Arts Blog

Back from my jaunty little trip to London over the weekend, I have so much to share with you. I am going to spread my thoughts and British adventures over three separate blogs just to fit it all in.

While I am often one who complains about the shortcomings of others, I would hardly put myself in the category of a misanthrope - a person who hates or distrusts human kind. But after living in New York City for almost 10 years, I have gained an understanding for those who are misanthropic.

My first theatrical stop was at Keira Knightley's West End debut in the adaptation of Moliere's The Misanthrope by Martin Crimp, which is breaking box office records in London. (Some of you may remember my stance on movie stars as cash cows.) My friend and I were interested in the new translation of the French classic, as well as Ms. Knightley's performance.

Tim Martin Gleason makes a magnificent, more-vulnerable-than-typical Phantom in this "pharewell" leg of the U.S. tour of Phantom of the Opera, which has been on the road continuously since 1989 and will close in November in Los Angeles. Last week, Marni Raab portrayed Christine, the fragile soprano who becomes the tortured Phantom's muse. On Tuesday, the role will be taken over by Trista Moldovan, who'll continue till the show closes March 14. Despite Phantom's familiarity after 20 years, audiences still gasp over the special effects -- the foggy underground lake, the crashing chandelier -- and Andrew Lloyd Webber's pounding score more than holds up. Gleason, who starred as the handsome and decidedly un-Phantom-like Raoul in the show for three years, makes a winning transition to the dark side for this tour. I heard sobbing at the finale on opening night; his touching emotional fragility makes you truly root for the Phantom's redemption, despite his heinous deeds. Tickets, $21-$86, are available through Ticketmaster.

PHOTO by Joan Marcus: Tim Martin Gleason and Trista Moldovan as the Phantom and Christine

This just in on the "news that makes you feel old" front: Melissa Gilbert, who played little Laura on the Little House on the Prairie TV show in the 70s and 80s, takes on the role of Ma in a touring stage production of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical that will be at Bass Hall from June 8-13.

Tickets for the show, presented by Performing Arts Fort Worth and Casa Mañana, go on sale at 10 a.m. March 1.

Soon after moving into its new space in the Design District, Dallas Contemporary pulled a surprise Wednesday by announcing that Joan Davidow is retiring as its executive director effective May 31. Dallas Contemporary states, in a press release, that its "national" search for a new director has already begun. Davidow, the release says, will "continue in a consulting role" until the end of 2010. Her retirement comes "after nine years of dynamic leadership under which Dallas Contemporary has grown membership, expanded programming and initiated Art Think, a nationally award-winning education program, that served more than 11,000 students last year," the release says. Dallas Contemporary also credits Davidow with spearheading the purchase of its new location at 161 Glass Street -- a location that recently endured the embarrassment of not being able to open on time because it lacked all the necessary city inspections and approvals. It is, of course, open now. "Upon near completion of our capital campaign and our move into new quarters, I have the bittersweet duty of announcing Joan Davidow's retirement from Dallas Contemporary," said board president, Jo Marie Lilly. "After nine years of dedication and the devotion of tremendous
energy, Joan has achieved her goal of moving us into the new building and positioning us for the
future, and it is now time for us to look for future leadership. Joan's legacy will inspire our
future. Her contribution to the Dallas cultural scene is significant, and we are proud we have
had her leadership and guidance." Dallas Contemporary was house on Swiss Avenue, before its move to Glass Street, as a guest of the Meadows Foundation. Dallas Contemporary purchased its Glass Street building in 2007 and raised $4 million of a $6 million capital campaign, the release says, "to redesign the site for a contemporary art space."

Photo: Joan Davidow

The snow is falling once again here in New York City. But instead of revelling in the winter wonderland, I am worried about my flight tomorrow.

When a friend of mine mentioned she was heading over to London for the weekend to see a bit of theatre, I glanced at my tax refund check. Hmm, what better way to spend a little of my hard-earned dough on expanding my horizons?

So, I am off to check out what the West End has to offer in the way of theatre right now. I will fill you in on what we saw when I return. I am completely devastated that Love Never Dies, the sequel to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit Phantom of the Opera, postponed the first preview to the day after we leave. Curses!

Coming soon: that will be the West End for you.

For a tiny theater in a basement, Undermain Theatre is surely in some high cotton these days. The folks there have been talking with Stan Wojewodski, Jr., about getting together to do a show for some time. They wanted this distinguished former dean of Yale Drama School -- and recently named chair of the theater division at SMU -- to choose his own vehicle to direct. Now it's settled: Wojewodski will stage Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Endgame, to open April 10.

It was easy enough to predict that co-founder Bruce DuBose would play Hamm and current Undermain leading man Jonathan Brooks would be Clov. But Undermain has scored a real coup in signing Fred Curchack and Laura Jorgensen to play the aging parents in trash cans, Nagg and Nell. For the third show running, Tony Award winner John Arnone will design the set -- and this time the costumes as well. This show couldn't get any more all-star if it were being played at Cowboy Stadium.

