Oct 10, 2022 | ktru, Showstoppers
Hadestown North American Tour photo by Kevin Berne
Broadway at the Hobby Center hosted the final show of the 2021-2022 season this week with the long-awaited Tony Award-winning production of Hadestown. Postponed since January 2022 due to Covid, the show was definitely worth the wait and I would argue the rest of the audience would agree with me. From the first moment the cast entered the stage the audience’s energy was palpable. Hermes’ first entrance was met with over a minute of applause, and many other jokes and show-stopping scenes throughout the show had similar reactions from the house. Anais Mitchell’s musical follows the mythological love story of Orpheus and Eurydice in a storytelling format narrated by Hades, the messenger of the Gods. The touring production, introducing many new leading cast members on opening night in Houston, was incredibly talented and kept the audience on the edges of their seats throughout the roller-coaster of a story. Mitchell’s musical is entirely “sung-through” with original tracks ranging from chants to ballads to epics. The characters subtly addressed topics such as love, heartbreak, trust, and power, while inviting the audience multiple times to think to themselves about how they would’ve acted if they were in their shoes.
(more…)
Jun 7, 2022 | ktru, Showstoppers
The Hobby Center welcomed the national tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to Houston for a limited 3-day run this weekend, treating audiences to all of their favorite Carole King songs (and more) while telling the story of the famed singer’s rise to fame. As someone who came to the show with familiarity of her work, I still learned many things about King’s life and heard songs I never knew were written by her.
(more…)
May 12, 2022 | ktru, Showstoppers
Theatre Under The Stars is wrapping up its 2021-2022 comeback season with the national tour of the Broadway smash hit Jersey Boys, on stage now at the Hobby Center. The Tony-winning musical tells the story of “The Four Seasons”, and ultimately Frankie Valli’s, rise from the streets of New Jersey to international stardom. Featuring Frankie Valli’s top hits as well as a variety of songs you may never have heard before, Jersey Boys has something in it for everyone (although note that the production contains “authentic, profane Jersey language”). Jersey Boys had the crowd singing and clapping along from the first song to the last and even treated the audience to an encore performance of “Happy Birthday” to celebrate the Hobby Center’s 20th year.
(more…)
Feb 13, 2022 | Showstoppers
James D Sasser as Emile and Natalie Ballenger as Nellie in TUTS South Pacific. Photography by Melissa Taylor
Back on stage for the first time since cutting short their run of The Little Mermaid, Theatre Under the Stars made it up to audiences with a stellar production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. It is immediately clear that this is not TUTS first rodeo with producing South Pacific as the TUTS preshow video features pictures of their first South Pacific production on the Miller Outdoor Theater in 1972, and the directors note says they’ve also produced revivals in 1975, 1980, 1994, and 2010. TUTS proves that South Pacific is a timeless classic, as the audience members, both young and old, were waiting with eager anticipation for the show to begin, and their emotion swelled within the first notes of the Overture performed by the live 26-piece orchestra, alongside the solo ballet by Liat.
(more…)
Dec 21, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
**Update 12/20** Theatre Under The Stars has decided to cancel all remaining performances of The Little Mermaid due to breakthrough cases of Covid-19 in the cast and crew. Please check tuts.com for more information or for details about other upcoming performances.
Each year, Theatre Under The Stars produces a family-friendly musical for the holiday season, the most recent incarnation of which opened at the Hobby Center December 7th. TUTS brought to life the classic animated film Disney’s The Little Mermaid in a magical spectacle, full of the same vivid colors as the original. The score contains all of the recognizable hits from the original, along with songs specifically written for stage productions by original composer Alan Menken. The show featured a combination of live actors and larger than life sea creatures, mostly adorned with either glow-in-the-dark features or string lights, adding another layer of complexity to the design features in the show.
(more…)
Dec 13, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A parody by Dan and Jeff opened this week in Zilkha Hall at The Hobby Center. This internationally touring production of potted potter brings magic, humor, and… well, mostly humor to the Hobby Center. Potted Potter is a great show for the entire family during this holiday season. From the moment you step foot into the Zilkha Hall lobby you are drawn into the vaguely magical world of Potted Potter. With the twinkling, ethereal music and programs rolled into scrolls, there is an air of mysticism felt upon entering the theater. However, as soon as the first line of the show, this mysticism is broken and the audience is brought into the reality that the show is simply two friends attempting to reenact the entirety of the Harry Potter series live, with minimal props and set.
(more…)
Nov 17, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
The cast of the National Tour of TOOTSIE. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
Tootsie strutted into Houston Tuesday night as the second show in the Broadway at the Hobby Center 2021-2022 season. Tootsie, based on the 1982 movie of the same title starring Dustin Hoffman, presents the struggle of Michael Dorsey, an out-of-work actor recently fired and unable to land any roles due to his narcissistic and intolerable nature in rehearsals. In a desperate attempt to save his career, Michael attends an audition for “Juliet’s Curse”, a role he was helping his ex-girlfriend rehearse for, disguised as Dorothy Michaels, his newly-formed female alter ego. Chaos ensues as he falls in love with both his popular new persona and with one of his co-stars, who does not know his true identity.
(more…)
Nov 8, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
Theater Under the Stars is on a roll with back-to-back, rocking shows at the Hobby Center. Sister Act opened this week in front of a full house of masked theatergoers. The story follows a vivacious Philadelphia club singer Deloris entering witness protection in a convent after witnessing a murder committed by her gangster boyfriend, where she brings her soul background to the dreary church hymns and creates a gospel choir out of the nuns. The Tony Award nominated musical, based off of the 1992 Film starring Whoopi Goldberg, features a lively, soulful score by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hercules) that combines 70s funk songs with Latin hymns to create joyous gospel music that gets even the most straight-laced nuns singing along.
(more…)
Oct 9, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
Here is an updated list of a few local theaters’ season schedules, including both musicals and plays.
(more…)
Oct 9, 2021 | ktru, Showstoppers
The cast of the new TUTS production of Rock of Ages. Photo by Melissa Taylor.
Theater is back in Houston after 19 months and TUTS started their return-to-the-stage with a bang! After 582 days without an audience in the Hobby Center, Theatre Under The Stars opened their 2021-2022 season this past Tuesday with a rocking performance of the Tony nominated musical Rock of Ages.
(more…)
Broadway at the Hobby Center hosted the final show of the 2021-2022 season this week with the long-awaited Tony Award-winning production of Hadestown. Postponed since January 2022 due to Covid, the show was definitely worth the wait and I would argue the rest of the audience would agree with me. From the first moment the cast entered the stage the audience’s energy was palpable. Hermes’ first entrance was met with over a minute of applause, and many other jokes and show-stopping scenes throughout the show had similar reactions from the house. Anais Mitchell’s musical follows the mythological love story of Orpheus and Eurydice in a storytelling format narrated by Hades, the messenger of the Gods. The touring production, introducing many new leading cast members on opening night in Houston, was incredibly talented and kept the audience on the edges of their seats throughout the roller-coaster of a story. Mitchell’s musical is entirely “sung-through” with original tracks ranging from chants to ballads to epics. The characters subtly addressed topics such as love, heartbreak, trust, and power, while inviting the audience multiple times to think to themselves about how they would’ve acted if they were in their shoes.
