Original Post: Monday, September 8, 2014 at 11:30am
Updated Post: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 12:55pm

Hello DSM fans!

This is your go to post for all things NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT! Check out our inside look into the show with behind the scenes footage! Also, check out the great interviews with the cast, reviews from the critics, and articles about the show. We’ll be updating this frequently, so check back later for more!

INTERVIEWS & PERFORMANCES

Behind the Scenes of Nice Work If You Can Get It – News Feature on CW33 NewsFix:
http://cw33.com/2014/09/04/behind-the-scenes-nice-work-musical-launches-in-dallas/

Performance by Mariah MacFarlane (Billie Bendix) singing “Someone to Watch Over Me” on KTXD – The Broadcast TV:
http://www.ktxdtv.com/story/26451712/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it?clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass

Alex Enterline (Jimmy Winter) performing “Nice Work If You Can Get It” on Good Morning Texas (WFAA):
http://tinyurl.com/kzgam8c

Interview with ensemble member and Highland Park native Carl DeForrest Hendin on WFAA – Midday News 8:
http://www.wfaa.com/story/entertainment/2014/09/03/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-broadway-dallas-musical/15023673/

Highland Park alum Carl DeForrest Hendin talks ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ with Nancy Churnin from The Dallas Morning News:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/highland-park-alum-carl-deforrest-hendin-talks-nice-work-if-you-can-get-it.html/

REVIEWS

Here’s what the Dallas audience had to say about the show on Opening Night:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbEL-xUK-wU?rel=0]

“Theater review: ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ will brighten your life” by Nancy Churnin with The Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/nancy-churnin/20140905-theater-review-nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-will-brighten-your-life.ece

“You Can Get It: The tour of the newish Gershwin show Nice Work If You Can Get It launches in Dallas, and delights all the way.” by Cheryl Callon with TheaterJones:
http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/reviews/20140907122318/2014-09-07/Dallas-Summer-Musicals/Nice-Work-If-You-Can-Get-It

“Nice Work if You Can Get It Kicks off the Dust and Bursts with Sass” by Lindsey Wilson with D Magazine:
http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2014/09/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-kicks-off-the-dust-and-bursts-with-sass/

“Nice Work If You Can Get It” by Gary Murray with Selig Film News:
http://seligfilmnews.com/nice-work-can-get/#.VAhbwcwqCjI.gmail

“Theater Review: “Nice Work If You Can Get It” Is Top-Notch Entertainment” by James McDonald with Red Carpet Crash:
http://redcarpetcrash.com/theater-review-nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-is-top-notch-entertainment/

Review from The Flash List:
http://www.theflashlist.com/assets/venue/us/tx/neast/dallas/arts/perform/org/dallassummermusicals/2014/niceworkifyoucangetit/fp/dallas.html

“Nice Work If You Can Get It kicks off national tour in Dallas” by Lea Ann Stundins from Mommys Wish List:
http://mommyswishlist.blogspot.com/2014/09/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-kicks-off.html

The Clubhouse Podcast:
Podcast Listen: http://podcasts.theclubhousepodcast.com/Podcasts/Season_5/iTunes_Exclusive_Episode_Nice_Work_If_You_Can_Get_It.mp3

Rob’s Review – http://www.theclubhousepodcast.com/#!news/nws1/F38570EA-0277-42AC-A509-B3EA49B47659/rob-reviews-%22nice-work-if-you-can-get-it%22

Chad’s Review – http://www.theclubhousepodcast.com/#!news/nws1/C299CE45-1AE3-4A29-B3A2-4FC14DA72686/chad-reviews-%22nice-work-if-you-can-get-it%22

Don’s Review – http://www.theclubhousepodcast.com/#!news/nws1/5355E2FA-C685-4987-918E-AE1CE2419DEF/don-reviews-%22nice-work-if-you-can-get-it%22

