Email Author Peter Szatmary

1995 Stories by Peter Szatmary

• Season's Greetings

  published December 21, 1995

  "Oh my, it's fruitcake weather!" If you have 45 minutes to spare before Christmas, you absolutely must meet (or reacquaint yourself with) who says... More >>

• Mixed Music

  published December 14, 1995

  Is it worth going to the theater to see a stage version of Singin' in the Rain when the classic 1952 movie musical is at the video store? The... More >>

• Oh, Carol!

  published December 7, 1995

  Dancing from the spirit world. Rapping from uptown. Stripteasing from the wrong side of the tracks. Something from the avant-garde, perhaps? Nope.... More >>

• Caught on History's Wheel

  published September 14, 1995

  With College of the Mainland Arena Theatre's production of Robert Schenkkan's The Kentucky Cycle, Part Two, the 1995-96 theater season gets off to... More >>

• No Self Benefaction

  published August 31, 1995

  What does it mean when you're not getting the roles you think you can handle? That you're not talented? Or that it's all a question of who you... More >>

• Island Rumbles

  published August 17, 1995

  Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals' production of West Side Story is as contradictory as the (in)famous teenagers themselves. Moody, mercurial and... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published August 3, 1995

  For the past year or so, I'd been wondering if Main Street Theater continued to deserve its reputation as one of Houston's better small companies.... More >>

• A Pericles to Ponder

  published August 3, 1995

  The good news from the 21st summer season of the Houston Shakespeare Festival -- featuring Pericles and As You Like It -- is that Pericles is... More >>

• Stage Notes, Hate Crimes & Misdemeanors

  published July 27, 1995

  The Alley's finally gotten around to that Houston community theater favorite, I Hate Hamlet. To the Alley's credit, playwright Paul Rudnick's 1991... More >>

• Vietnam, via Broadway

  published July 27, 1995

  On the eve of the Houston debut of Miss Saigon, producer Cameron Mackintosh was confident about his contribution to contemporary musical theater.... More >>

• Play With Your Food

  published July 20, 1995

  Like most critics, I don't normally pay attention to what the crowd thinks. One reason is that I usually see shows on opening night; those... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published July 20, 1995

  Houston is presently host to two open-air theater offerings that, though diametrically opposed, are both worth seeing. The Will Rogers... More >>

• Marital Bliss, Monkish Miss

  published July 13, 1995

  The origin of I Do! I Do! is as charming as the hit musical itself. World War II, Holland: a young writer named Jan de Hartog evokes German ire... More >>

• A Tale of a Tune

  published July 6, 1995

  "Houston Proud" may be a familiar refrain in the Bayou City, but for some reason, it's one that's never really applied to Houston native Tommy... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published July 6, 1995

  At a recent reception honoring playwright Tony Kushner at the Omni Houston Hotel, Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd smiled when he... More >>

• Light Lesson

  published June 22, 1995

  Of the talents August Wilson brings to playwrighting, brevity surely isn't one of them. Steeped in folk language and vernacular wisdom, Wilson... More >>

• Gay Times

  published June 15, 1995

  An extraordinary sign of the times, pointed out to me by The Group's Joe Watts: five plays currently running in Houston reflect a gay conceit and... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published June 8, 1995

  First, the bad news: Stages isn't able to afford a summer season. Next, the good news: despite being financially strapped, the company is in no... More >>

• All in the Family

  published June 8, 1995

  "It ain't just dirt. It's land. It's a live thing," proclaims one member of the Rowen clan, ready to do anything imaginable -- and much that isn't... More >>

• Highland Fling

  published June 1, 1995

  Except for a most unwelcome pre-curtain speech, Denton Yockey, executive director of Lone Star Performing Arts Association, puts on a bonny show... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published June 1, 1995

  Tweaking Tennessee: Cross Big Mama from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Amanda from The Glass Menagerie and what do you get? Big Amanda, that's what.... More >>

• A Glut of Gurney

  published May 25, 1995

  I don't mean to sound like a crank, but Houston theater companies, come on. Enough with A.R. Gurney already! Some half-dozen Gurney plays have... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published May 25, 1995

  Lively Albee: Never one to rest on his laurels, Edward Albee -- whose Three Tall Women recently won him his third Pulitzer -- just finished... More >>

• Bridesmaid's Bash

  published May 18, 1995

  So I'm sitting in the snug confines of the Houston Skyline Theatre along with the rest of the packed crowd, enjoying The Gypsy Theatre Company's... More >>

• Stage Notes

  published May 18, 1995

  Alley-goers who expected to see Susan Sontag's Alice in Bed next week -- it had been set for a May 20-27 run -- can lower their expectations: the... More >>