I’m not asking, I’m driving.

Glorious Return for Lone Star Lyric by David Dow Bentely III, The People’s Critic

If operetta (as diva Beverly Sills famously observed) is “pure whipped cream,” then Houston’s annual Lone Star Lyric Theatre Festival must surely be the cherry on top. [...] Bouncing between New York and Houston, [LSL founder Kelli Estes'] youthful sparkle and boundless energy have now propelled Lone Star into a second season scheduled for this June. If the group’s elegant Sneak Preview Gala and fundraiser (held last night at Houston’s Ovations Theatre ) was any indication of the quality to come, readers should get their tickets early.

Click on the link for the whole thing.

[originally from 2.14.2007]
From Café Hayek:

Hmmmm:
What a world we live in. At Midomi, you can hum or sing a few bars of a song and it will find a recording of the song for you along with a bunch of amateur renditions. It’s a great time waster and a way to amaze your kids. It actually works which is marvelous and beautiful, though it may not have your song in the database, yet. Why is it called Midomi? Check out the logo.

(HT: MyDigiMedia)

I’ll be playing Cogsworth (and Roy Johnson will be playing Lumiere) in Fort Bend Theatre’s production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

February 29 and March 1 at 8pm
March 2 at 3pm
at the Stafford Centre
Tickets available online or by calling 281-208-3333.

Starbucks To Give Away Free iTunes Songs:
by Associated Press

Starbucks Corp plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that’s about to debut in select markets.

From Oct 2 to Nov 7, baristas in the company’s more than 10,000 U.S. stores will hand out about 1.5 million ‘Song of the Day’ cards each day. The cards can be redeemed at Apple Inc’s online iTunes Store.

Also such luminaries as Dennis Arrowsmith, Dan Buchannan, Allison Greene, John Weinel, and more!

The Museum of Fine Arts, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens:

Opera Under the Stars at Bayou Bend

Presented by Opera Vista

Cabildo
Amy Beach (1867-1944)

Saturday, September 22, 2007 8:00 PM
(Rain date September 29)

TEXAS PREMIERE!

$20 General Admission
$15 MFAH Members & Students with I.D.

Purchase Tickets

A first at Bayou Bend! A modern opera performed outdoors on the lawn of the expansive Diana Garden, with the 1920s mansion as the backdrop. Bring your folding chair or blanket and join us for a memorable evening of music and beauty. Opera Vista’s cast of 11 singers accompanied by a small orchestra will delight us with the Texas premiere of Cabildo, composed in 1932 by American composer Amy Beach, but performed for the first time in 1995 at Lincoln Center in New York.

In the opera, a group of tourists are led to the Cabildo, the old Louisiana governor’s mansion in New Orleans, and into the cell of the notorious pirate Pierre Lafitte who was imprisoned there during the war of 1812. One of the tourists accidentally stays in the cell and falls asleep. She dreams of Lafitte, his beloved Lady Valerie and his escape from prison.

Opera Vista is a new organization in Houston dedicated to presenting modern and contemporary works in innovative, interactive performances: www.operavista.org.

Gate opens at 7:30 p.m.; performance begins at 8 p.m. Door prizes during intermission presented by KUHF 88.7 FM - Houston Public Radio. Beverages available for purchase. No outside food or drink (except water). The evening will conclude before 10:00 p.m.

Call 713-639-7758 for more information and alternate parking arrangements for people with disabilities.

The Country Playhouse (in Town & Country Village, I-10W @ Beltway presents The Music Man, July 12-28, 2007

Thu-Sat, 7:30pm performance
Sun Matinees, July 15 & 22, 2:30pm performance
Sat Matinee, July 28, 2:30pm performance

Adults - $25.00 per ticket
Seniors (65+) and Students w/I.D. - $22.00 per ticket
Groups of 20 or more - $20 per ticket
Children, age 10 and Under - $12.00 per ticket

Tickets on sale now - to order please go here
or call 713-467-4497 for tickets, any special needs and/or season tickets.

The Country Playhouse
12802 Queensbury
Houston, TX - United States

I’m playing Mayor Shinn and am Music Director for the show.

Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Date: Jun 12, 2007; Section:Style; Page Number:29

REVIEW Music
Mikado performers are a delight
BY ERIC E. HARRISON ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

HOT SPRINGS — A more enjoyable Mikado never did in the Spa City exist, and not just because this was the Hot Springs Music Festival’s first venture into Gilbert & Sullivan.

Artistic director and conductor Richard Rosenberg assembled a quality concert performance with a top-notch collection of singer-actors, a fine chorus and a serviceable young orchestra Sunday night at the Hot Springs Youth Center, aka the old high school field house.

Keith Jurosko of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players made a triumphant return to Hot Springs after his success as the evil magician in Cole Porter’s Aladdin last summer.

He was entirely in his element, as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner of the Japanese town of Titipu, and also as director (creating some charming bits of limited staging) and script doctor (infusing some topical and/or local references into W.S. Gilbert’s 120-year-old libretto). A pair of paper Japanese kissing fish provided a little bit of mood enhancement as a sort of quasiproscenium arch.

Victor Khodadad was a vibrant Nanki-Poo, the emperor’s son disguised as a wandering minstrel to capture the love of soprano Daleen Davidson’s excellent Yum-Yum. Denise Edds was delightful as Yum-Yum’s second banana, Pitti-Sing.

Joe Carl White was hilarious stepping up into the role of officious official Pooh-Bah, while Scott L. Beasley did a fine job as a late replacement as sidekick Pish-Tush. William Fulton gave a nicely whimsical performance in the title role. Top honors, however, go to Diane Kesling, who was superbly over the top as the harridan Katishaw.

The chorus “of schoolgirls, nobles, guards and coolies” was in good voice and diction. The orchestra, mostly young players (without “mentors” in the string section), seemed a little lackluster in the overture (only the bass drummer seemed to show much snap) but otherwise executed Sir Arthur Sullivan’s score well.

It may sound heretical, but at a performing length of more than two hours and 45 minutes (including a half-hour intermission), a couple of judicious cuts in the libretto might have been in order.

The festival continues through Saturday at various venues around Hot Springs. For additional information, call (501) 623-4763.

And I certainly don’t act it. Leaving in an hour or so to drive to Arkansas to sing Pooh-Bah in a concert Mikado at the Hot Springs Music Festival, then playing Mayor Shinn and music directing The Music Man at Country Playhouse. Should be a fun summer.

This weekend will be the last chance to see HITS’ production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, in which I play the King. Showtimes are 8pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The show is free, but if you want to sit in the covered seating, you have to get tickets at the Miller box office in Hermann Park between 11am and 1pm the day of the show. But camping on the hill is more fun, so bring a blanket, a picnic basket, and come enjoy the show!