File shot of Stan Wojewodski by Damon Winter

Valentine's weekend showed the love for Theatre Three's seems-to-always-be-playing-at-this-time-of-year I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, so the show's been extended through March 7.

In the photo (by Ken Birsell), left to right is the show's cast: Bradley Campbell, Lisa J. Miller (standing), Carrie Slaughter and Gary Floyd.

The Eisemann Center in Richardson has added a seventh performance of the immensely popular Till Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3, at 8 p.m. Monday (Feb. 15). In the comedy show, the ever-helpful "Sister" instructs the audience on how to enjoy marriage, within the confines of scripture, of course. $36-$39. 972-744-4650 or the Eisemann Center Web site.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has cancelled its Thursday-night classical concert because of the snow.
"We just couldn't get all of our musicians here," said Stacie Adams, the DSO's director of public relations. "This is the first time anyone here can remember canceling a concert because of weather."
Ticket holders for the all-Rachmaninoff concert should call the box office at 214-692-0203 to exchange tickets for another performance or another program. The Rachmaninoff program is to be repeated at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora.
Scott Cantrell

Because of the snow, Theatre Three has canceled tonight's (Thursday's) performance of the perennial favorite I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! And only three days before Valentine's!

The company has added a matinee performance on Saturday to make up for it.

Comedian Michael Ian Black has postponed tonight's scheduled show at the University of North Texas' Murchison Center for the Performing Arts in Denton because of, you guessed it, the weather. The show will be rescheduled, although the new date hasn't yet been announced. For updates or refunds, call the UNT box office at 940-369-7802.

The Dallas Center Theater announced this afternoon that it has cast Broadway and screen actor Jeffrey DeMunn as Willy Loman in its Death of a Salesman, coming up this April and May. The 62-year-old actor replaced David Dukes in the original production of Bent, starred in the 1996 revival of Arthur Miller's The Price and played Mr. Webb in the 2002 Our Town in which Paul Newman played the Stage Manager.

Audiences outside New York know DeMunn's face from his recurring role as Prof. Norman Rothenberg on Law and Order -- and from appearance on 100 other TV series over the years. His movie credits include The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, and the Cohen brothers' Burn After Reading.

The director of Death of a Salesman with be Amanda Dehnert, AD Kevin Moriarty's former colleague at Trinity Repertory Company.

I got a chance to attend a preview showing of the 2nd annual Dallas Art Fair on Thursday, and I gotta tell you, walking through the local, national and international exhibits on display was good for my soul. If you don't already have plans to get over to Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.) downtown this weekend, I strongly recommend it. The fair continues until 7 tonight, Saturday 11am-7pm and Sunday 11am-5pm.

The fair, which is showcasing more than 50 galleries (16 from Texas), has plenty of modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs to keep you intrigued all weekend. I was there for an hour and a half wishing I could have stayed longer.

As a recent art student graduate who perhaps has lost touch with my own creative expression, I found the fair to be incredibly inspiring. Continue reading for a couple of pieces and exhibits I found worth noting.

Photo by Kye R. Lee / The Dallas Morning News: Carlos Perez, of Unified Fine Arts Services, checks the lighting at Kristy Stubbs Gallery booth of the Dallas Art Fair on Thursday.

I had a journalism professor at UNT who went apoplectic if anyone used the word "unique": "ONLY if it's truly one-of-a-kind," he would bellow. I don't think I've used that word in a review or story, ever, because of that. But now I can: Taylor Mac, I'm pretty darned sure, is truly unique.

His show, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, at Undermain Theatre through Feb. 13, is one of the most entertaining, transporting experiences I've ever had in a theater. He's hilarious, profane, endearing, infuriating, perplexing, political and utterly disarming. He appeared Wednesday night in green and pink fishnets, a pink-and-white polka-dot skirt covered in rubber gloves, a dreadlocked-and-sequined blonde wig, and with glittery, sequined makeup that made his face look like an exquisite Mardi Gras mask. Mac is world-renowned as a performance artist -- which he says is just a "really fancy way of saying drag" -- and this is his first performance in Dallas, or Texas for that matter. You're missing something very, very special if you don't see it, whatever your politics or attitudes about men wearing frilly women's "finery," as he calls it.

PHOTO of Taylor Mac by Drew Geraci

Guide will publish its annual Parents' Guide to Summer on April 2. It will include listings of day camps and classes for children and teens. To be considered for free listings, please fill out our online submission form.

Please note: The deadline for submission is Feb. 26 at noon. Early submissions are encouraged. No listings can be accepted by phone. Incomplete or late submissions cannot be used (a price or price range must be included). Listings are limited to North Central Texas. Guide cannot list overnight camps, activities that take place in private homes or commercial day-care centers, or vacation Bible schools. Programs must be open to the public.

Questions? Call 214-977-8309 or e-mail parentsguide@ dallasnews.com. Color photos will be considered for publication; e-mail them, as well as information on what individuals and organizations are depicted, to parentsguide@dallasnews.com.

You've got till Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, to see the utterly splendid Give It Up!, presented by the Dallas Theater Center at the Wyly Theatre. The show is smartly funny, sexy, just a teensy bit political, and it boasts a cast that's Broadway-ready. Patti Murin stars as Lysistrata "Lissie" Jones, a cheerleader at Athens College who decides to "stop giving it up" -- and convinces her cohorts to join the cause -- until the school's pathetic loser of a basketball team starts winning. Andrew Rannells (who reminds me way too much of Josh Duhamel) co-stars as Michaelangelo "Mick" Jackson, Lissie's boyfriend and, of course, team captain.

If you see it here, you can boast that you saw the world premiere, before it hits Broadway -- and it could and should. The book by Douglas Carter Beane and music, lyrics and orchestrations by Lewis Flinn are bubbly, upbeat and completely hummable (I want the soundtrack, NOW). Really, it had me with my first glance of the scenic design (by the fabulously named Beowulf Boritt), all green-blue upscale-bathhouse tiles, offset at the beginning by lovely puffs of purple smoke. And those sheer curtains in the Eros Motor Lodge set -- hey, can I buy those after the show closes?

Other standouts in the cast include Lindsay Nicole Chambers as the librarian with a sultry soul, Curtis Holbrook as the geek who saves the day, and Dallas' own force of nature, the wondrous Liz Mikel as both a goddess and a gorgeous brothel madam. Get your game on now, before it's too late. Tickets at www.attpac.org, or call 214-880-0202.

PHOTO by Brandon Thibodeaux/Dallas Theater Center: Patti Murin and Andrew Rannells

Highland Park High School graduate Stark Sands, the grandson of Dallas oilwoman, hotelier and philanthropist Caroline Rose Hunt, recently wowed audiences in San Diego with his portrayal of Clyde Barrow in the world premiere, bound-for-Broadway musical Bonnie & Clyde at the La Jolla Playhouse. For those who missed my earlier piece on Stark, click here. Now word comes that Sands has joined the cast of the highly anticipated Broadway musical American Idiot, based on the hit album by Green Day. As the press release says, American Idiot "follows the exhilirating journey of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world." American Idiot had its world premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California and will open at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on April 20. Sands and the rest of the cast of American Idiot performed with Green Day on Sunday night during the Grammy Awards telecast on CBS.

Photo: Stark Sands as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde

Dancing teacups! Love that knows no bounds! An Academy Award-winning score! All that and more are headed this summer to the Winspear Opera House, which will host Disney's Beauty and the Beast in July. It's part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Lexus Broadway Series, which has already brought the critically acclaimed (and gorgeous) South Pacific and August: Osage County to town. It should be a rare delight to see and hear Beauty in the acoustically glorious Winspear. The Broadway version was last seen here in 2003 at the Fair Park Music Hall.

The classic love story tells the tale of Belle, a young woman trapped in a provincial town, and the Beast, a prince enchanted by a spell that has him trapped in the body of a hideous monster. The 1991 film version, on which the Broadway show is based, was the first (and so far, only) animated picture to be nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, and the score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman is the same as the movie's (with additional songs in the Broadway version by Menken and Tim Rice).

The Broadway show's original creators, including director Rob Roth, have collaborated for the new touring production. The cast for the Dallas run has not yet been announced.

Tickets for the July 13-25 run are on sale now to Lexus Broadway Series subscribers, individually ($25-$150) or as part of a three-show package ($75-$750) that also includes Spring Awakening (March 23-April 4) and Avenue Q (May 25-June 6). Tickets can be purchased by calling 214-880-0202, or at www.attpac.org. Groups of 15 or more can also buy tickets now, by calling 214-978-2878.

If you're not a subscriber, don't want to become one and don't have 14 friends who'll go with you, individual tickets will go on sale at a later date; we'll let you know as soon as we do.

PHOTO by Peter Coombs: Justin Glaser as Beast and Liz Shivener as Belle

For the last week, I haven't been able to get Conan O'Brien's farewell speech on his final Tonight Show episode out of my head. His words just keep running through my mind. He was brave and gallant and such a gentleman, but that isn't all that made an impression on me.

Sure, the fact that he thanked NBC for giving him a home on television for almost 20 years is classy, but it was his message to young people about cynicism that really moved me.

Conan said "I hate cynicism. It doesn't lead anywhere." While not incredibly profound as a singular statement, saying it at a moment when he had every right to say myriad cynical things has really stuck with me. Of course he wasn't going to go on a tangent about what a ridiculous decision in television history this was - though he'd alluded to it for the last week - he still wants to work in the television business.

Stark Sands is an actor with a ton of promise and potential. I had the pleasure of seeing him over the holidays in the edgy role of Clyde Barrow in the world premiere, bound-for-Broadway musical Bonnie & Clyde, which opened at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. (If you missed my earlier feature on Stark, click here.) Stark is the grandson of Dallas oilwoman, hotelier and philanthropist Caroline Rose Hunt. He's also one of the contributors to a terrific piece of art, now on display at Rosewood Court. It's a 19-foot-long, 10-foot-high fused glass family quilt in which each of Caroline's 44-member multi-generational family designed a glass piece at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas.

Photo: Stark Sands as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde