17

Thursdays - Sundays
Approx. 8:30 p.m.

Beverly S. Sheffield Hillside Theatre in Zilker Park

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

Meet the Cast:

Seymore - Andrew Cannata

Audrey - Taylor Bryant

Mr. Mushnick - Leslie Hethcox

Orin - Tyler Jones

Trio - Coty Ross, Kelly Petlin, Celeste Castillo

Voice of Audrey II - Roderick Sanford

Dancer/Ensemble - Tyler Cullen

Dancer/Ensemble - Rebecca Seferian

Meet the Production Team:

Director - M. Scott Tatum

Assistant Director/Choreographer - Courtney Wissinger

Music Director - John Vander Gheynst

Vocal Director - Molly Wissinger

Artistic Director - Melinda Parr

Set Designer/Technical Director - Aaron Stahlecker

Lighting Designer - Jason Amato

Assistant Lighting Designer/Master Electrician - Patrick W. Anthony

Costume Designer - Carl Booker

Prop Designer - Shannon Richey

Sound Designer - Sam Kokajko

Assistant Technical Director - Ben Shave

Production Stage Manager - Lisa Goering

Deck Manager - Craig Barron

Assistant Deck Manager - Taylor

Assistant Stage Manager - Rae Wyman

Executive Producer - Melinda Parr

Producer - Peter Beilharz

Producer - Austin Sheffield

Producer - Eric Brown

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

A MINISTER'S WIFE, Penfold Theatre at Trinity Street Theatre, March 28 - April 14, 2013,

presents

A Minister's Wife

Music by Joshua Schmidt, lyrics by Jan Levy Tranen, and book by Austin Pendleton
Directed by Michael McKelvey
Featuring Jill Blackwood, Andrew Cannata, Amy Downing, Greg Holt and Nathan Jerkins

March 28 - April 14, 2013
Playing at Trinity Street Theatre, 4th floor of First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity Street, Austin

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm. Sundays at 5:00pm.
Opening night party following the show on Thursday, March 28th.
$25 Opening night, $20 Regular, $18 Students, $18 Seniors (age 60+).


For more information, email us at info@penfoldtheatre.org or dial (512) 850-4849. On performance days, we are available by phone from 1pm to the start of the performance.

In this regional premiere of a new American musical, George Bernard Shaw's riveting drama, Candida, is given an innovative and emotive score by the award-winning composers of Adding Machine. The piece whisks us away to 1890's London to experience the love triangle between the charismatic Reverend James Morell, his strong-willed and beautiful wife Candida, and the idealistic young poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who aims to win Candida's love.

In this regional premiere of a new American musical, George Bernard Shaw's riveting drama, Candida, is given an innovative and emotive score by the award-winning composers of Adding Machine. The piece whisks us away to 1890's London to experience the love triangle between the charismatic Reverend James Morell, his strong-willed and beautiful wife Candida, and the idealistic young poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who aims to win Candida's love.

Running time: About 1 hour 35 minutes, without intermission.

Recommended for ages high school and up.

In the news

"The most important new musical since The Light in the Piazza. To say that you mustn't miss it is to grossly understate the case." -The Wall Street Journal

Sponsors This production would not be possible without support from the City of Austin, the Creative Fund and Dramatists.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Ragtime, Zach Theatre, October 17 - November 18

by Michael Meigs

The Zach's Ragtime is a huge -- I mean HUGE -- and lavish production, inaugurating its state-of-the-art 425-seat Topfer theatre. The flair, finish and finesse of this production are simply breath-taking.


Ragtime is a fable of a faraway America, one that existed at the very opening of the twentieth century. In his 1975 novel E.L. Doctorow imagined a tangled story involving a prosperous bourgeois family in New Rochelle, an unmarried African-American couple and their child, and an impoverished Jewish immigrant peddler and his young daughter in the New York slums.


The story is told in an amusing faux-historical narrative with cameos by real figures notable and notorious, ranging from escape artist Harry Houdini to Henry Ford to polar explorer Robert Peary to Evelyn Nesbit, infamous in the love triangle that led to the murder of architect Stanford White.


Miloš Forman turned Ragtime into a 1981 film featuring Randy Newman's clever and gently nostalgic score. Although the story is set principally in a small town upstate and in New York City, somewhat ironically the 1996 musical was underwritten by Canadian empresario Garth Drabinsky and first produced in Toronto. The music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens sweep the audience away.


Ragtime is a dream epic, a late twentieth-century imagining of how it should have been possible to overcome the differences between races and ethnic groups. It's imbued with an optimism of America's possibilities, even as it depicts setbacks.


While the wealthy owner of a fireworks factory is away on a polar expedition, his wife discovers an abandoned black newborn child in the garden. She takes it in along with Sarah, its despondent mother; professional musician Coalhouse Walker, Jr., drives up from Harlem every week, trying to speak to Sarah, and the family accepts him. The courteous and well-dressed outsider even becomes a music tutor to Edgar, the son. In an unfortunate encounter, white thugs beat Coalhouse and trash his automobile. Police and courts deny him justice; police brutality causes a death; Coalhouse and his armed followers occupy the J.P. Morgan library in New York City. Conflicts are sharp; dilemmas are insoluble. The New Rochelle family becomes involved and members learn different, difficult lessons.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: A Marvelous Party fundraiser, Penfold Theatre at Kindred Oaks, Georgetown, June 3

throws its second annual fundraising gala

A Marvelous Party 

in the heart of the Texas Hill Country
scenic background, fine dining and live music by local favorites
June 3rd at the beautiful Kindred Oaks estate in Hill Country

Guests will enjoy an elegant meal while live performers serve up melodic treats from the golden age of musical theatre. Music-lovers familiar with classics like "It's Only a Paper Moon," "Luck be a Lady," and "Love Walked In" will be delighted by this sampling of songs from composers like Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and the Gershwins. The evening will also include a live and silent auction to support Penfold's efforts to bring professional theatre performances and education programs to north Travis and Williamson counties.

The night's crooners include Robert Faires of the Austin Chronicle, as well as artists from recent Penfold productions including Andrew Cannata, Amy Downing, Jill Leberknight, Michael McKelvey and many more. At the helm will be director Adam Roberts, who was recently named Artistic Director of Theatre at the J.

A Marvelous Party! compiled and directed by Adam Roberts.
Featuring Katie Blacksmith, Andrew Cannata, Ryan Crowder, Sarah Marie Curry, Amy Downing, Robert Faires, Stephen Jack, Nathan Jerkins, Jill Leberknight, Michael McKelvey, Andrea Smith and Haley Smith.

 
Held at Kindred Oaks, 2100 C.R. 176, Georgetown TX 78628.
Sunday, June 3rd, doors open at 6:30pm and dinner begins at 7:00pm.
Dinner is catered by Bowties 2 Blue Jeans.
Reservations may be made at (512) 850-4849 or online at www.penfoldtheatre.org.

ABOUT PENFOLD THEATRE COMPANY   Penfold Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to opening and operating a professional theatre for north Travis and Williamson counties. Following three years of award-winning programming that has made a pioneering impact on arts in the north, 2011-12 has been Penfold’s most ambitious season to date. The line-up includes a mix of classic and modern favorites: Servant of Two Masters (August 2011), Ghosts (October 2011), It's a Wonderful Life: a live radio show (December 2011) and The Pavilion (April 2012).

Next to Normal, Zach Theatre, January 25 - March 4

Zach's staging of the Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey work Next to Normal is stunning -- but not in the usual reviewer-speak meaning of the word. The intensity of the emotion, the huge volume of sound, the zig-zag of florescent lighting on the back walls of the set and above all the pitiless focus upon the mental illness of a suburban wife and mother -- all of these foster a numbness of mind that leaves you feeling as if you had swallowed a 200 mg capsule of Thorazine at the opening of the show.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. It shows that the Zach succeeds in setting the opera's message deep into the brain,down there where the limbic system controls emotion, memory and cognition. For a musical work about grief, disorientation and pharmacology, that's exactly the intention.

