Lend Me A Tenor by Ken Ludwig, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, January 27 - February 18

by Michael Meigs

Ken Ludwig's Lend Me A Tenor is one of those 'sure fire' inventions beloved of theatre companies across the world. Since the 1986 debut in London it has been translated into 16 languages and produced in 25 countries.

The Gaslight Baker Theatre is currently staging a vivid and funny production of this farce, a fable of mistaken identities, dizzy romance and worldly sophistication. Aspiring timidity meets bravado, and bigger-than-life Italian passions transform smaller-than-life American provincials. The year is 1934. Great Itallian tenor Tito Morelli is arriving for a single guest performance of Verdi's Otello at the improbable Cleveland Grand Opera Company, and he's about to overwhelm the locals, the society ladies, the cast of the opera, and above all, our ingénue Maggie (Francine Olguin) and her hapless would-be suitor Max.

Max (David Young) has been appointed by Cleveland's growling opera impresario Saunders (Donald Owen) to keep the visiting star sober, satisfied and out of trouble -- an impossible job, even though Morelli is accompanied by his glamorously shrewish wife Maria (Candice Carr).

This is a plot that runs like clockwork, complete with romance, jealousy, officiousness, quarrels, disguises, a pertly intrusive servant (Chris Schnaible as the starstruck bellhop), slamming doors and a potent potion that knocks out the Great Man and gives the Little Man the opportunity to triumph unrecognized as his substitute. Yes, Steve Lawson as Morelli and Dave Young as Max are of different heights and builds, but with the magic of the costuming and makeup of stage disguise, predictably, no one can tell them apart!

Now, is that likely? No! Is it even probable? No! And do we care? Double no!

These two familiar Lockhart stalwarts make us root for Max and give us good reason to like Tito Morelli. They even demonstrate singing voices that are passably good enough to convince us in this make-believe world that either could go out there and give Verdi what-for. Young may overdo Max's nervous tics a bit, especially at the opening, and Lawson's Italian-a accent isn't as consistent as that of Maria (Candice Carr), but we hang on every surprise turn in the plot. Director Todd Martin sets a fine fast clip to this action and displays a keen understanding for the pictorial impact in farce of clever movement and positioning of his actors.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcomiing: For Better by Eric Coble, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, June 10 - 25

Found on-line:

FOR BETTER
A Comedy for Our Connected World

by Eric Coble
Directed by Lori Cordova

June 10 - June 25

EVENINGS - Fridays and Saturdays ,June 10 - 25 at 8 p.m.
MATINEES - Sunday June 19 & Saturday June 25 at 2 p.m.
Regular Adult Tickets $12 - Senior & Children Tickets $10

Click Here to Buy Tickets

In this plugged-in world of email, text-messaging and camera phones, do a bride and groom really need to be in the same country to go on a honeymoon? Karen and Max are getting married. At least, if their jobs will ever let them be in the same city at the same time. A romantic comedy for the digital age. This hilarious new farce pokes fun at our overdependence on the gadgets in our lives.

"Coble's work is a tour de force with physical and verbal comedy to spare" - The New Yorker

"Coble's comedies are, of all things, genuinely funny" - Newsday

"Eric Coble's hilariously funny, psychologically astute portraits hit home with rib-tickling acuity" - New York Times

Click to view cast list at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Macbeth with Philip Kreyche, Vortex Repertory, April 20 - 24

Received directly:

Philip Kreyche

presents

William Shakespeare's

Macbeth

April 20-24, 8 p.m.

Vortex Repertory, 2307 Manor Rd (click for map)

Tickets are $15-30, student tickets are $10. Tickets will be available at the box office or online at www.vortexrep.org. 512-478-5282

Scotland, 1967. Following a bloody war against a foreign power, William Macbeth is the most celebrated general in the nation. With his manhood challenged by a power-hungry wife, and urged on by visions of kingship, he embarks on a dark, frightening odyssey that leads him first to the heights of power and then to his ultimate downfall.

"This play was originally written with the theme of destiny, of fate, of predestination in mind" Kreyche says. "In this more modern update, these medieval ideas have been ignored. There are other, much more contemporary andyet timeless ideas the play brings us, such as the role of machismo and pride in decision-making, and the resulting misery this can cause, and the price of ignoring human goodness in the quest for power."

Philip Kreyche, who directs and takes the title role of Macbeth, has been active in Austin's theater and film scene since 2008. As writer/director/actor: The Legend of Siyavash (Wit's End Theater Project); Love Me (FronteraFest Long Fringe 2010); The Dying Sun (FronteraFest Short Fringe 2011); Kidon (short film, self-produced). As director: Sein Kampf (FronteraFest Short Fringe 2011). As actor: The Laramie Project (Q Tonic); Arthuriosis (Getalong Gang); The Importance of Being Earnest (Foot In The Door); Man and Superman (Austin Shakespeare).

