Stage Notes, Hate Crimes & Misdemeanors
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 Broadway smash remains bouncy, and since Alley audiences aren’t likely to patronize more modest venues, I guess the Johnny-come-latelyness of its production is only a theatrical misdemeanor. Too,…
Vietnam, via Broadway
On the eve of the Houston debut of Miss Saigon, producer Cameron Mackintosh was confident about his contribution to contemporary musical theater. “Not compromising the standards once the show leaves New York,” he concluded via telephone from his London offices. “I insist on making the show the same wherever it…
A Boy and His Cetacean
Discussing 1993’s year in movies, veteran Hollywood scriptwriter William Goldman — who wrote the screenplays for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men and Marathon Man, and authored the classic how-to book Adventures in the Screen Trade — singled out Free Willy as a story he wished…
High Hopes
The very technology that makes IMAX 3D so lifelike is the same technology that makes it a barren vehicle for dramatic films. For every frame in which you can kiss Val Kilmer on the lips, you’re required to sacrifice hundreds of frames of something much more important — the very…
Mountain of Memories
Whether he’s following the fictional adventures of a modern-day wild child in Nell, or casting a sympathetic eye at a real-life rock star on the edge in Bring on the Night, director Michael Apted approaches filmmaking with the same robust appreciation for narrative nuance and anthropological detail. It’s difficult, if…
The Insider
All the King’s Towels Bob Lanier gets the royal treatment from a compliant City Council, so visitors to the Lanier digs at The Huntingdon tower shouldn’t be surprised to find that the monogram on Hizzoner’s bath towels features a crown above the initials “R.L.” (First lady Elyse’s towels are more…
Vindicated
When Shirley Brady won a $1.2 million judgment against three Houston Independent School District supervisors and a consultant last week, HISD lawyers protested that the federal jury had based its decision on emotions, not facts. Granted, said HISD lawyer Ivan Mlachak, Brady’s supervisors did make her miserable in her job…
Vikram’s Kimberly Moment
Vikram Chandra offers a Hindi phrase to describe his career: “Apun fillum line mein hai, bidu.” That’s the Bombay way of saying, “I’m in show biz, babe.” The owlish, 34-year-old Chandra is indeed in show business, at least peripherally: he’s a writer for an Indian television soap opera, City of…
Press Picks
thursday july 27 Venetian Paintings This evening, at just about the time that it stops being devil-hot, James Clifton, director of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, will lead a walking tour of the Museum of Fine Art’s current exhibition of Venetian paintings from the collection of that selfsame Sarah Campbell…
Diner’s Notebook
I have been much preoccupied with restaurant slippage recently, so it gladdens me to encounter a place that has managed to improve itself significantly. Veneto, that charmingly kitschy trattoria off T.C. Jester on the near northwest side, has replaced its overly schmoozy and strutting chef with a far more involved…
Jewel in the Pines
Writing about the Williams Smokehouse makes me nervous. I find myself irrationally fearful that committing its charms to paper will make this storybook cottage of a barbecue joint vanish overnight — tall pines, immaculate woodpile, magisterial pork ribs and all. There is something improbably Brigadoonlike in the bucolic pocket of…
Irish Ambassadors
During a three-decade career that’s included 31 albums, the Chieftains have earned the reputation as the world’s premier performers of traditional Irish music. In fact, the Irish government has proclaimed the group the country’s greatest musical ambassadors. That’s why, at first blush, the most recent Chieftains CD, The Long Black…
Sound Check
If you’ve ever read a review of movie soundtrack music, you already know the drill. The reviewer, taking his or her cue from press release material that hasn’t been updated at least since The Crow hit theaters, will try to convince you that the music contained on the disc is…
Letters
Arte Pblico Protests This is to protest your running Claudia Kolker’s totally biased, one-sided attack on Arte Pblico Press [News, “Family Feud, June 29]. First of all, Ms. Kolker lied to me when she obtained my interview, stating she was “updating” a previous story run by the Houston Press and…
Critic’s Choice
Herb Ellis doesn’t waste time, either on the bandstand or in his personal interactions. It’s the humble philosophy of a lifelong musician who has seen enough time slide idly by his window, the result of too much alcohol and not enough inner peace. Many years have passed since this veteran…
Junior or Joke?
Bob Wills Jr. cannot come to the phone. He’s too ill to speak, his wife Elizabeth explains. Through her lawyer, Elizabeth insists she will not leave his bedside — not to speak to a reporter, anyway, not to dredge up these painful memories and allegations one more time. Elizabeth Wills,…
The Sound and the Fury
Late on a Sunday night, Rob Thorn leaned over the microphone and told his people he needed them. The Voice of Freedom is a listener-supported radio show, he said. He had no mugs or T-shirts, but if you give generously, you might win a bulletproof vest. If you already have…
Blowed Up Real Good
Over the past several months, few bands in America have enjoyed the momentum of Hootie and the Blowfish, whose “Hold My Hand” and “Let Her Cry” have spent weeks at a time in the top five on the singles chart, as their major label debut, Cracked Rear View, steamed its…