Review by John Strange with Selig Film News:
http://seligfilmnews.com/nice-work-can-get-review-john-strange/#.VA3_FNh0zb0

Quick Review by Elizabeth Ygartua with People Newspapers:
http://www.parkcitiespeople.com/2014/09/05/dallas-summer-musicals-is-doing-nice-work/

“See what’s so “Delishious” about Nice Work If You Can Get It at DSM!!” by Vanna Collins:
http://www.vannacollins.com/#!See-whats-so-Delishious-about-Nice-Work-If-You-Can-Get-It-at-DSM/c112t/CE1BC020-80BF-4201-9953-DFEC6C1888A2

Review by Richard Blake with The Column:
http://thecolumnawards.org/columnonline/review/09-12-2014_NICE-WORK-IF-YOU-CAN-GET-IT/

INSIDE LOOK, ARTICLES & FEATURES

Sneak Peek at Scenes from the show:
http://youtu.be/ljUopZ4CPS0

Playbill.com Article – PHOTO CALL: “Sweet and Lowdown”; A First Look at the National Tour of Tony-Winning Nice Work If You Can Get It:
http://playbill.com/news/article/photo-call-sweet-and-lowdown-a-first-look-at-the-national-tour-of-tony-winn

Nancy Churnin with The Dallas Morning News:  Top 5 Theater Picks:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/nancy-churnins-top-5-theater-picks-buyer-cellar-nice-work-fiddler-more.html/

Nancy Churnin with The Dallas Morning News Feature Article – “Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall happy about ‘Nice Work’”
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/nancy-churnin/20140906-tony-award-winner-kathleen-marshall-happy-about-nice-work.ece

Nancy Churnin with The Dallas Morning News Feature Article – “Highland Park HS pitcher taps in ‘Nice Work’ at DSM”:
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/nancy-churnin/20140829-highland-park-hs-pitcher-taps-in-nice-work-at-dsm.ece

Keep checking back for more exciting videos, photos, and more!

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT is on stage now thru September 14th at the Music Hall at Fair Park, then will be at Bass Performance Hall September 16-21! Tickets on sale now – go to http://www.dallassummermusicals.org/nicework.html for tickets and details!

See you at the theater!

-DSM Amanda

It’s official! We have announced our 2014/2015 DSM Season! Last Thursday, June 12^th, at the Centennial Building on Fair Park Grounds, we announced our season show by show alongside Performing Arts Fort Worth, and it was an amazing evening!

In case you missed it, here are the shows coming to DSM for the 2014/2015 Season:

A CHRISTMAS STORY THE MUSICAL – December 2-14, 2014
#ChristmasStoryDSM

KINKY BOOTS – February 24 – March 8, 2015
#KinkyBootsDSM

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s THE KING & I – March 20 – April 5, 2015
#KingAndIDSM

THE ILLUSIONISTS – April 7-19, 2015
#IllusionistsDSM

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA – June 9-21, 2015
#CinderellaDSM

DIRTY DANCING – June 23 – July 5, 2015
#DirtyDancingDSM

PIPPIN – July 7 – 19, 2015
#PippinDSM

All performances are at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

For photos from some of the shows, check out our slideshow at the bottom of this post!

This year, we’re celebrating our 75^th Anniversary and our deeply rooted history. Since we opened the doors at the Fair Park Band Shell in 1941, we’ve been bringing the best of Broadway to the Dallas area! We hope you will join us next season to celebrate with us!

Check out this video for a sneak peek at each show:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jpwVJ4dTX0?rel=0]

Also, in case you hadn’t heard, we’re partnering up with Performing Arts Fort Worth for 4 of our shows: KINKY BOOTS, CINDERELLA, DIRTY DANCING, AND PIPPIN! These shows will play 2 weeks here at DSM in Dallas, then travel to the Bass Performance Hall for a one-week engagement. We are very excited to be working closer with PAFW and hope that this will help bring more people to see live theatre!

Season tickets, priced from $140-$775, are now on sale online at www.dallassummermusicals.org, and at The Box Office, 5959 Royal Lane, Suite 542 in Dallas. Subscribers may order by mail or in person at The Box Office, by phoning 214-346-3300, by faxing 214-691-7386, or purchase online at www.dallassummermusicals.org. For groups of 10 or more, please call 214-426-GROUP.

Season subscribers enjoy such benefits as first opportunity to get the best seats available for the season, plus huge savings over single ticket prices and easy payment plans, lost ticket replacement, ticket exchange privileges and a 20% discount on all DSM logo merchandise. Plus, season subscribers have first option on their seats for the following season, and can save up to $97 over the cost of single tickets.

Also, for your enjoyment, check out some of the news articles about our season announcement!

• The Dallas Morning News – “Dallas Summer Musicals: Stayin’ alive with plans to thrive at 75.” Click here for article by Nancy Churnin
• The Dallas Morning News – “From Kinky Boots to glass slippers, DSM and Bass Hall strut with shared stars.” Click here for article by Nancy Churnin
• BroadwayWorld.com – Click here for article
• The Column – Click here for article by John Garcia
• Fort Worth Star Telegram – Click here for article by Mark Lowry

You can also check out this video from WFAA Good Morning Texas – Ellen Marie Marsh (from Kinky Boots) performing “History of Wrong Guys” and an interview with our President and Managing Director Michael Jenkins discussing the new season!

We’re so excited about our upcoming season, and we hope you are too! For more information about each show, season tickets, etc., please visit our website at www.dallassummermusicals.org.

We’ll see you at the theater!

-DSM Amanda

Originally posted on April 18, 2014 at 9:04am
Updated on April 25, 2014 at 5:20pm

Hello DSM fans!

This is your go to post for all things EVITA THE MUSICAL! Check out our inside look into the show with behind the scenes footage! Also, check out the great interviews with the cast, reviews from the critics, and articles about the show. We’ll be updating this frequently, so check back later for more!

INTERVIEWS, & PERFORMANCES

Josh Young (Che in EVITA) performed the National Anthem at the Texas Rangers game on Monday, April 14th. Click here to see it! (Please note, the beginning was accidentally cut off from the video.)

Krystina Alabado (Mistress in EVITA) performed “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” on The Broadcast TV. Click here for the performance.

Interview with Alison Mahoney (Ensemble in EVITA) on CW33 Nightcap. Click here for the interview.

Katerina Papacostas (Evita u/s in EVITA) performed “Buenos Aires” on WFAA Good Morning Texas on Thursday, April 17th. Click here for performance.

Alison Mahoney (Ensemble in EVITA) on StageTalk.net. Click here for interview.

Josh Young interview on WFAA Midday News. Click here for interview.

REVIEWS

Check out our Opening Night Interviews with the Dallas audience!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd6LJz7NmI0?rel=0]

“Impeccable ‘Evita’ national tour is a stunning success in Dallas” by Nancy Churnin, The Dallas Morning News – Click here for full review.

“Evita” by John Garcia, The Column – Click here for full review.

“Theater Review: ‘Evita'” by Mark Lowry with Fort Worth Star Telegram – Click here for review.

“Nothing to Cry About” by David Novinski with TheaterJones.com – Click here for review.

“EVITA-THE MUSICAL” by Gary Murray with Selig Film News – Click here for review.

“Evita – Dallas Summer Musicals Review and Interview with Krystina Alabado” by Gadi Elkon – Click here for review and interview.

“Musical Theater Review: EVITA” by Sherri Tilley with The Flash List – Click here for review.

“Evita: The Broadway Musical Now In Dallas At Dallas Summer Musicals” by Vanna Collins – Click here for the review.

“Evita” by Drew Jackson, EDGE Dallas – Click here for review.

INSIDE LOOK, ARTICLES & FEATURES

Q&A with Josh Young on TheaterJones with Cathy O’Neal – Click here for interview!

“Tony nominee Josh Young is playing Che a new way” by Nancy Churnin, The Dallas Morning News – Click here for the full article.

Check out our photo album full of behind the scenes pics of the cast around Dallas!

Spiritual Leader of the Nation: Eva ‘Evita’ Perón of Argentina – Click here for the DSM blog post.

EVITA and Argentine History – Click here for the DSM blog post.

Things to Know About The Revival of EVITA – Click here for the DSM blog post.

EVITA – A Historical Background for Characters – Click here for the DSM blog post.

A Timeline of Events: EVITA and Eva Perón – Click here for the DSM blog post.

Keep checking back for more exciting videos, photos, and more!

EVITA is on stage now thru April 27th at the Music Hall at Fair Park! Tickets start at $15 – go to www.dallassummermusicals.org/shows_evita.shtm for tickets and details!

See you at the theater!

-DSM Amanda

Originally posted on 3/11/14 at 4:05pm
Updated on 3/14/14 at 1:05pm

Hello DSM and WE WILL ROCK YOU fans!

This is your go to post for all things WE WILL ROCK YOU! Check out our inside look into the show with behind the scenes footage! Also, check out the great interviews with the cast, reviews from the critics, and articles about the show. We’ll be adding more as the show continues, so keep checking back here!

Inside Look Videos and Photos

Ruby Lewis Photo Exclusive on Playbill.com – http://www.playbill.com/news/article/186790-PHOTO-EXCLUSIVE-Scaramouche-Scaramouche-On-the-Road-With-We-Will-Rock-You-Leading-Lady-Ruby-Lewis?tsrc=hph

Sneak Peek Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak0lKa8h5FA

The Cast of WE WILL ROCK YOU in Dallas Photo Album – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152388497178465.1073741841.23412623464&type=3

Interviews and Performances

Interview with Ruby Lewis by Nancy Churnin with The Dallas Morning News – http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/we-will-rock-you-star-ruby-lewis-talks-about-rocking-the-music-hall-at-fair-park.html/

The Broadcast TV Performance with Brian Justin Crum and Ruby Lewis – http://www.ktxdtv.com/story/24892146/we-will-rock-you

Interview with Ryan Knowles for StageTalk.net – http://www.prophotography.com/stage/WWRY/index.html

Performance on Good Morning Texas with with Brian Justin Crum and Ruby Lewis – http://www.wfaa.com/good-morning-texas/We-Will-Rock-You-cast-rocks-the-GMT-stage-248856711.html

Interview with Erika Peck by Gadi Elkon – http://gadielkon.com/2014/03/will-rock-dallas-summer-musicals-interview-erika-peck-oz/#.Ux9zx7Q_wik

Interview with P.J. Griffith by TheaterJones – http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/features/20140303103358/2014-03-04/QA-PJ-Griffith

Reviews

Opening Night Video – http://youtu.be/Z1EVcHW5Opg

Kory with CBS Radio – KVIL – http://kvil.cbslocal.com/2014/03/10/korys-review-we-will-rock-you-dallas-summer-musicals/

John Garcia with The Column Online – http://thecolumnawards.org/columnonline/review/03-05-2014_WE-WILL-ROCK-YOU/

Thor Christensen with The Dallas Morning News – http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/arts/headlines/20140305-review-jukebox-musical-we-will-rock-you-nails-queens-camp-and-swagger-in-dallas-premiere.ece

Punch Saw with Fort Worth Star Telegram – http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/03/05/5623985/stage-review-we-will-rock-you.html

Gary Murray with Selig Film News – http://seligfilmnews.com/2014/03/will-rock/#.Ux9zs7Q_wik

Shari Goldstein Stern with White Rock Lake Weekly – http://whiterocklakeweekly.com/view/full_story/24703341/article-THEATER-Queen-s-music-transforms-DSM-s-rockin–stage

Dallas Voice – http://www.dallasvoice.com/consciences-queen-10169104.html

Keep checking back for more videos, articles, and much much more!

-DSM Amanda

Theater review:  Summer Musicals’ ‘Xanadu’ beats Broadway version

11:22  PM CDT on Tuesday, April 6, 2010

By LAWSON TAITTE  /  The  Dallas Morning News ltaitte@dallasnews.com

They’ve turned lots of old movies into musicals. Xanadu  sets the        record for improvement; it’s the best musical from the  worst film.

The 1980 Olivia  Newton-John stinkeroo did produce a lot of hits by  Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynneand the star’s favorite songwriter, John Farrar.  Two seasons ago, a stage version opened on Broadway with a new book by  comic playwright Douglas Carter Beane (who penned Give It Up! for  the Dallas Theater Center earlier this        year). It was a surprise  hit with critics and audiences alike. The        national tour hit the  Dallas Summer Musicals on Tuesday with an        explosive bang.

This company belongs to the growing number of tours that  actually play better on the road than they did on the Great  White Way. Many Broadway producers seem to feel they  must cast names recognizable to New York audiences, and that’s a limited  pool of talent. You can’t really call many of these performers stars in  the old sense, and the shows surely aren’t tailored to them.  Fortunately for us out here in the sticks, the producers feel free to  use less-familiar faces, sometimes much more able in their roles, on  tour.

Thus, the gorgeous Anika Larsen, as the muse Clio who  falls in love with a California painter, really looks like a goddess  and sounds like one, too. As the clueless artist, Danny, Max  von Essen is funnier and more consistent in his Valley  Boy accent (and a more secure singer) than his Broadway predecessor.

The superiority in this production continues pretty much all  the way down the line. Natasha Yvette Williams and Annie Golden are  especially delicious as the comic villains. As the aging owner of the  building Danny wants to turn into a roller derby, Larry Williamsturns a dreary role into a lovable one.

Xanadu  played in the smallest house on Broadway, but it feels         liberated, rather than dwarfed, in the immensity of Fair Park Music         Hall. The audience catches all of Beane’s well-crafted in-jokes. This  is        one self-reflective musical that doesn’t take itself too  seriously, or        seriously at all.

Thanks to  Christopher Ashley’s witty direction and Dan Knechtges’        inventive  choreography, Xanadu might just be the best time you        have  at a musical this season.

PLAN YOUR LIFE:  Through April 18 at Fair Park Music Hall. Runs        100 mins. $15 to  $71. Ticketmaster at 214-631-2787, www.ticketmaster.com

To see the review on The Dallas Morning News’ website, follow this link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-xanadu08_0408gd.State.Edition1.41785f7.html

12:06 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 22, 2009
By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning Newsltaitte@dallasnews.com

You may not come out of Legally Blonde humming the tunes, but this show will leave you as pumped as a two-hour cardiac workout.

The stage adaptation of the popular movie, a modest hit on Broadway, arrived at the Dallas Summer Musicals on Tuesday. It keeps up a breathless pace as heroine Elle Woods, the seemingly shallow blond bombshell who follows an ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School, discovers a whole new perspective on life.

Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, who rewrote their Sarah, Plain and Tall for the Dallas Theater Center this spring, tell the story mostly in song. Their lyrics, as cute and clever as Elle herself, are worthy successors to those of their great Broadway predecessors. They give us good tunes, too, but the incessant melodic patterns seldom relax and luxuriate. They just keep percolating like a triple shot of espresso.

The real mover of this theatrical whirlwind, though, is director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell. Over the last decade, he has established himself as one of the American theater’s great storytellers through movement. Like the score, the dancing seldom settles into a stand-alone number, at least before intermission. Throughout the musical someone onstage is stepping, shimmying or gyrating in ways that move the plot along. The second act finally gives us some release with production numbers based on exercise videos, sexy poses and, of all things, Irish step dancing.

As Elle, Becky Gulsvig looks a lot like the film’s Reese Witherspoon. She sounds even more like Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth. (Those with strong negative reactions to squeaks and other high pitches may find themselves at risk.) Gregg Barnes’ costumes expand the boundaries of pink, mauve, hot pink and not-quite-crimson. Gulsvig wears them smashingly.

For those who crave a bit of old-fashioned fun from their musical comedies, preferably with a smidgeon of uplift and optimism, with a bevy of shapely young bodies to boot, Legally Blonde is guilty as charged.

PLAN YOUR LIFE Through Aug. 2 at Fair Park Music Hall. Runs 160 mins. $15 to $85. Ticketmaster at 214-631-2787, http://www.ticketmaster.com/.

Trackback to original review post on dallasnews.com

11:55 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 7, 2009
By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning Newsltaitte@dallasnews.com

12:36 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 24, 2009

By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning News

mailto:Newsltaitte@dallasnews.com

Cute kids. A quartet of hilarious villains. A whole pack of trained dogs. A production number with a samba that sizzles. What more could a family musical possibly need?

How about a magical car that floats, flies and makes people ask it nicely if they want a ride?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang chugged, sailed and soared into Fair Park Music Hall for the Dallas Summer Musicals on Tuesday. This road version more than lives up to the standard the Broadway version set in 2005. Largely overlooked in a bumper year for musicals, it struck me as the best Broadway family show since The Lion King. This tour, adapted and directed by Ray Roderick, sacrifices a bit of grandeur but gains in comic spontaneity.
Ian Fleming, an unlikely children’s writer, shows his hand as the original storyteller in various ways: There are spies, though they’re played for laughs. And recall that James Bond’s cars always had tricks up their sleeves, just like the title vehicle here.

Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman’s songs are almost as infectious as the ones they created for Mary Poppins. And, frankly, the plot in this show is more appealing. The father, hapless inventor Caractacus Potts (Steve Wilson), has boundless affection for his children (Jeremy Lipton and Camille Mancuso at Tuesday’s performance). They all look after the grandfather (Dick Decareau), and the kids know before the dad does that there’s chemistry brewing with a motorcycle-driving heiress (Kelly McCormick).

None of the performers are household names, but they’re all solid pros and often more aptly cast than their Broadway counterparts. Dirk Lumbard is delightfully oily as the taller of the bumbling spies, and Scott Cote is his even dumber sidekick. As the evil baron and baroness, George Dvorsky and Elizabeth Ward Land are silly and sinister at the same time. Oliver Wadsworth may be entirely too sinister for younger children as the hideously creepy Childcatcher, although the happy ending defuses most of the terror.

You don’t have to be a kid to have a truly scrumptious time at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But feel free to bring a couple of tykes along if you think you’ll feel conspicuous without them.

PLAN YOUR LIFE Through July 5 at Fair Park Music Hall. Runs 150 mins. $12 to $71. Ticketmaster at 214-631-2787, http://www.ticketmaster.com/.

Original Dallas Morning News Post

10:15 AM CDT on Thursday, May 21, 2009
By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning Newsltaitte@dallasnews.com

By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning News

ltaitte@dallasnews.com

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A little distance brings things into focus: Rent is incomparably the greatest Broadway musical in, say, the last 30 years, and the farewell tour that the Dallas Summer Musicals brought to Fair Park Music Hall on Tuesday is probably your last chance to see it in pristine shape, as good as when in opened in New York 13 years ago.

The back story, of course, is so sad and perfect it seems made up. The young genius who wrote Rent, Jonathan Larson, died of an aneurysm right before the triumphant first performance. His transposition of the story of La Boheme to downtown Manhattan won every prize going, and this tangled skein of sex and romance (straight, gay and bi) in which half the characters are trying to live with AIDS won a whole new generation of fans to the theater.

From the screeches that greeted the first two actors onstage Tuesday, you’d think all those fans were in attendance to greet the show’s original stars. Anthony Rapp, as detached filmmaker Mark, looks just like he did in 1996; if anything, his timing and diction are sharper and his performance more engaged. Adam Pascal, playing alienated songwriter Roger, looks leaner and meaner, neither inappropriate to the character; his singing voice has taken on a rasping rocker’s edge that works well, too.

Original director Michael Greif has knit the rest of the cast into a tight ensemble. Amazingly, you can hear almost every word in this often intractable space. Former American Idol contestant Lexi Lawson eases her way uncomfortably through Mimi’s precarious dance on the fire escape, but her voice and her onstage presence are both gorgeous. Nicolette Hart makes a hilarious Maureen, and Michael McElroy brings his sonorous voice and vast stage experience to Tom Collins. Unfortunately, Justin Johnston doesn’t have that seraphic aura you ideally want in the role of Angel, but he dies magnificently.

Ultimately, it’s Larson’s tingling melodies and handcrafted lyrics (and his skill at building large forms out of both) that make Rent so special. Its frankness about sex and drugs means it’s not for everyone. Still, if you are curious or perhaps already know the score, but have never seen the show (or have only seen the dispiriting 2005 screen version), you owe yourself a trip to the Music Hall.

PLAN YOUR LIFE Through Sunday at Fair Park Music Hall. Runs 165 mins. $15 to $85.

Buy tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/vf0c6y?camefrom=DSM_WEB_RENT_BLOG

11:20 AM CDT on Thursday, April 30, 2009

By Lawson Taitte / The Dallas Morning News
ltaitte@dallasnews.com

President Richard M. Nixon may never have achieved the rehabilitation in public esteem he so craved in his lifetime. He’s got it now, though, at least as Stacy Keach plays him in Frost/Nixon.

Peter Morgan’s play about the TV interviews Nixon gave to talk-show host David Frost had its origin in that most fecund of London theatrical enterprises, the Donmar Warehouse. The show then traveled to Broadway and went on to become a major film, winning Tony Awards and Oscar nominations both for the vehicle and the star who played the president, Frank Langella.

If there’s any actor on the American stage with more stature, more sheer talent, than Langella, it’s Stacy Keach. He headlines the touring version that the Dallas Summer Musicals brought to the Majestic Theatre on Wednesday.

The marvelous Langella brought depth and tragic dignity to the role of the disgraced President three years after his unparalleled resignation from office. But he also brought a certain smarminess to the role and a whiff of parody in the ways he adapted some of Nixon’s well-known mannerisms and vocal patterns.

Smarmy is not a word you’d ever use to describe Keach’s Nixon. Tortured, self-regarding, yes, perhaps even venal. But this figure projects a fallen grandeur and canny, self-possessed intellect that command respect – and maybe even affection.

The touring version (directed, like the original, by Michael Grandage) does have its own quota of smarminess. Alan Cox’s Frost oozes slime right up to the final moments when he at last gets Nixon to confess wrongdoing on camera (something that never actually happened in real life, by the way). Even that formidable journalist Jim Reston in this young incarnation (as played by Brian Sgambati) is lightweight and petty in comparison with the wounded-bear Keach as Nixon.

It’s too bad that Keach probably won’t be touring his version of King Lear (to be seen in Washington, D.C., this summer) and that he hasn’t been seen more frequently in great plays in New York and around the country. He commands the stage as only a couple of American actors of his generation do. Whatever your politics, don’t miss the chance to see him do his stuff in Frost/Nixon.

12:05 AM CST on Wednesday, March 4, 2009
By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning News ltaitte@dallasnews.comOriginal post

By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning News

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, July 26, 2008

By LAWSON TAITTE / The Dallas Morning News

ltaitte@dallasnews.com

View this article on their website here

7/3/2008 12:00AM CST

The Dallas Morning News

‘High School Musical’ the class favorite at Fair Park Music Hall