So Many Faces

THU 4/29

Infernal Bridegroom Productions has always had a knack for taking your average
ne’er-do-well and making her into a star. Featuring a cast of 76 players, The
Hotel Play is guaranteed to be chock-full of new faces. Written by Wallace
Shawn (the “inconceivable!” guy from The Princess Bride), this cult play
is set during a single day at a tropical hotel. Seen through the eyes of the
omniscient hotel clerk, our crazy world is refracted with Alice in Wonderland
logic and surreal buffoonery. “I really like the play a lot,” says Anthony
Barilla, the director of IBP’s biggest project to date. “It’s really funny and
very beautiful. We see a lot of people for very brief moments, which makes what
they’re doing seem a little stranger than it actually is. There is some strangeness
I could tell you about, but it would ruin the end of the play, which ends in
a place you don’t expect.”

“Even the nonactors are fantastic,” he says. “Everybody’s brought something
really cool to the show, so no one’s just taking up space.” With all those people
squeezed into the bandbox that is the Axiom, that’s a good thing. Opens at 8
p.m. Thursday, April 29. Through Saturday, May 22. The Axiom, 2524 McKinney.
For information, call 713-522-8443 or visit www.infernalbridegroom.com.
$6 to $15. — D.L. Groover

Joe-Jitsu
The man brings his show to
the Laff Stop

Joe Rogan is one lucky bastard. By rights he should still be driving limos,
working construction or even delivering papers in Boston. But hosting two mega-successful
TV shows, Fear Factor and The Man Show? Or spending five years
on NBC’s hit sitcom NewsRadio? We’re talking Joe, whose biggest gig at
one time was as an MC at a strip club, right? Right. His success could’ve happened
to a nicer guy, but probably not a tougher one. Rogan, a U.S. tae kwon do grand
champion, struts his badass-shtick on the comedy circuit, not television. So
don’t expect the pleasantly dumb guy from NewsRadio at his shows, but
rather a ranting, potty-mouthed howler from the Lenny Bruce/Richard Pryor school.
The guy who once noted that “behind every porn star is a creepy uncle” kicks
it at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, through Sunday, May 2. The Laff Stop, 1952
West Gray. For a full schedule, call 713-524-2333 or visit www.laffstop.com.
$20 to $29.50. — Steven Devadanam

Suspensful Show

SAT 5/1

Dance Theater Workshop, the premiere showcase for emerging dance talent, is
making a pit stop in Houston with two of its recent finds, Donna Uchizono Company
and Headlong Dance Theater. Uchizono’s “Butterflies from My Hand” opens with
a dancer suspended in air, hanging onto a red curtain. The piece dramatically
unfolds as the dancer cuts the material she’s clinging to. “This dance poses
provocative questions about the possibilities of loss and vulnerability and
the power gained through the act of letting go,” says Uchizono. Headlong Dance
Theater, a dance/comedy troupe notorious for irreverent performances, shares
the bill. 8 p.m. Saturday, May 1. Cullen Theater in the Wortham Center, 501
Texas. For information, call 713-227-4772 or visit www.spahouston.org.
$26 to $40. — Nancy Galeota-Wozny

Close Shave

It took k.d. lang completely outing herself — when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair being shaved by Cindy Crawford — for focus to be rightly shifted from her lesbianism to her music, where it belongs. Her velvety, Patsy Cline-esque crooning is downright orchestral, making her gig this weekend with the Houston Symphony a perfect fit. Lang performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana. For information, call 713-224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. $35 to $90. — Steven Devadanam