The Pulitzer committee that awarded the New York production of Next to Normal the drama prize for 2010 called it "a powerful rock musical . . . . that expands the scope of subject matter for musicals." My experience of the Zach production -- my trip along with housewife Diana and her family into her hell -- left me feeling that "rock musical" was an inadequate term for the evening. It isn't "rock" in the Elvis Presley sense or even the Pink Floyd sense, and although it was told almost entirely in sound and song, one couldn't really classify it as corresponding to most of the conventions of most American musical theatre. The score and story are complex and contemporary, all too relevant to our American experience. Let's be frank: let's call it a contemporary opera, even though that designation might be a drag at the box office.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Footloose, Zilker Productions at Sheffield Hillside Theatre, Zilker Park, July 8 - August 13

by Michael Meigs

I attended Zilker Theatre Production's Footloose ten days ago on opening weekend, and I'm only just now writing it up. They've got a nice long run -- six weeks, four night a week -- and an Austin tradition of celebrating the summer that stretches back 53 years. Judging from the full parking lot and the large, cheerful crowd lounging on the slope above the Hillside Theatre, Zilker Productions doesn't need much help in selling the production, either. Except for the modest $3 parking fee that probably serves to renovate the Zilker lawn after the summer, the price is zero, nada, free admission for summer theatre entertainment of good quality under the moon and stars.

After all, in classic economic theory, as the price of a good approaches zero, demand approaches infinity. If you were really determined to do so, you could attend this show for nothing at all -- bicycling or walking in and not budging at the intermission when the energetic young cast bounds out to seek donations (suggested: $10 per blanket).

Plus, they will get their reviews. For last year's production of The Music Man, both Elizabeth Cobbe of the Austin Chronicle and Clare Carnavan of the Statesman wrote up the production about halfway through the run.

Male lead Andrew Cannata with his confident tenor, sure dancing and leading boy presence has an admiring following in Austin and will become even better known with this show. He and the core cast of teens rock and clown it up with the showy choreography of Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique. The live band led by Susan Finnigan rocks it out through the muscular sound system, initially from backstage and then later at stage center.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, State Theatre, August 17 - 28

Found on-line:

Georgetown Palace Theatre

remounts

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

at the State Theatre, 719 Congress Avenue (click for map)

August 17 - 28, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Following its hit run in Georgetown, the Georgetown Palace Theatre will remount its production of the Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for a two weekend staging at Austin's newly reopened State Theatre. The production runs August 18th through 28th.

Click to read the ALT review of the original production, April, 2011, at the Georgetown Palace.

Based on the 1988 movie of the same name and written by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning, the Broadway musical features music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Jeffrey Lane. The story follows two competing con men living on the French Riviera.

After meeting on a train, they attempt to work together - only to find that the small French town isn't big enough for both of them. The duo settle on a winner-take-all wager over the fortunes of a naïve American soap heiress - the first one to "clean her out" can make the other clear out and keep the Riviera and its unsuspecting tourists to himself.

Palace Theatre production stars Joe Penrod, Andrew Cannata, Patty Rowell, Michelle Cheney and Rick Felkins will recreate their roles for the remounted production. Mary Ellen Butler will again direct, with musical direction by Cliff Butler and choreographed by Danny

Herman and Rocker Verastique.

Performances will run Thursday and Friday evenings at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. A discounted preview will be offered on Thursday, August 17th.

Tickets will be available online, beginning the middle of July, by phone at (512) 474-1221, online at www.AustinTheatre.org, and in person at the State Theater box office. The State Theatre is located at 713 Congress Avenue, next door to the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin.

(Photos courtesy Palace Theatre, from top:

- Michelle Cheney

- Joe Penrod and Andrew Cannata)

Upcoming: Footloose, Zilker Productions at Hillside Theatre, Zilker Park, July 8 - August 13

Found on-line:

Zilker Productions

presents

FOOTLOOSE: THE MUSICAL

July 8 - August 13, Thursdays-Sundays at dusk (about 8:30 p.m.)
Beverly S. Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theater
located in Zilker Park across from Barton Springs Pool (click for theatre info and map)
Admission: FREE! [parking: $3/car]

Dancing is not a crime!

When Ren and his mother move from Chicago to a small farming town, he is prepared for the inevitable adjustment period at his new high school. But, what he isn't prepared for is the town's ban on dancing... instituted by the local preacher. When the reverend's rebellious daughter sets her sights on Ren, her roughneck boyfriend tries to sabotage Ren's reputation, and many of the locals are more than eager to believe the worst about the new kid.

The heartfelt story that emerges centers on a father longing for the son he lost, a young man aching for the father who walked out on him, and celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people... with a warm heart and an open mind.

Footloose: The Musical boasts a Tony-nominated score augmented with the rockin' rhythms of the hit songs from the movie, including:

Almost Paradise
Holding Out For A Hero
Let's Hear It For The Boy
and the title song... Footloose!

