Upcoming: Sleeping Beauty, Scottish Rite Children's Theatre, April 2 - May 8

Found on-line:

presents

Sleeping Beauty

Saturdays at 10 a.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

weekday performances for schools April 13, 14, 28 at 10:30 a.m. and May 4, 5 at 10:30 a.m.

Scottish Rite Theatre

207 W. 18th Street, with free parking

Tickets $8 children, $4 infants, $10 adults

Purchase on-line at www.scottishritechildrenstheatre.org

In the Far, Far Away Kingdom, Penelope, the party-pooping fairy, is back to her party-pooping ways. Upset that she was not invited to celebrate the birth of Princess Beauty, Penelope crashes the party and casts a spell on the baby: at the age of 16, Beauty is doomed to sleep for 100 years! In an attempt to foil the spell, the King enlists his page, Sleepy Pete, to guard the Princess at all times. Alas, Sleepy Pete has a napping problem and the audience must rouse him by yelling, “wake up Pete!” lest he shirk his royal duty.

Upcoming: Faery Masque Ball after Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, May 1

Received directly:

Click for ALT review of Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, April 2 - May 9

The Vortex's Sleeping Beauty is a riot of costumes and color, music and dance. Bonnie Cullum and composer-librettist Content Love Knowles keep that cast of 20 swirling in the vortex around the spiral staircase at stage center, animated by Knowles and three other musicians perched high above stage right. Many of the players play double roles. Costumes by Pam Fletcher Friday and Griffon Ramsey are inventive, playful and brilliantly colored, with the witty use of found fabrics and objects, as if the players had discovered a treasure trove of dress-up clothes in grandma's attic.

Jennifer Coy as the Fool deserves the lead image for this musical. In good fool tradition, she is the only real adult in this happy ensemble of gifted adult-sized characters and artists. Coy has a brash, raucous side to her, a knowing wink at this nonsense, and she winds it up with a solo epilogue addressing the audience, making sure that they enjoyed the spectacle and crowing, "And now let's all have a drink!"

Playtime at the Vortex gives us a sprightly retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story full of incident and relatively bereft of deeper meaning. The first act establishes the court, the statuesque Queen (Betsy McCann) yearning for a child, some Disneyesque jumpin' jive in the castle, a long funny number as the Queen is offstage in labor, celebration, and a long, long naming song that saddles the kid with about fifteen names.

And then there's the extended business of fairies bringing gifts. Because the heedless top-hatted King (Adam Smith) neglected to invite her, the impressively salamander-like fairy Ixlamere (Suzanne Balling) curses the newborn with the prediction that she'll prick her finger on a spindle and die.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Images by Kimberley Mead: Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, April 2 - May 9

Images by Kimberley Mead of cast members of Vortex's Sleeping Beauty, in costumes designed by Pam Fletcher Friday and Griffon Ramsey:


Sleeping Beauty
A magical musical faery tale
by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles
April 2-May 9 Thursdays-Sundays 8 p.m.
[right: Rowan, the Whispering Tree (Christina Childress)]

The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin 78722. Free Parking. Bus Route. Lovely café.
Tickets: $30-$10 Available at 512-478-LAVA (5282) or www.vortexrep.org
$30-$25 Priority Seating, $20-$15 General Admission, $10 Starving Artists. Thursdays and Sundays 2-for-1 admission with donation of 2 non-perishable food items. Limited seating. Advance purchase recommended.


[Above: Sanastra of the Pond (Dara Allen)]

VORTEX Repertory Company proudly presents Sleeping Beauty, a magical new musical by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles. This dynamic production joins the musical theatre cannon with a feminist, revisionist re-telling of a well-beloved faery tale. This production is accessible for all ages.

Conceived and directed by Bonnie Cullum. Musical Direction by Content Love Knowles. Scenic Design by Ann Marie Gordon. Lighting Design by Jason Amato. Costume Design by Pam Fletcher Friday and Griffon Ramsey. Sound Design by Roy Taylor. Photography by Kimberley Mead.

See additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, April 2 - May 9

UPDATE: The Vortex has extended Sleeping Beauty to May 9

Click for ALT review, April 11

UPDATE: Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin Statesman's "Seeing Things" blog, April 8

UPDATE: Jeanne Claire van Ryzin interviews Bonnie Cullum about Sleeping Beauty, April 1

UPDATE: Lisa Schepps on KOOP-FM interviews leading singer-actors Jonathan Itchon and Julia Lorenz, as well as creators Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles on her program "Off Stage and On the Air," March 29

Received directly:

Vortex Repertory Company
presents

Sleeping Beauty

A new musical faery tale
by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles
April 2 - May 9 Thursdays-Sundays 8 p.m.
ASL-Interpreted Saturday, May 10, 2010
Audio Description Saturday, May 17, 2010
Faery Masque Ball on Saturday, May 1
The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin 78722. Free Parking. Bus Route. Lovely café.

Tickets: $30-$10 Available at 512-478-LAVA (5282) or www.vortexrep.org
$30-$25 Priority Seating, $20-$15 General Admission, $10 Starving Artists. Thursdays and Sundays 2-for-1 admission with donation of 2 non-perishable food items. Limited seating.

VORTEX Repertory Company proudly presents Sleeping Beauty, a magical new musical by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles. Loosely based on the Grimm Brothers’ faery tale, this dynamic production joins the musical theatre cannon with a feminist, revisionist re-telling of a well-beloved faery tale. While this production is not designed for children (scary faeries), we welcome audiences of all ages (PG-13 with no nudity or foul language). This is not your mama’s faery tale.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .