Upcoming: Giant Steps, An Urbean Musical, staged reading by UT Summer Musical Theatre Workshop, June 29

The University of Texas Musical Theatre Workshop
presents a staged reading 

(image from University of Texas)

of

Giant Steps, An Urbean Musical

music and lyrics by Michael Dexter
book by Eric H. Weinberger
directed by Billy Porter
June 29, 7 p.m.
B. Iden Payne Theatre (300 E. 23rd St.), located in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building.

Giant Steps is a contemporary twist on the classic fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk” that will delight young and old, alike. The June 29 performance of Giant Steps is at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. 
 
The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Texas State University-San Marcos, is offering the inaugural Texas Musical Theatre Workshop, a pre-collegiate summer intensive for high school students exploring a potential career in musical theatre June 10 - 30. This unique program brings New York’s Broadway talent to Texas, providing students the best in musical theatre training by industry professionals.

The workshop was founded by University of Texas at Austin faculty member Lyn Koenning and Texas State University faculty members Kaitlin Hopkins and Jim Price. As a collective, these artistic directors bring more than 75 years of industry experience to the workshop. 

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Threepenny Opera by Brecht and Weill, University of Texas, February 18 - 27

Found on-line:

The University of Texas Department of Drama and Dance presents

a play with music after John Gay's The Beggar Opera, in Three Acts
Music by Kurt Weill German translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann; adaptation and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht
English translation of the dialog by Robert MacDonlad
English translation of the lyrics by Jeremy Sams
Directed by Halena Kays
Music Directed by Lyn Koenning

February 18,19, 24, 25, 26 at 8:00 p.m. - February 20, 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama bldg, near 23rd & San Jacinto
Tickets from UT performing arts: $20/$17/$15

A milestone of 20th century musical theater, The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) rolls on unstoppably into the 21st. In their opera “by and for beggars,“ composer Kurt Weill (1900–1950) and playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) transformed saccharine, old-fashioned opera and operetta forms, incorporating a sharp political perspective and the sound of 1920s Berlin dance bands and cabaret. Weill's acid harmonies and Brecht's biting texts created a revolutionary new musical theater that inspired such subsequent hits as Cabaret, Chicago, and Urinetown. The show's opening number, “Mack the Knife,” became one of the top popular songs of the century.