Click for cast information at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

I Love You Because, Penfold Theatre, June 9 - 26

by Michael Meigs

Michael McKelvey set up his collaboration with Penfold Theatre and Andrew Cannata six months or more in advance, long before the announcement that he will be leaving Austin for Pennsylvania this coming fall.

Remembering their previous successes Five Years and Three Days of Rain, I arranged specially to return early from a family celebration in Houston in order to catch the show on Sunday, June 19. When we turned up at the Hyde Park Theatre, we discovered the show had had a success beyond administrative expectations: we and many others received no programs for the production.

That was an inconvenience for a journalist but it probably made little difference to the crowd. I Love You Because was a cheerful, cute and ironical-sentimental-comedic-up-tempo-muscial on a shoestring, the perfect "date movie" -- but even better, because it was live theatre.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I Love You Because, musical by Penfold Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, June 9 - 26

Found on-line:

presents

I Love You Because

Music by Joshua Salzman and book/lyrics by Ryan Cunningham
Directed by Michael McKelvey
Romantic musical comedy, Texas premiere

June 9 - 26

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm. Sundays at 5 pm.

at the Hyde Park Theatre, 411. W. 43rd St. at Guadalupe (click for map)

An opening night celebration will follow the show on June 9th.

Running time: About 2 hours, with one intermission. Family rating: PG-13 , 2011

For more information, call (512) 850-4849 or email info@penfoldtheatre.org.

A modern-day musical love story. Set in New York City, this sweet and quirky romantic comedy follows Austin Bennet, a young greeting card writer, whose life is turned upside down when he finds his girlfriend with another man. Forced back out into the treacherous urban dating scene, Austin meets Marcy, whose spontaneity is matched only by her ability to drive him insane. I Love You Because explores the bewildering rules and nuances of dating and reminds us that true romance is learning how to love someone, not in spite of their differences, but because of them.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Georgetown Palace, April 1 - May 1

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is set in a mythic French Riviera, a delirious paradise that seems to be populated only by rich Americans, a couple of rival American con artists, and one charmingly corrupt French police chief. It's a concept that would make the French laugh out loud. Not that they don't have their own share of nutty cinematic visions, including le vieux Far West, but because this is Cannes as the returned GIs imagined it. Or Monte Carlo as described by Ian Fleming.

This story started out as the 1964 film Bedtime Story with David Niven as Lawrence, the urbane seducer who fooled American heiresses with his false identity as a displaced royal from eastern Europe, and with Marlon Brando as a younger hustler. Brando was willing to take Niven's tutelage, then competed with him in a bet to seduce a vulnerable looking sweet thing. The 1988 remake by Frank Oz Dirty Rotten Scoundrels featured Michael Caine and Steve Martin and followed the same lines. In 2005 Lane and Yazbek turned it into a musical with John Lithgow as the more sophisticated seducer. Oh, and that's not all -- back in 2008, Hollywood actor-writer-director Steve Pink announced that he was developing a treatment with MGM for a new version. That one may come out in 2012. The scoundrels will presumably be using i-Phones, tweeting and all that.

Why keep running this tale again and again?

Because it's an American male fantasy, for one thing -- living without a care, adored for one's sophistication, looks and title, enjoying wine, women and song, the decadent best of exotic Old Europe. Plus the fact that we enjoy seeing lightweight cons succeed, thanks to their wits, and we like it even more when the pair of rascals duel with one anonther.

The publicity and the poster label Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as being "for MATURE audiences," but those are code words for the fact that there will be some sexual innuendos and bathroom jokes that will make you giggle. The music keeps it lively and there's a movie-style twist and comeuppance at the end.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Company by Stephen Sondheim, Doctuh Mistah Productions at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre, December 15 - 19

Received directly:

Doctuh Mistuh Productions announces the one-week run of

Stephen Sondheim’s

COMPANY

to benefit the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Austin

Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 Manor Rd., Austin, TX

Wednesday, December 15^th-Sunday, December 19^th, 2010

All shows will be at 8 p.m. There will be two performances on Saturday, December 18^th at 2:00pm & 8:00pm.

Ticket Prices: $10-$25. Admission for our “soft opening” on Wednesday, December 15^th will be $10 for all seats with advance reservations. There will be a special Gala Performance on Sunday, December 19^th, which will feature a reception and silent auction.

