Upcoming: Broadway at Bacchus benefit, Bacchus Conservatory, April 9 & 10

Found on-line:

presents a fundraiser:

Broadway at Bachus

April 9 and 10, 7:30 p.m.

Bacchus Center for the Performing Arts

8000 Anderson Square, Suite 112 (click for map)

Tickets $15. Reservations at (512) 45G-CLEF ( 454-2533) or visit www.BachusConservatory.com.

Twelve of Austin's top musical theatre performers will perform music from more than twenty Broadway musicals in Broadway at Bachus, benefiting the music education programs at the Bachus Center. Conceived by - and under the musical direction of - David Blackburn, with stage direction by Barbara Schuler and musical staging by Michelle Stuckey, a two-night revue will play April 9th and 10th at the Bachus Center for the Performing Arts.

Hosted by Robert Josef Cross, Broadway at Bachus features the music of Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Jason Robert Brown and other award-winning composers - performed by Eve Alonzo, Kylie Baker, Matthew Charles Burnett, Ashley Edwards, Jonathan Itchon, Stephen Jack, Becky Knox, Joel Mercado-See, Alejandro Rodriguez, Cathie Sheridan and Ryan Smith. The cast and musicians of the production have performed at nearly every theatre venue in the Austin area, as well as major cities across the United States and national touring companies.

Broadway at Bachus benefits the Bachus Center, a new non-profit organization that funds programs and scholarships to bring the arts to Central Texans who have limited or no access to instruments, lessons, and performance opportunities. Event organizers say the Bachus Center programs have become even more vital to the education of Austin's youth as many fine arts programs are being scaled back or even eliminated in the public schools.

Seating is limited, and the program contains some material that may not be appropriate for children.

Click to view full poster at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

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 . . . .