Opera & Musical Theater

Ghost the Musical

Posted on · Houston Public Media's Troy Schulze talks with Ghost the Musical's Steven Grant Douglas, who plays "Sam" (the Patrick Swayze role), about the famous pottery scene and adapting movies into musicals. The show runs at the Hobby Center through February 23.

Opera & Musical Theater

Texas Repertory Theatre: The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue

Posted on · Garbage strikes, noisy neighbors, crime and unemployment. We shouldn’t laugh, but we do. It’s Neil Simon’s classic comedy, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, currently at Northwest Houston’s Texas Repertory Theatre. Catherine Lu chats with the stars, Steve Fenley (Artistic Director) and Lisa Thomas-Morrison, who play a couple trying to cope with the problems and angst of modern life in 1970s Manhattan.

Opera & Musical Theater

Freud’s Last Session at the Alley

Posted on · Freud’s Last Session at the Alley, imagines a meeting between the dying psychoanalyst and ardent atheist Sigmund Freud, and the young, recently converted to Christian belief, Oxford don C.S. Lewis.  Set in London in 1939 as Britain is poised to go to war with Germany, the play is filled with exciting ideas passionately debated.  The two cast members, James Black and Jay Sullivan, talk with St.John Flynn.  

Opera & Musical Theater

Opera in the Heights’ Don Giovanni

Posted on · Opera in the Heights’ third production of the season opened last weekend at Lambert Hall.  Two of the production's principals, along with artistic director & conductor Enrique Carreón-Robledo and stage director Stephanie Havey, came into the Geary Studio with St.John Flynn to offer a preview of Mozart’s great work.  

Opera & Musical Theater

Classical Theatre Company Presents Dr. Faustus

Posted on · Currently on stage at The Barn downtown is the Classical Theatre Company’s latest production, Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, the story of a man who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for unfettered worldly power.  The director, Philip Hays, and actors Adam Gibbs and James Belcher talk with St.John Flynn about the production.  

Opera & Musical Theater

The Passenger: HGO’s North American Premiere

Posted on · This past weekend Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger opened at Houston Grand Opera.  Written in 1968, it was suppressed by the Soviet authorities and didn't receive its first full-staging until 2010.  Now The Passenger is making its U.S. debut.  HGO Music Director Patrick Summers, and stage director David Pountney, talk about this overlooked, highly emotional work.  

Opera & Musical Theater

Todd Waite as Crumpet: The Santaland Diaries at the Alley Theatre

Posted on · Actor Todd Waite reprises his role as “Crumpet the Elf” for the sixth straight year in the Alley Theatre’s annual presentation of The Santaland Diaries based on David Sedaris’ comedy cult classic.  Todd Waite talks with St.John Flynn about the rigors and satisfaction of playing Santa’s irreverent Christmas helper.  

Opera & Musical Theater

Pulitzer-Winning Opera Debuts on HoustonPBS

Posted on · Silent Night, the opera which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2012 for Amercian composer Kevin Puts, debuts Wednesday, December 18th, on HoustonPBS/Ch 8.2. One of the lead roles in the world première Minnesota Opera production was sung by Houston-based baritone Liam Bonner.  He talks to St.John Flynn about the opera.  

Opera & Musical Theater

Lisette Oropesa & The Met’s New Falstaff

Posted on · This Saturday’s Met Opera broadcast and Live in HD transmission is a performance of Robert Carsen’s brand new production of Verdi’s final opera, his comic masterpiece Falstaff.  Soprano Lisette Oropesa is singing the role of Nannetta.  She talks with St.John Flynn from the Metropolitan Opera House.