Reservations: (512) 339-4934 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (512) 339-4934 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Following up on its heralded production of EVIL DEAD, THE MUSICAL, Doctuh Mistuh Productions will be mounting Sondheim’s landmark musical COMPANY this coming December. Proceeds from the 6 (SIX) PERFORMANCE RUN will go to benefit the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Austin.

The award-winning cast includes Sara Burke, Andrew Cannata, Sarah Marie Curry, Libby Dees, Amy Downing, Kirk German, Joe Hartman, Leslie Hollingsworth, Jarret Mallon, Michael Muenchow, David Ponton, Laura Powell, Lindsey Priour, Chris Skillern, Haley Smith, Courtney Wissinger, and Molly Wissinger.

The production staff is comprised of Michael McKelvey (Stage & Musical Director), Joe Carpenter (Set Designer), Scott Tatum (Lighting Designer) and Courtney Wissinger-Eiland (Choreographer).

ABOUT COMPANY: COMPANY premiered in 1970 at the Alvin Theatre under the direction of the famed Harold Prince. The book was by George Furth with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The cast was headed by Dean Jones, Donna McKechnie, Elaine Stritch, and Charles Kimbrough. COMPANY has been revived numerous times around the globe and the original production won six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Lyrics.

Unlike most book musicals, which follow a clearly delineated plot, Company is a concept musical composed of short vignettes, presented in no particular chronological order, linked by a celebration for Bobby's 35th birthday. Robert seems to have it all except a wife. Throughout the show we meet his friends and former lovers all while Robert weighs the pros and cons of married life.

Company was among the first musicals to deal with adult problems through its music. As Sondheim put it, "Company does deal with upper middle-class people with upper middle-class problems. Broadway theater has been for many years supported by those people. They really want to escape, and here we're saying we'll bring it right back in their faces ... what they came to a musical to avoid, they suddenly find facing them on the stage."

ABOUT THE BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF AUSTIN:

The Breast Cancer Resource Center is a non-profit, grassroots organization created by breast cancer survivors in 1995. The six Certified Patient Navigator locations help women who are battling breast cancer as well as their families, friends, spouses, and partners. They are there to answer any questions or concerns you or those close to you may have about the process. Their ultimate goal is build a support system for women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer. To find out how to donate or volunteer visit http://www.bcrc.org.

Ongoing: Rent, Zach Theatre, September 16 - November 28

UPDATE, October 10 from www.thefoodiegirls.com: Sensational news is that Foodie Girl Verity Branco has stepped up in the lead role - playing Mimi - in the hit musical, RENT!

Click for ALT review, September 24

UPDATE: Click on 'Read more' to view "Mark's Actual Movie: Zach's Rent Post Show," posted September 28 (4min 45sec)

UPDATE: Zach posts cast headshots and bios, September 8

UPDATE: Review by Nick Mannix for AustinOnStage.com, September 18

UPDATE: Review by Cate Blouke for the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, September 23

Found on-line:

presents

Rent

September 16 - November 28
Kleberg Stage, 1421 Riverside Drive at Lamar

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets range from $20 to $57. $15 tickets are available to students starting one hour prior to curtain time. Charge tickets by phone at 512-476-0541, ext. 1 or visit http://www.zachtheatre.org.

Book, Music & Lyrics by Jonathan Larson | Directed by Dave Steakley | Musical Direction by Allen Robertson
A
Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of New York City bohemia when ZACH transports you to the lively East Village where performance artists, musicians, and hipsters of all persuasions band together to revolt against convention. The artist squatters have taken over the theatre and have created an environment in which you are fully surrounded by Austin’s finest rock vocalists and musicians and visual artists’ creative expressions of sculptural whimsy. And when Mimi locks eyes with Roger, and Angel spies Colin, and Maureen tugs at Joanne this rock opera ignites sparks of love that redefine what family can be. Viva la vie boheme!

Read more and view videos at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Rent, Zach Theatre, September 16 - October 31

Rent is the sort of production the Zach theatre uses to pay the rent: the staging of a familiar rock and roll work with appeal for the young, for the young professionals, for the creatives and for the club goers. Seen as daring at its 1996 debut, Rent has become sufficiently mainstream that it can be staged in community theatres, summer theatres, and, this past February, even by the kidsActing studio here in Austin.

Director Dave Steakley gets a powerhouse performance from a cast consisting redundantly of "local Austin artists."

