Passion Play
It takes real cojones for a theater of any size to tackle Shakespeare. And when an outfit as small as Main Street Theater decides to stage Othello, it’s hard not to be amazed at the outright audacity of the choice. Elizabethan tragedy is huge, hyperbolic, emotionally wild. Storms rage, wars…
Traviata: Racette’s Latest Triumph
Lyric soprano Patricia Racette practically sizzles between rasping coughs in her role as the consumptive Parisian courtesan who dies before she gets her man in La Traviata. As the curtain rises in the Houston Grand Opera’s new production, she lies voluptuous and long-suffering on a fuchsia couch, surrounded only by…
Past Imperfect
Sean Welling oozed testosterone as he took the Kaplan Theatre stage last weekend amid smoke, flashing lights and the slick voice-overs of a taped “announcer.” From a line of blond bombshells, he grabbed one in an up-to-there flapper costume and muscled her around, an attempt at swing dancing that paled…
Letters
Grin and Barrett Someone ought to tell Georgette Mosbacher that if she’s going to indulge in snooty and “witty” literary name-dropping, she should at least drop the right names [“How to Divorce a Millionaire,” by Lisa Gray, January 28]. In an excerpt from her book It Takes Money, Honey, she…
Spirit of Texas
Steelworker stands more than 12 feet tall and holds his testing ladle beside him the way a sentry holds his gun. The helmeted worker, located a short spring from the University of Houston’s art department, is Luis Jimenez’s fiberglass homage to the immigrant population who built the milling industry. But…
Walter Mitty in Robes?
Associates say 14th Court of Appeals Chief Justice Paul Clarence Murphy III is, in person, about as courteous and accommodating an Irish gentleman as one could ever hope to meet. But since Governor George Bush elevated him from being just a regular jurist on the court in 1995, a racier,…
Cryin’ Shame
Short of nuclear holocaust, a major sale at Kmart or a confirmed Clint Eastwood sighting back in rural Iowa, there’s probably no way to keep the movie version of Message in a Bottle from overwhelming the tender emotions of the hearts-and-flowers crowd. After all, this relentless assault on the tear…
Ho, Ho, Ho
“Sorry I’m late, kids,” says Dave Chappelle, holding his crotch. “Santa got caught up with some pussy in Vegas. I had to sell some toys to get back.” The 25-year-old comedian is doing his idea of a black Santa Claus on a riotous HBO Comedy Half-hour where he also sounds…
All That Jazz
Now that Houston has become, however fleetingly, a good jazz town, with more live jazz available on a Tuesday night than on a Saturday of even one year ago, the Rice Media Center’s weekend of documentaries on Charles Mingus and Dexter Gordon is very welcome. After seeing Charles Mingus: Triumph…
Night & Day
Thursday February 11 In the human view of the insect world, there are good bugs and there are bad bugs. We consider some (such as parasitic wasps, lacewings, praying mantises, assassin bugs and ladybugs) to be good guys because they eat huge numbers of soft-bodied, plant-eating pests. But others (including…
When the Circus Comes To Town
Reginald Parr doesn’t look like he should — not if he’s supposed to be the good guy. None of his businesses — welding, rental property maintenance, big-cat stewardship — are particularly clean endeavors. He wears his hair long and stringy and brushed back into a thinning suggestion of the blond…
The Witching Hour
Sabrina might be following in the nice-witch broom-wake of Samantha from the smash ’60s sitcom Bewitched, but most supernatural shows of late are a little more rebellious. Think naughty Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic, the spell-casting sidekick Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wicked Shannen Doherty in her post-90210 vehicle…
Book of Love
William July gave Jamey Lacy a copy of his book, Brothers, Lust and Love: Thoughts on Manhood, Sex and Romance, when they met at a how-to-find-a-publisher workshop. It was the summer of ’96, and he had just self-published the 126-page self-help book geared toward black women; Lacy was thinking of…
Dish
