Updated: June 5, 2009
[We hope the Phantom Enlightened are finding this humble page informative and imminently bookmarkable. Use it in good health and humor and pheel phree to contact us if you have an helpful suggestion (scroll down to the bottom of this page for instruction. For more information from the BCS venues, just click on the theater name to surf on over to the website.
StageCenter
NOW PLAYING! Twelve Angry Men
June 4-6, 11-13, 18-20 at 7:30pm
[Yea! The post-graduation dry-spell is over. Double-yea!! This is a great play. Will it be "Twelve Angry Persons?" We hope not. At the risk of being accused of misogyny this classic needs to be un-PC and gender specific. Great play, great movie. Must see.]
The Theatre Company
NOW PLAYING! The Producers
June 5-7, 12-14, 19-21 at 7:00pm
[A play about the pitfalls and pratfalls of producing for an increasingly fickle audience? A play that makes fun of the most offensive bad guy in modern history (apologies to Darth who came in a close second but was eliminated on grounds of fictionalness)? And the theater company is going to go there. Oh, no he didn'!? Oh, yes he did. Where on earth will they ever find enough stereotypical theater gays, old ladies and schyster producers to fill all the roles? We shall just have to wait and see.]
Navasota Theater Alliance
COMING IN JULY! We The People – The Musical
July 9-11, 16-18 at 7:30; July 12, July 19 at 2:00 pm
[Post-Independence Day festivity, but you are still full of patriotic pride and prejudice, hmmmm? Of course you are. The Phantom did some research and the first Google hit gave him “Rockwellesque.” That said it all. Singing, acting, good wholesome All-American Goodness. Should be terrific. Come on down and wave that flag high and hearty, loud and proud.]
MSC OPAS
Check out the new season: 0037-License to Thrill at www.MSC.org
*If you feel you really need to email The Phantom directly with an announcement or update, send it to brazosphantom01@yahoo.com. The Phantom’s crack team of personal assistants, au pairs and life coaches will be checking the account on Sundays…or not. Please don’t overload his inbox with random messages, personal ads, bodily threats, marriage proposals or other Facebook-inspired blatherings of the lonely and desperate. He just doesn’t really care that much.
Thanks for the blurbs, Mr. Phantom. Hope your phaithful readers see this new section. It’s a welcomed addition and the “mini” synopsis’ are quite humorous.
As for the KEOS Fundraiser, we Liberals ain’t so bad after all now, are we? See you in November ( sung to…oh, you know…it’s gonna be a Happening)
Rumor mill–
I can confirm that the first weekend of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers was sold out with waiting lists of 20+ persons each night. This final weekend, I know for a fact Sunday is sold out, I “believe” Sat night is sold out, and I wouldn’t put any money down on Sat afternoon even.
Anyone desperate? You might try this. Tonight (Thurs, June 12) is a special showing. The Rotary Club bought out the theatre and is hosting a fancy champagne reception etc before their private showing of 7B for 7B. As of few days ago there were a few tickets- maybe 20- left and for sale to anyone in community ($20 each including reception goodies) If you are interested you need to contact: Mary Kaye Moore at 774-3757. She’s in charge. I would call her fast if you are interested.
Hope that helps!
Confirming –
Fri night & Sun mat are sold out.
Sat night will sell out shortly
SAT MAT STILL HAS SEATS AVAILABLE
Hurry – http://www.theatrecompany.com/current.php
Hey Phantom!
A couple of friends and I went to see The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at Stage Center last night and it was terrific!! Loved it! Loved the actors! Loved everything! What a fun night. Don’t miss it.
I’m gonna drink directly outta the milk carton. I’m gonna paper your house. I’m gonna take away your Guitar Hero.
Triple stupid.
“Seconds Before Sunrise” looks to be an ambitious attempt by a group of former A&M Consol students who (egads!) miss their Performing Arts classes and want to do something for our community, as well as keeping their acting talents in check. They are also past stars in local theater venues (not giving up any identities here), so come out and support THEM (as well as making a donation to our dusty, old building. (LOL)
Thanks for the add, Phantom.
Our pleasure. It’s amazing how that works: tell The Phantom about an event and voilá it gets put on the website! Undoubtedly more current than the local rag’s “Spotlight.”
Break a leg former A&M Consol students.
The Phantom
AMEN! to that statement. Congrats to Jim Butler’s retirement. They need to find a replacement other than “Staff Reports” in the Sunday edition of Brazos Valley Life insert.
Just wondering if you saw Pajama Game despite the lack of harry connic jr.
Phantom – no review of The Phoreigner? Are you trying to pad your hit count by making us keep coming back over and over as we breathlessly await? Stop teasing us, BCP!
Robbie, go on and write your own review! Your opinion is as good as anyone else’s (“Opinions are like a-holes. Everyone has one and most of them just stink.”)
Seriously, though. Use a pseudonym if you like, but start the ball rolling.
I guess our Phantom is getting tired…or lazy, since there’s nothing to do today but STAY INDOORS. HELP!
Since I was in the show, Linda, I don’t think it’s fair for me to write a review
However, I see that my goading finally prompted the Phantom to write!
Treasure Island will also run Sept. 25-27. We thought about opening the doors despite Ike, but downtown traffic was so devoid of potential patrons, it was a good call, I think.
The Sun. Matinee (9/21) is the perfect day to bring the kiddies (lots of games, prizes).
Looking forward to seeing Cinderella at TTC
hahaha, gotta love the drug experimentation. now review cinderella already!
Hey, wait a minute! He hasn’t done Treasure Island yet.
sorry, i am a ball of nervous energy right now.
Thanks for the shout-out Phantom!
If anyone wants to reserve tickets for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown you can email tigertheatretickets@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!
Dude trust me, you do NOT want the Phantom reviewing Treasure AIYIYIYISland!
So true. Some shows are so bad they don’t deserve to be reviewed.
And Yet Another Sad Day In The Valley:
I don’t know why I always seem to be the one to submit these, but I feel we should at least all know.
Winnie Nelson passed away peacefully Monday at her home. Winnie has been a part of Stagecenter, The Theatre Company, her church and numerous other organizations for over two decades. She was instrumental in carrying Stagecenter through its difficult times after the Palace roof collapse. Many of us recall her terrific performance as the Mother Superior in ‘The Sound of Music’ (twice, in fact, I believe). There’s a wonderful obituary in the Wednesday Eagle, also available online.
Condolences to her daughter Wendy and the rest of the family. The world is a worse place without her, but I’m sure Heaven has a new choir member.
chaz pitman
Winnie was a lovely woman. I remember her unflappable demeanor and steadfast kindness during the first Sound of Music. She was a beacon of light in a sea of chaos and I, for one, really appreciated that. She will be missed.
Yes i too will miss Winnie. I have been in many theater productions with her. She was a joy to work with and always had kind words and a hug for me. A lovely woman and she will be missed by many.
Hey, Phantom:
I see people asking on occasion whether there’ll be a review of a show, and I don’t know if such inquiries are answered. But I was wondering, should we expect a review of StageCenter’s production of Plaza Suite? Is there anything your phans can do to entice you to do one?
Phantom,
Are you going to review George Washington slept Here? The hubby and I went and saw it last month and it was terrific.
By ‘terrific’ I take it that you meant it induced terror and was frightening? Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed that from the title.
Cute pun, Poison Pen, but wouldn’t I have said “terror-ific”? What I meant was we enjoyed ourselves and thought it was a good play and very well done. The set was amazing!
Get to Stagecenter for a real good time. The farce is well cast and a good time will be had by all. Just relax and don’t worry about the details. The script is great if you like puns, obscure references, and just plain silliness. Stagecenter — choreography? Yeah. Great start for a new director.
Don’t forget it is COMMUNITY theater!
Regarding “No Mother To Guide Her”, word on the street is that it succumbed to that worst of viruses for Community Theaters, NEC-1: Not Enough Cast
This is why some of our local productions come up short a few times. There are so many talented folks living here, c’mon out and audition, your community needs and wants to see you.
Will there be a review on “Big River?”
Will there be a review on “Big River?”
Is the Phantom phed up with TTC? No more advertisement for The Producers, and still no review of Big River. What gives good sir?
Wherefore art thou oh Phantom?
We miss thee.
12 Angry deserves a comment as does Producers.
Let us hear from you, please.
Techie
is the phantom dead?
I’m directing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” next at StageCenter. My auditions are August 10 and 11 at the theatre, with performances in late Sept/early Oct. Come on by and give it a shot!
Here’s the 411 on Wha’Sappening this month @ StageCenter. What do Philly cheese steaks, typing chimpanzees, a Universal Language, the search for Love, and Trotsky in exile have in common? It’s…
All in the Timing by David Ives. Running for three weekends at StageCenter in Historic Downtown Bryan. Thurs thru Saturdays – Aug 6-8, 13-15, 20-22 at 7:30pm each evening. Located on the corner of 26th and Bryan St. above Mr. G’s Pizzeria. If you like to laugh, you’ll love All in the Timing!
Oh My Garshk, I will defintely see “AITT” at SC. Sounds great, and I know mnany of the cast are great Actors.
As you were.
‘All in the Timing’ a good chance to laugh
By TOM TURBIVILLE
tom.turbiville@theeagle.com
The dozen actors who make up the cast of StageCenter’s All in the Timing are going to need a long nap when this run is over.
There are lots of lines to absorb, characters to create and physical shtick to pull off, and this is the toughest sort of live stage delivery there is — comedy.
“There’s a lot of energy involved in this,” director Reid Self said. “Like the title suggests, it is all in the timing. The pacing is critical and there’s a lot theatricality in the performance style.”
Think about it — with a drama, the performers can’t necessarily hear if the audience is holding back tears or mesmerized by the dialogue, or convinced the bad guy’s bad, the good guy’s good or the damsel is distressed.
But with live comedy, it’s all instant feedback. To those actors, the difference between roll-in-the-aisles laughter and polite forced giggling can be deafening. If it’s funny, they know, and if it’s not, they really know — there’s no place to hide.
Self says that’s not an issue with this final offering of the 2008-09 StageCenter season. “If you like to laugh, you will love All in the Timing,” he promises.
It started Thursday but has six more shows: Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 the next two weeks.
So bring on the challenge of All in the Timing, the six one-act comedic plays written by 59-year-old American David Ives — modern, contemporary, funny stuff, all penned between 1987 and 1993.
All in the Timing has a cast of 12, with StageCenter veteran and long-time local DJ Harold Presley playing four parts, William Myrick playing three, Larry Boozer and Maggie McGraw playing two each, and Braden Deckard playing a supporting role in three of the plays. Gina Reinhardt, Amy Ressler, Nancy Woods, Amber Tolson, Judy McCoy, Chuck Beard and Evelyn Callaway are featured in one each.
“Most of them are only in one scene because I knew how demanding it would be,” Self said. “But Harold Presley is on stage in three of the scenes and his voice is used in another. He gets quite a workout.”
Sure Thing leads it off, the setting being a cafe where the disconnection, but eventual connection, between characters Bill (played by Myrick) and Betty (played by Reinhardt this week and Ressler the final week) and the bell ringer (Presley). In their late 20s, their conversation stops, starts, restarts and awkwardly finds itself sparking true love.
Words, Words, Words brings together three monkeys, Swift (Boozer), Milton (Tolson) and Kafka (Woods), along with Dr. Rosenbaum (Myrick). The premise here is that if three monkeys pound their typewriters for a long enough period of time, the result could be Hamlet.
Up third is The Philadelphia, which some reviewers have called the funniest of the six. Mark (Myrick) experiences “a Philadelphia,” where he wakes up with a severe headache but the drug store doesn’t sell aspirin, the taxis travel the wrong direction and the newsstands don’t sell the local tabloid. The only way to get good service at the diner is to yell a vulgarity at the waitress.
In other words, in The Philadelphia, the world is made right by the art of reverse psychology. Al (Presley) and the waitress (Maggie McGraw) support Mark in his efforts to make sense of it all.
Following intermission the fourth short is The Universal Language and features the stuttering young woman Dawn (Ressler) and her interaction with Don (Presley), who has invented and instructs the comedic language called Unamunda, the language billed as one that will unite all humankind. As with the other parts of All in the Timing, this one’s all in the delivery of a tough script to memorize but hysterical to hear.
“This is the most demanding part of the six vignettes, where Harold has to communicate in this completely made-up language,” Self said. “Imagine memorizing lines of a language that doesn’t even exist.”
In Variations on the Death of Trotsky, famous Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky (Boozer) lives, only to die several times after his Mexican gardener splits his skull with an ax. With the ax planted in his head, the play features quick scenes, each presenting Trotsky writing a different version of his own death. Along for the ride are Mrs. Trotsky (McCoy) and Ramon (McGraw).
Finally, English Made Simple is the story of Jack and Jill (Beard and Callaway), with the off-stage analytic voice (Presley) that explains what the young couple is really thinking as they make small talk at a party.
“The only thing that connects the six is the word play, the sense of playful time and the language that David Ives experiments with,” Self said. “Other than that, they each stand alone.”
“It’s quite a challenge for the actors and the director,” he said. “It’s like directing six different plays.”
Advance tickets are available at the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, at 2275 Dartmouth St. in College Station. All Thursday night tickets are $6, Friday and Saturday are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students.
StageCenter is having their annual Open House on Friday, September 4, 2009 @ 6pm. Please join us as we announce our 2009-2010 Season. Complimentary wine and hors d’oeurves will be served. StageCenter is located at 201 B West 26th St in Historic Downtown Bryan.
Bordello of the Damned @ StageCenter
Sept. 11-12, 2009
Just another evening at the Leland Hotel and Saloon in the year 1880. The usual cowboys and “ladies” are enjoying a nice dinner and a whiskey. Only this night…murder is on the menu! Murder and Mayhem never takes a break! The ticket price of $30/person includes dinner, dessert, beer and wine. For reservations please leave a message at 979-823-4297. Your phone reservation will be confirmed.
Tickets may also be purchased at the Arts Council of Brazos Valley at 2275 Dartmouth in College Station. (979) 696-2787