You just can't help being seduced by the spotlight numbers in this show: winsome Andrew Cannata and Kristen Bennett doing the wickedly funny Tango Maureen, the irrepressibly strutting Joshua Denning as Angel the drag queen extraordinaire in the damn-your-eyes-love-me glitzy Today 4 U (Tomorrow 4 Me), and Ginger Leigh's leering, laughing physicality in the trippy story about the cow that jumped Over the Moon.

Multi-talented Jonathan Larson did book, music and lyrics for a story that he based loosely on Puccini's La Bohème, the elegantly sentimental 1896 opera portraying a bunch of down and art artists in Paris and the doomed romance between a writer and Mimi, the street waif who dies of tuberculosis in the last act.

Puccini's work has been called the most popular opera of all time, and Larson's use of it is a savagely ironic premise. No doubt all those affluent parents in Scarsdale and similar well-trimmed suburbs (West Lake Hills, for example, or Lakeway) had the cash and leisure to buy opera tickets, as their neglected children grew up unguided and then slipped off to the grim-smeared once-upon-a-time low-rent districts of the Bowery.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: John and Jen concert, Friar Tuck's, Round Rock, March 6

Found on line:

John & Jen in Concert
in Round Rock
March 6, 7:30 p.m.
Friar Tuck's Pantry, 204 East Main Street
[map it! with Mapquest]
Tickets $15.00

Info Line (512) 850-4849
Penfold Theatre website

Penfold's acclaimed production of John & Jen will be presented in concert March 6 in downtown Round Rock. John & Jen takes audiences on a musical journey from the mid-50s to mid-90s, exploring the relationships between brothers and sisters and parents and children during four decades of change.

Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be provided and are included in the ticket price.

*Read more and view image at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

John and Jen, Penfold Theatre at the Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Working with Michael McKelvey of St. Edward's University, the budding Penfold Theatre has occupied relatively unexploited theatre territory in Austin: the contemporary intimate musical. John & Jen has a genre resemblance to their pioneer show The Last Five Years. Two actors in an intimate space, with most of the story told in song. On his website, composer Andrew Lippa calls it a "chamber musical."

The music is scored for keyboard, cello and percussion. That ensemble constituted by Steve Saugey, Jeanette Cannata and Trevor Detling remains unseen. Their melodic, jumpy, at times yearning lines establish the moods that carry the action, while the actors' voices are primary throughout. MTI, the firm that licenses the rights, offers you at its website a sampler of 30-second nuggets from the principal numbers.

The unnamed singers in those samples have a considerable amount of Broadway smarm in their voices, that vocal attitude that suggests look at me, I'm so cute/adorable/funny/talented.

Sarah Gay and Andrew Cannata don't have that prissy attitude, because they don't need to. In Penfold's John & Jen they are, instead, projecting the title characters. All three of them.

Read more and view image at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Arts Reporting: Andrew Cannata Profiled by Michael Barnes

The Statesman's Michael Barnes profiles Andrew Cannata, who opens this week in John and Jen by Penfold Theatre, in Barnes' "Out and About" social blog:

That Voice: the Arrival of Andrew Cannata
by Michael Barnes, January 31, 2010

Within the relatively cozy world of Austin musical theater, a male voice like Andrew Cannata’s comes along once in a generation or so. Joe York’s warm, booming baritone made its first mark in the 1980s. Stephen Michael Miller’s delicate tenor glided onto the scene in the 1990s.

Cannata, 23, a recent graduate of St. Edward’s University, impressed Zilker Summer Musical audiences as a junior TV writer in “My Favorite Year,” amused Zach crowds playing a Boy Scout perfectionist in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” He also scored major roles in “Parade,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “On the Town.”

Yet it was his performance last season as the romantic lead in the classic musical, “The Pajama Game,” that elicited unprecedented raves and an Austin Critics Table nomination for Outstanding Singer. Under the tutelage of music and stage director Michael McKelvey, Cannata has smoothed out the breaks in his blooming tenor and has relaxed into a natural acting style.”

announcement: John and Jen by Penfold Theatre at the Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Read full text at Barnes' "Out and About" blog for the Statesman . . . .

Images: John and Jen, Penfold Theatre at Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Click for ALT review, February 8




UPDATE: Click for Michael Lee's interview with Michael McKelvey on KUT's "Arts Eclectic," with music from the production (2 min.)

Images received directly from






from its fourth production,
at the Hideout Theatre:

john & jen

directed by Michael McKelvey
with music by Andrew Lippa and lyrics by Tom Greenwald
February 4 – 21. Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m, Sundays at 5 p.m.

john & jen takes audiences on a forty year journey from the mid-50s to mid-90s, exploring the relationships between brothers and sisters, and parents and children, during four decades of change. With a cast of only two persons, john & jen is a tour-de-force for two actors who take Jen and John from childhood, through adolescence and beyond.

Featuring Sarah Gay and Andrew Cannata. Artistic team includes David Utley (sets), Glenda Barnes (costumes), Steve Saugey (piano) and Trevor Detling (percussion).

Penfold theatre at the Hideout Coffee House & Theatre, 617 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701.

Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Students, Seniors and Groups; $10 Student Rush. Buy tickets online or through www.penfoldtheatre.com or call (800) 838-3006.

Upcoming: John and Jen, Penfold Theatre at Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Click for ALT review, February 8



UPDATE: Unsigned review at AustinOnStage.com, February 8

UPDATE: Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin at Statesman A360 "Seeing Things" blog, February 8

UPDATE: Click for Michael Lee's interview with Michael McKelvey on KUT's "Arts Eclectic," with music from the production (2 min.)

Received directly:






stages its fourth production at the Hideout Theatre:

john & jen

directed by Michael McKelvey
with music by Andrew Lippa and lyrics by Tom Greenwald
February 4 – 21. Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m, Sundays at 5 p.m.

john & jen takes audiences on a forty year journey from the mid-50s to mid-90s, exploring the relationships between brothers and sisters, and parents and children, during four decades of change. With a cast of only two persons, john & jen is a tour-de-force for two actors who take Jen and John from childhood, through adolescence and beyond.

Featuring Sarah Gay and Andrew Cannata. Artistic team includes David Utley (sets), Glenda Barnes (costumes), Steve Saugey (piano) and Trevor Detling (percussion).

Penfold theatre at the Hideout Coffee House & Theatre, 617 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701.
Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Students, Seniors and Groups; $10 Student Rush. Buy tickets online at www.penfoldtheatre.com or call (800) 838-3006.

The production features some of Austin's brightest musical theatre talent: Andrew Cannata (The Pajama Game, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sarah Gay (Grapes of Wrath, The Cherry Orchard) and stage/music director Michael McKelvey (Evil Dead, Sweeney Todd, The Last Five Years).

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Penfold Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to opening and operating a professional theatre in the north Austin metro area. It is the first professional theatre specifically dedicated to serving the over 350,000 residents in north Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Georgetown and Leander. In addition to its mainstage productions, Penfold offers a variety of education and outreach programs. For more information, visit www.penfoldtheatre.org.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Zach Scott Theatre, September 17 - October 25

UPDATE: Zach Theatre will hold over The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee through November 8





This show is a charmer. It has the zing of a small scale musical, the familiarity of all those school auditoriums you endured while growing up, the uncertainties of a tournament, the highs of competition, the quips and laughs of improv comedy, and -- unexpectedly -- a second act that resonates with drama and tenderness.

Michael Raiford's set is bright, functional and simple, using the Kleberg Stage's thrust stage as a "cafetorium" in an anonymous middle school in the equally anonymous Putnam County. The unobtrusive background music dates back mostly to the 50's and 60's. Musicians are tucked back in the center alcove and the stage is provided with the appropriately sparse furnishing of folding tables and folding chairs.

The lights don't go down when the show starts. Instead, Jill Blackwood as Rona Lisa Peretti strides around with her impossibly angelic smile and authoritatively friendly manner, speaking in turn to various sections of the audience. We are part of this spectacle. This is a spelling bee finale and we are the friends, family and supporters of a collection of six bright or simply lucky kids. They all have the smarts or at least the unusual mental wiring to be spelling whizzes.

Yes, in the first half of the show four or five audience members will be recruited as contestants to sit with the kids and spell against them. But don't worry -- they've volunteered for the job. You won't be pulled out of your seat and into the spotlight without your consent. Jill Blackwood gives a chirpy introduction each time a speller comes forward and the audience volunteers are subjected to some gentle razzing ("Bill is devoted to the concept that casual Fridays really should be casual!").

Read more and see video at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .