Check out our slideshow, The Year in Houston Theater.
Well, we guess it's sort of official. Last month, influential money magazine Forbes bestowed upon our very own Houston its highest ranking as "America's Coolest City to Live." We're number one! Thanks, guys, but you're a little late. We've known this for years.
Forbes liked our youthful diversity, business-friendly policies, world-class museums and multicultural streetscape. It also tallied our restaurants and bars per capita. But there was one criterion that caught our eye, and we quote: "a strong theater scene." Yes, indeed. We've got every city beat in that department.
Sure, New York theater, the Oz of drama, has glitz and the sheen of Broadway; San Francisco has Berkeley Rep's cutting edge; San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse workshops more world premieres than anyone else (Jersey Boys is that company's current cash cow); Chicago's got improv comedy down to a science; and Jupiter, Florida, has Burt Reynolds. But we on the Bayou have it all — okay, no Burt.
The variety and quality of our theater are unsurpassed, season after season. New companies open all over town, our university departments deliver consistently high-end productions, our regional theater is second to none and our professional troupes rival anything seen on Broadway. The depth of the product, the creative range of our actors and the pure joy exuded by everyone in putting on a show are marvels to behold. Nothing in the arts grabs the imagination and shakes us up more than live theater.
It's time that we at the Houston Press honor our city's incredibly rich theater scene — and this year's season was particularly savory. For the inaugural Houston Theater Awards, we at the Press put our heads together and whittled categories and countless nominees to the winners and finalists you see below. To Houston's credit, the sheer weight of evidence we sifted through is ample proof of our theater's sterling caliber.
The Theater Awards will be an annual event, and, since this is our first presentation, we may have overlooked a category or nominee in our zeal and excitement. We welcome our readers' feedback. And if you missed any of these marvelous productions from last season, with their knock-your-socks-off performances, well, a new theater season has just begun to stir anew your heart and mind. Live theater is one of the wonders of the world, so go and be invigorated. It's the greatest show on earth.
Silence your cell phones and unwrap those candies. The overture has begun, curtain's going up. Ladies and gentlemen, we present the first annual Houston Theater Awards. If you can, please hold your applause until the end. —D.L.Groover
Editor's note: The following assessments were reached after considering community input and our own attendance at Houston theater offerings and written by Press theater critics D.L. Groover and Jim Tommaney, Arts and Culture Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez and Editor Margaret Downing. Tommaney, who works with Edge Theatre, did not vote for his theater or write up any category that contained it.
Best Play/Production
The Coast of Utopia (Main Street Theater)
Main Street Theater scored a coup when it obtained the rights to stage Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy (Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage) about 19th-century Russian revolutionaries. The first sanctioned production since the New York premiere, Main Street's immaculately acted version crackled with electric theatricality as it concentrated on the intimate personal struggles of these overheated young thinkers on the cusp of changing their world. Stoppard's time-tripping adventure with its dense, witty text glowed with sympathy and was most effective when downplaying the spectacle. Politics is no match for the human heart. The tears it inspired were tears of joy for imbuing this multiple-Tony Award winner with unapologetic intelligence and sensibility. Stoppard's most magnificent ship sailed forth full-rigged with sails billowing, and only got better as the voyage proceeded. The three plays represent contemporary drama without parallel. In every way, it was the theatrical event of the year.
Finalists: Mikelle Johnson's American Falls (Catastrophic Theatre); Samuel Beckett's Endgame (Catastrophic Theatre); Suzan-Lori Parks's In the Blood (Back Porch Players); and Michael Frayn's Noises Off (Alley Theatre).
Best Musical
Next to Normal (Stages Repertory Theatre)
The regional premiere of the rock musical Next to Normal at Stages Repertory Theatre had innovative staging, superb performances and lighting dusted with magic. The music by Tom Kitt is virtually continuous, with moments of special power such as the duel for Diana's love in "I Am the One," or when Diana is forced to choose in "Make Up Your Mind." The book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey form a perfect combination — achingly deep involvement tempered with ironic distance — that serves the work admirably. Poignant and heartbreaking, it etched into our soul with the acid of truth.
Finalists: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (Generations Theatre); Finian's Rainbow (Bayou City Concert Musicals); My Fair Lady (Masquerade Theatre); and Sanctified (Ensemble Theatre).