The cast includes Christina Leidel as Lady Macbeth, Japhy Fernandes as Prince Malcolm, David Young as Banquo, Larry Oubre as King Duncan, Dustan Costine as Macduff, Justin Smith, Kevin Karwoski, and Allen E. Rogers.

Click 'Read more' for additional information about the cast from AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Ongoing: Social Security, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, April 23 - May 9

Received directly:

The Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart presents

Social Security

A comedy by Andrew Bergman
April 23 - May 8, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.

matinees on Sunday, May 2 and Saturday, May 8 at 2 p.m.

$12 general admission, $10 for seniors and students

The domestic tranquility of married art dealers is shattered upon the arrival of the wife's goody goody nerd of a sister, her uptight CPA husband and her Archetypal Jewish Mother. They leave Mother behind and take off to try and save their college student daughter from the horrors of living only for sex. The comic sparks really begin to fly when Mother hits it off with an elderly minimalist artist who also happens to be the art dealer's best client!

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

Upcoming: Social Security by Andrew Bergman, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, April 23 - May 8

Found on-line:

The Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart presents

Social Security

A comedy by Andrew Bergman
April 23 - May 8 T

he domestic tranquility of married art dealers is shattered upon the arrival of the wife's goody goody nerd of a sister, her uptight CPA husband and her Archetypal Jewish Mother. They leave Mother behind and take off to try and save their college student daughter from the horrors of living only for sex. The comic sparks really begin to fly when Mother hits it off with an elderly minimalist artist who also happens to be the art dealer's best client!

Upcoming: Moonlight and Magnolias, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, January 29 - February 14

Found on-line:

The Gaslight Baker Theatre
begins its 2010 Season with the hilarious Hollywood romp


Moonlight and Magnolias

by Ron Hutchinson,
January 29 through February 14, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.
with matinees on Saturday, February 6 and on Valentines Day, Sunday, February 14 Purchase Tickets Here

It is 1939 and Hollywood is buzzing. Legendary producer David O. Selznick has shut down production of his new epic, Gone with the Wind, a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel. The script, you see, just doesn’t work.

So what’s an all-powerful movie mogul to do? Selznick sends a car for famed screenwriter Ben Hecht and pulls formidable director Victor Fleming from the set of The Wizard of Oz. Summoning both to his office, he locks the doors, closes the shades, and on a diet of bananas and peanuts, the three men labor over five days to fashion a screenplay that will become the blueprint for one of the most successful and beloved films of all time.

Moonlight and Magnolias features some of The Gaslight Baker Theatre’s most accomplished and recognizable actors. David Schneider leads the cast as David O. Selznick, along with Steve Lawson as Victor Fleming, Randy Wachtel as Ben Hecht, and Esther Williams as Miss Poppenghul. The production is directed by Todd Martin with the assistance of David Young.

Wait Until Dark, Gaslight Baker Theatre, October 30 - November 14

Harry Roat is a really, really mean guy. In this Gaslight Baker Theatre production of Wait Until Dark, David Young plays Roat with alarming, menacing stillness as he snares two minor ex-cons into the hunt for a lost shipment of heroin, setting them up as potential fall guys for a murder that Roat himself has just committed.

Yes, this is the one about Suzy, the blind woman that the bad guys are trying to confuse and to push into turning over the McGuffin of the piece, a doll that is packed with the purest smack going.

Suzy's husband, nice-guy former Marine Steve agreed to carry the doll from the Montreal airport to New York as a favor to an unknown woman. We're talking 1966 here, when folks were a lot more trusting and Halloween hadn't yet been tarnished by tales of poisoned candy.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Wait Until Dark, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, October 30 -November 14

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, November 11

Found on-line:



presents

Wait Until Dark
by Frederick Knott
Directed by Todd Martin

October 30-31, November 6-7, and November 13-14 at 8 p.m.
November 7 will also feature a matinee beginning at 2 p.m.

Are You Afraid of The Dark?

A sinister con-man, Roat, and two ex-convicts, Mike and Carlino, have traced the location of a mysterious and valuable doll to the apartment of photographer Sam Hendrix and his recently blinded wife, Susy. After Sam is unexpectedly called away to a photo shoot, the three criminals engage in an elaborately designed charade to take advantage of Susy’s blindness and trick her into revealing the location of the doll. With the help of the young neighbor girl Gloria, Susy matches wits with the cons. But is she clever and skillful enough to save her own life? The result is a thrilling and horrifying final confrontation that audiences will never forget.

Featuring: Polaris Banks, Tysha Calhoun, Steve Lawson, Mark McDade, Cruz Thomas, Drew Vero, Bevra Williams and David Young

No one will be allowed to enter the theatre during the last 10 minutes of the show!

Purchase Tickets Here.