Rags to Ruggles Nowadays, lots of middle-class kids want to grow up, become a celebrity chef and make millions. They go to fancy cooking schools; they do stints in Europe; they have fancy resumes. And they dream of presiding over an A-list restaurant like the ultrachic (and recently renamed) Ruggles…
Crystal Clear Persuasion
In an almost nightly ritual of 14 years, Alvaro “Al” Barretto made the rounds of his domain, the Crystal Nite Club, on a late Wednesday in December 1997. The 32-year-old entrepreneur, who had immigrated from Uruguay as a child, now savored the successes for his string of Houston salsa clubs…
Hot Plate
Custom crispy critters: Choose half orders of any two grilled items on the menu to compose your own special Mixed Grill plate, $18.95 at the Tuscany Grill [3910-C Kirby, (713)522-4722]. Candidates most worthy of consideration are the plump little quail stuffed with fontina cheese, prosciutto, sun-dried cherries and walnuts, and…
Kingwood Legal Follies
Mayor Lee P. Brown has been careful in his freshman year to couch his policies in a “Be Like Bob” mode. After capitalizing on his predecessor’s undeclared support to win the office, Brown wanted to inherit Bob Lanier’s phenomenal public popularity and appear to carry on Lanier’s programs, while building…
Just What the Doctor Ordered
It’s that time of year. Your sinuses are stopped up, your taste buds dulled by Robitussin. What you need is soup — specifically a fire-breathing potage that’ll clear your head. Gumbo isn’t quite strong enough, even if you lace it with Tabasco. But if you’re in a gumbo mood, try…
News of the Weird
Lead Stories *Joe Firmage, age 28, multimillionaire founder of the high-profile Internet consulting firm USWeb, resigned in January out of fear that the company’s reputation was being hurt by his public announcement that extraterrestrials are responsible for many high-tech inventions, such as semiconductors and lasers. According to his autobiography, which…
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Entering Cafe Caracas from the commercial clamor of Westheimer is like stepping into a 19th-century bandbox. Imagine a turn-of-the-century sidewalk cafe turned outside in: The strip center storefront’s interior is cleverly made over with architectural elements — doorframes, decorative moldings, iron window grilles and wooden shutters — applied to walls…
Fecal Distraction
The Monday-morning commute makes lots of Houston drivers feel like crap. But most don’t expect to actually drive through it. Which is exactly what happened to several motorists last week when a Mack truck toting 25 tons of what’s politely known as “remnants of the wastewater treatment process” braked suddenly…
Viva Verdi
Tales abound for why Verdi’s debut of La Traviata in Venice was a dismal failure. Some point to a lackluster response to its contemporary setting during his time (1850s). This is inaccurate, though, since the show was set in the 1700s. Others blame it on the too-plump soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli,…
We’re Number One
Chicago’s alternative rock bands can take themselves pretty seriously. From Tortoise’s postrock self-indulgence to Liz Phair’s postfeminist diatribes to the Smashing Pumpkins’ grandiose tendencies, it’s obvious that having a sense of humor isn’t always required in the Windy City. The Chi-towners of Number One Cup realize it’s only rock and…
That’s the Breaks
There was a time in Houston when “rap music” meant Rap-A-Lot, and that was it. For the better part of the decade, that rap label, led by James “Lil’ J” Smith (now known as James Prince), was at the epicenter of rap in the region. Thanks in part to The…
Rotation
Blondie No Exit Beyond Most pop comebacks, particularly recent ones, are pathetic. Disastrous. Mortifying. (Case in point: Bauhaus.) So when Blondie, a band that defined new wave while somehow managing to maintain street cred, reunites after almost 20 years to release a CD of new material, should we be cringing…
Perseverin’ Papas
The Soul Survivors, a quintet of R&B/ jazz/studio veterans, features a repertoire of ’60s and ’70s pop/R&B tunes, jazz standards and soulful originals filled with a unique, greasy, sticky sound — not surprising considering who its members are. Guitarist Cornell Dupree, bassist Chuck Rainey and drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie all…