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  • Christmas Theater 2025, Part I – Houston Press

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    Take the Soul Train to Christmas

    If you can disregard the paint-by-numbers plotting of Ekundayo Bandele’s Take the Soul Train to Christmas, now playing at Ensemble Theatre, you can sit back and relax while the song and dance numbers play like sugarplums in your head. There is mighty fine talent on display, especially from the young thespians who are a delight, although their faux bickering gets a bit annoying as the show progresses. But they can also stop the show like the pros-in-training they are.

    Kyra Bob (Ida), Imani Belle Giles (Rosa), and Raimi Alford (Ned) are school chums writing an essay on how Blacks have celebrated Christmas through the years. They awaken Ida’s grandpa (a sprightly Kevin Davis, Jr.) and before you can say magic pixie dust, he summons up the Soul Train to whisk them back into history. He was a proud Pullman Porter in his day. So off they go, bickering all the time, especially Ned and Rosa, the bossy one. The train is conjured by the diverse seven-member ensemble who chug and choochoo to Aisha Ussery’s perfunctory choreography, but they sing like angels.

    There’s also a slinky Narrator (Ramaj Jamar) in high hat, aubergine coat, and canary yellow shirt and trousers, twirling a cane like a drum major, who sets the scenes for us. He appears throughout as spectator or commentator, changing his top hat for an Igbo cap in the ‘80s. Jamar has a devious charm, sort of a stepchild of Cabaret’s master of ceremonies at the Kit Kat Club. He weaves his way into the narrative as he sings and struts, insinuating himself into the proceedings.

    First stop is an antebellum plantation during the 1800s accompanied by drumbeats and the Nativity tale, “The Drinking Gourd.” Swoosh, off to Harlem during the ‘20s Renaissance where Billie Holiday sings “I Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” sung with aplomb and velvety charm by Brytanni Davis. At the end everyone breaks into a jive dance, one of Ussery’s best numbers, if fleeting.

    Except for Holiday’s classic, the songs are original, and credited to a “Don Wright,” which turns out to be the name of the musical production company of Ussery and Soul Train’s music director Melvin Johnson. I assume the duo composed the songs. The numbers are not listed in the playbill, which is a grave slight on Ensemble’s part, considering this is a musical. Not to list the songs and the singers who sing them is disrespectful. So here they are: Hindolo Bongey, Ryhan Brown, Brytanni Davis, Jarius Jones, Melody King, Fortune Onwunali and Brianna Wyatt.

    Eras are ticked off like an old movie’s calendar pages: the ‘60s are mired in Civil Rights protest with “We Shall Overcome,” with power to spare by Jones and Wyatt; the ‘80s boast big Afros, dashikis, and the nascent Black Pride Movement with a cute contest for biggest hair. The ‘90s are rap-fused with a slam contest between Ida and her girls, and Ned and Rosa with their posse. Along the way, little Alford blows the roof off the Ensemble with a plaintive blues number, “Someday at Christmas.” He croons like a soul singer from yesteryear, ending in heavenly falsetto, and received the loudest applause all night. He deserved it. Young Kyra Bob is a natural scene-stealer with a mega-watt smile and dance talent for days. I hope she uses her talent well, for she’s going to be a star. Mark my words.

    Well, that’s the kids’ trip down memory lane. Christmas seems shoehorned into this pageant that doesn’t have enough singing and dancing. It feels under-baked with so many avenues of history left undiscovered.

    But there’s always Grandpa’s truckin’ and the kids’ prodigious talent on display to keep your interest. This musical is a pleasing stocking stuffer, just not enough of a grand present to unwrap under the tree.

    Take the Soul Train to Christmas continues through December 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main. For more information, call 713-520-0055 or visit ensemblehouston.org. $45-$65.

    Chris Hutchison as Marley’s Ghost in A Christmas Carol Credit: Melissa Taylor

    A Christmas Carol

    The Alley Theatre needn’t rely on auto-pilot – its actors are too good for that – but muscle memory is definitely required for A Christmas Carol.

    In Artistic Director Rob Melrose’s production from 2022, the choreography is as important as Dickens’ goose gravy-rich prose. Characters enter, say a line, then are replaced by another character carrying on the dialogue. Everybody keeps moving. It’s an immensely fluid staging and permits Dickens’ timeless tale to sled along as if played on snowy Cornhill.

    This adaptation is one of the most faithful to Dickens. Dialogue is taken verbatim from the 1843 novella, so we are treated to some of the most fragrant prose in the English language. It’s a delight to hear, but the young ones might be a bit perplexed with such ripe descriptions and old-age adjectives. But the story is clear-cut, the characters well-defined, and the cast is superb in delineating each Victorian portrait.

    Obviously, there are still theater goers new to Carol’s wonders, for there were audible gasps when complications arose that most of us know by heart. No matter, Dickens’ little ghost story never grows stale, and Melrose’s production breathes refreshing life into it. The tale almost feels new.

    This year’s cast is nearly the same as last year’s, but the Alley pros always manage to find something new in their interpretation, some little expression or piece of business that keeps everything crisp. David Rainey reprises his patented Ebenezer Scrooge and delights as the covetous old sinner morphs into the very spirit of Christmas after the visitations of the three Ghosts: Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Blustery and mean in his counting house, when his reclamation arrives Scrooge does a jaunty little jig as he learns his dire fate isn’t set in stone. He can “expunge the writing.” I can hear the little ones, “Mommy, what does expunge mean?” But they get it through osmosis. And Rainey shows them the way.

    All the familiar Alley resident actors fill out the cast in subsidiary roles: Elizabeth Bunch as Christmas Past, all light and white; Dylan Godwin as good and pure Bob Cratchit; Michele Elaine as flirtatious Cornelia; Chris Hutchison as a very scary Marley, whose proclamations echo ominously; Melissa Molano as an underwritten Belle; Christopher Salazar as nephew Fred, among a host of others like Adam Gibbs, Julia Khron, Luis Quintero, unrecognized as the looming Ghost of Christmas Future; Brandon Hearnsberger, Jeremy Gee, and many more. Former resident company member, now retired, Todd Waite is boisterous Fuzziwig, without his Scottish burr from last year.

    But the scene-stealer deluxe is Shawn Hamilton as the rousing Ghost of Christmas Present. His laughing entrance, rising from under Scrooge’s bed, in front of a stained glass window, was greeted by rousing applause. He earns it. What a stunning portrait in his sweeping green gown and bedecked with dreadlocks. He plays with this juicy role like a sly cat pursuing a mouse. He plays with us, too. Slowly he wraps his fingers around his magic staff to bestow Christmas cheer to the dispossessed and sad. When he presents “Want” and “Ignorance” from under his voluminous robe, he booms his denunciations. We lean back into our seats. This sly puss is not messing around. Take heed.

    The Alley’s new version of A Christmas Carol is perfect holiday entertainment. Glossy in production and execution with Michael Locher’s wood and brick warehouse look, Raquel Barreto’s detailed Victoriana, Cat Tate Starmer’s Hallmark card lighting, Cliff Caruthers’ sonic sound design, some Christmas carols, some dancing, and Shawn Hamilton in diva Rasta mode (where has he been?), who could ask for a better present? Unwrap this now!

    A Christmas Carol continues through December 28 at various times and dates with matinees and evening performances at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $36 – $138.

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    D. L. Groover

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  • Alley Theatre’s World Premiere of The Body Snatcher – Houston Press

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    For a spooky play that traffics in grave robbing, fog-enshrouded nights, serious anatomy lessons, and what ethical lengths a loving father – a famous surgeon in 1899 London – would go to save his beloved daughter from dying, The Body Snatcher, a world premiere from Katie Forgette (Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Alley 2023) needs more heart.

    Like other doctors before him (Jekyll and Frankenstein come quickly to mind), Robert Noakes (a fiercely committed David Rainey) is ahead of his time as he plays God. He needs a fresh young heart to transplant into his daughter Elizabeth (dewy Alyssa Marek) to keep her from succumbing to his wife’s previous condition of “cardiac inefficiency.” She died young, too. As we’re in the Victorian age of the “resurrectionists,” that shouldn’t be much of a problem, just hire opportunistic Fettes (an unrecognizable Brandon Hearnsberger gleefully eating up the scenery) to snatch a body. What could go wrong?

    Everything, really.

    Awash in the Alley’s munificent production provided by Yu Shibagaki’s pungent set design replete with tomes, vials, anatomy charts; Pablo Santiago’s gang-bang lighting; a gothic sound design (beating hearts, frightened horse whinnies, thunder claps that would have lit up the heart of Hollywood’s master of horror, James Whale); and Asta Bennie Hostettter’s plummy Victorian costumes with their mutton sleeves, swishing muslin dresses, and mismatched plaids, none of this is enough to counter the sketchy rom-com romance between Noake’s daughter and Noake’s precocious assistant Dr. John Brook (Luis Quintero, sporting the most faux mutton chops that immediately stop any romantic notions from the start.) The quick romance never ignites. 

    And what are we to make of obsessed Dr. Noakes? This seemingly most ethical of physicians, a paragon of science, beloved by his students, will do anything to get that heart. His standards are lower than Fettes’. Where are his principles? Is this love for his daughter or love for the historic recognition he will garner from a successful operation? When he is willing to operate on his daughter while still alive, even in his misguided belief that he can save her, we tune out and lose our sympathy. He becomes his own Fettes.

    Act II dips into melodrama as if in a Victorian romance, culminating with Noakes entering the operating theater and addressing his students, preparing to begin a dissection. A shrouded body lies on the table. A veiled female figure sits in the background. Which woman is where?

    Although set ten years after the terror reign of Jack the Ripper in 1888, perhaps that thread could have be woven into Forgette’s drama. Talk about a body snatcher; there was a natural.

    Nimbly directed by the Alley’s Associate Artistic Director Brandon Weinbrenner, this world premiere while fragrant with chills fails to fully deliver. Talky at the beginning with too much exposition, it never catches the fire it promises pictorially. The heart everybody references repeatedly fails to materialize. It beats on the soundtrack, but nowhere else.

    A note to the author: You mention Puccini’s aria from Il Trittico, “O, mio babbino caro.” That opera premiered in 1918, two decades later than your play.

    The Body Snatcher continues through October 26 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $45-$74.                               

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    D. L. Groover

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  • Alley Theatre Sees its Investment in New Plays Pay Off – Houston Press

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    This week, as Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose settles in his seat to watch a play at London’s West End, it won’t be just any production he’s seeing. It’ll be Born With Teeth first developed at Alley Theatre. And he’ll be seated with its playwright Liz Duffy Adams.

    In fact, these are good — the Alley Theatre calls them historic — times for Houston’s premier regional theater. Four productions that began in Houston are now on major stages in New York and London. They are:

    • Torera at WP Theater (Off-Broadway) by Monet Hurst-Mendoza.
    • Gruesome Playground Injuries revival at Second Stage (Off-Broadway) by Rajiv Joseph.
    • The Emporium at Classic Stage Company (Off-Broadway) by Thornton Wilder adapted by Kirk Lynn.
    • Born with Teeth at Wyndham’s Theatre (West End) by Liz Duffy Adams.

    As he told the Houston Press in June, Melrose credits the Alley’s success with new works not only to commissioning them and being open to them through the Alley All New Reading Series, but to the support work they do during and afterward.

    “By the time we do a world premiere we’ve got a pretty deep relationship with the playwright, and we’ve been able to put it on other people’s radar way in advance,” Melrose said.

    “We have partners in other artistic directors and agents and commercial producers and we’re constantly letting them know.”

    “In the case with Born With Teeth we were in many ways agents for the show. We believed in it so much, we put it in Alley All New, we encouraged artistic directors to come see it,” he said. They also sent out videos.

    “It’s a lot of advocacy. There’s kind of two big responsibilities when you do a new play. You’re really responsible for giving it the best production you possibly can and a production the playwright feels proud of. It should really fit with what playwright feels is best representation of their work.”

    Even after the production is over, Melrose said they have meetings, make phone calls. “We kind of take responsibility for getting it its next step.” In the case of Emporium, Melrose will be directing its off-Broadway debut.

    Besides being, as Melrose put it “the right thing to do,” this, in turn, of course helps the Alley. In the past seven years, Melrose said, the Alley has really ratcheted up its support of new plays.

    “It’s a way of showing the world that the Alley is a leader in the American theater.  When we do something, other folks follow. It also makes playwrights more excited about having  their play done with us.”

    “I don’t think we’ve ever had this much success outside of Houston, Melrose said. “This is the first time we’ve just done a play because we believed in it and it got picked up by the West End.”

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Body Snatchers

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    Grave robbing was a real thing in Victorian times and not always for the very worst of reasons. Yes, the people who dealt in this trade were in it for the money and wouldn’t be considered reputable members of society.

    But fresh corpses were often the only way the doctors and researchers could learn about anatomy or practice surgical techniques.  And while removing a body from a grave was initially not illegal in itself, that changed following the infamous  Burke and Hare case in which the enterprising pair in Edinburgh, Scotland, running low on cadavers started killing people to up their supply.

    In The Body Snatcher by Kate Forgette – “inspired” by a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson — the ethics of going to a grave and digging up a corpse are intertwined with the story of a scientist desperately trying to save the life of his daughter. She has a heart condition, although whether it is the same as her mother died from is unclear.

    David Rainey, a Julliard-trained actor now celebrating his 25th year as an Alley resident acting company member, plays Dr. Noakes, whose daughter Elizabeth (played by Alyssa Marek) is about 19 years old, he says.

    “She doesn’t really know yet that she has the kind of heart condition that could kill her. Her mother died around the same age,” says Rainey. Noakes had taken notes during the days leading up to his late wife’s death and now he’s comparing those notes with his daughter’s condition.

    “I’m a brilliant scientist. I’m at the top of my field in medicine , in particular the study of the heart and abnormalities of the heart. I’ve made a specialty of it because  of issues I’ve had in my family,” he says.

    “He’s trying to do heart transplants at a time when there really was no such thing., He’s desperate to find another heart so that when she does pass he can at least make an attempt to try to do a transplant.”

    And that’s the reason he’s dealing with the body snatcher Fettes played by Brandon Hearnsberger.

    Noake is also a university professor. “I have students I’m also trying to cultivate trying to build a mindset about pushing medicine past where it is. I’m also a very determined person because of the situation that I’m in. I’m very no nonsense, very much on a quest because the clock is ticking and if I don’t find a solution then she will expire and I won’t have any chance to help save her.”

    There is a student who Noakes picks out as someone who could help him with the procedure, Rainey says. “He’s sort of the prize student of any of them out there. He also has all the sort of right credentials. He’s got lightning-fast hands and every physician who’s worked with him ends up praising him to the heavens.”

    That student, Dr. John Brook played by Luis Quintero, “also had tragedy in his life, he’s lost his young sister recently which devastated him to the point where he felt like he needed to move.” As a result, he transferred to where Noakes is teaching.

    The two doctors begin working together in Noke’s home lab to try to perfect the procedure. In due course, Dr. Brook and Elizabeth fall in love. “There’s two love stories going on. The love for a father and the daughter and the love story between the doctor and the daughter as well.”
    Others in the cast include: Carolyn Johnson as Mrs. Keene who works in the lab and has a lot of medical knowledge, and Sophia Marcelle as A Young Girl. The Alley’s Associate Artistic Director Brandon Weinbrenner is directing.

    Asked why he wanted to be in this two-act play which, of course, immediately evokes the Frankenstein story of a doctor also seeking to revitalize the dead, Rainey says:

    “It’s exciting. It’s a thriller. Doctor Noakes is a great part. There’s a tremendous love story – a father’s love. And the passion he has to try to save her. It raises the question of what lengths would you go to in order to save the person you care about the most

    “You know what’s right; you know what’s moral. You know what’s too far. But how close can you get to the edge of that?  if you don’t act are you willing to let your daughter die?”

    Adding to the spooky aspect is that the play is being presented in the downstairs more intimate Neuhaus Theatre. “And we have all kinds of cool effects. Body parts and blood. It should be a fun ride for an audience to take in this very British Victorian world.

    “I think there could be one or 2 moments where whole audience could jump.”

    Performances are scheduled for October 3-25 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays , 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Theatre, 615 Texas . For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $45-$74.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Alley Theatre Puts Together a Sleek Da Vinci Code

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    Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is one of the bestselling books of all time, so successful that Hollywood brought it to the big screen with A-lister Tom Hanks. If you’ve read it, or seen the movie, you probably wouldn’t think a stage adaptation inevitable, but that’s what Rachel Wagsstaff and Duncan Abel did, adapting it as a play that you can catch now over at the Alley Theatre.


    Based on its enduring popularity, there’s clearly something in there that resonates with folks. The question is, how well does that something translate to the stage?


    Our not quite intrepid hero here is Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist in Paris for a conference. He is, unexpectedly, called to the Louvre, where a detective, Bezu Fache, shows him the body of curator Jacques Saunière, shot dead and lying starfished on the marble floor. Prior to his death, Saunière drew a pentacle with his own blood and, ostensibly, Fache has called on Langdon to get some insight into the meaning of the symbol.


    Though Langdon quickly explains the symbol and deduces that Saunière has positioned himself as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” thereby making himself a symbol, his expertise isn’t the only reason Fache called him. It turns out that Saunière and Langdon were supposed to meet that night, though Saunière cancelled at the last minute. It’s clear that Fache is suspicious of Langdon, but his investigation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of cryptographer Sophie Neveu.


    Sophie sneakily warns Langdon that he’s in danger, and when they get a little privacy, she reveals that Saunière was her estranged grandfather, and he left behind one more message Fache had yet to reveal: “PS Find Robert Langdon.”


    Fache believes the message implicates Langdon in the killing, but Sophie believes the message was for her, telling her that she needs Langdon to solve her grandfather’s murder. Together, with the police and Saunière’s fanatical killer hot on their trail, Sophie and Langdon set off to unravel a mystery hidden in plain sight that has the potential to “shake the pillars of Western civilization.”

    click to enlarge

    Chris Hutchison and Dylan Godwin in Alley Theatre’s production of The Da Vinci Code.

    Photo by Melissa Taylor

    If you were at all cognizant around the time Brown’s novel was released in 2003, you will remember the overwhelming popularity of his fast-and-loose romp through facts and history. There’s a lot going on, with the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar, and more all coming together to make an improbable, but irresistible page-turner.  


    Wagsstaff and Abel undertook the unenviable task of adapting Brown’s novel, condensing the 454 pages of my hardcover copy into approximately two hours (including a 15-minute intermission). The result is…okay. There’s a bit too much exposition, and though the important beats are present and accounted for, we hit them at a pace that doesn’t leave much time for the characters to develop, and we skate by the puzzles (i.e., the fun part) as too often characters encounter a challenge and solve it in seconds.


    Director Rob Melrose and the design team, the real heroes of the evening, did their best to compensate for the script’s shortcomings. Melrose helms quite the cinematic production, with sound designer John Gromada, who contributes original music to the production, underscoring the show’s movie-like feel with his suspenseful score. The theatricality is heightened by Victoria Beauray Sagady’s sophisticated projections and Thom Weaver’s lighting choices, shifting from a stage filled with striking, glowing color to an unforgiving spotlight dramatically isolating a character at the drop of a hat.


    Speaking of items of clothing, Helen Huang’s costume designs are both apt (Langdon’s tweed jacket, Sophie’s sensible blue suit) and playful (the red heels Elizabeth Bunch dons as Vernet and the chain at Dylan Godwin’s belt).


    Michael Locher’s sleek and dexterous set allows fluid movement from scene to scene, easily going from the Sorbonne, with the first three rows of the audience arranged in chairs as if conference attendees (a fun touch) to the Louvre, with a marble floor and I.M. Pei’s iconic glass pyramid visible, to then a number of locations – a church, a mansion, a bathroom, a private jet, etc. There are also two eye-catchingly beautiful, towering archways put to good use throughout the show.


    The play pays short shrift to its characters, meaning that we don’t get much of an emotional connection to them until the second act, and even then, it may be more of a testament to the actors than what is actually on the page.

    click to enlarge

    Chris Hutchison and Susan Koozin in Alley Theatre’s production of The Da Vinci Code.

    Photo by Melissa Taylor

    As the “Harvard geek,” Robert Langdon, Zack Fine is unassuming and reluctant, a man who mostly seems to go along because it seems like the right thing to do. Fine and Melissa Molano, as the much more gung-ho Sophie, settle into a fun, playful banter in the second act that gives them a chance to show off a little chemistry. Molano hits the right emotional notes at the end, particularly as she encounters a remorseful, but composed Susan Koozin and an at-a-loss Victor J. Flores.


    Todd Waite is a highlight as Sir Leigh Teabing, a character of a character, who is as amusing as he is hoity, while Dylan Godwin, as Teabing’s butler, Rémy, is a stolid, but menacing presence. Also, menacing, though in a different way, is Chris Hutchison’s Silas, who is both disturbing and pitiable.


    Christopher Salazar does his best with the one-note Fache, while Michelle Elaine is able to do more with policewoman Collet (not the least of which is deliver a consistent accent).


    Rounding out the cast is Kevin Cooney, who brings gravitas to Saunière, a role that asks little and offers even less, and Elizabeth Bunch, who adds in some fun character moments in supporting roles, even if they sometimes feel like they are from a different show.


    Despite its seeming ubiquity, not everyone is familiar with The Da Vinci Code. The gasps from the audience at a certain reveal made that clear. Fans of the book won’t get that, both the Alley’s production does still offer one thing to fans and newbies alike: A real stunner of a production, so as you’re swept away in the mystery, you also get quite the view.

    Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through October 19 at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $36-$135.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Signs, Symbols and Biblical References: The Da Vinci Code Goes On Stage at Alley Theatre

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    The Alley Theatre knew back in July it had a winner on its hands, already adding five performances because of the high demand for The Da Vinci Code opening this week. It is, of course, based on the international bestselling book by Dan Brown and with fond audience memories of the 2006 movie starring Tom Hanks

    Zach Fine (Seascape, The Servant of Two Masters and Pictures from Home) is returning to the Alley to play Robert Langdon, the American professor of religious symbology who just happens to be in Paris when a Louvre curator Jacques Saunière is found murdered in the famous art museum. Langdon becomes the prime suspect when a message left by Saunière directs his granddaughter Sophie Neveu to find Langdon, which the police decide means he’s the culprit.

    Langdon and Neveu (Alley Resident Company member Melissa Molano ) team up, escape and seek to solve the crime in a thriller chock full of cryptic references and biblical interpretation. The trip, of course, is not without its dangers and dangerous characters. They end up not only seeking Saunière ‘s killer but in a search for the truth about Mary Magdalene. And, of course, with a title like The Da Vinci Code, Leonardo DaVinci plays a part as well.

    As anyone knows who’s read the book, author Brown covers a lot of ground in its 682 pages. How did adaptors Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel wrestle that into what Fine describes as “a very brisk two-act?”?

    “The good thing about the book is that it has such good action in it so you can really go from action event to action event,” Fine says. “Some of the historical detail that Dan Brown adds in the book, you don’t get as much of that in the play.” The result, he says, goes pretty quickly.

    Describing his character, Fine says: “Intrepid,  passionate,  balanced, a truth seeker and someone who is a bit more comfortable with books than people. A deep lover of history and in particular the symbols that are important for culture and for history. The passion for the way symbols in art and literature and religion have impacted us and help us create meaning.

    “There’s some comedy in that because he’s not someone who’s comfortable in an action movie.   He’s not Indiana Jones. He  really has to step in another part of himself that he never expected to experience before. He’s an adventurer intellectually not physically.”

    Other cast members include Resident Acting Company Members Elizabeth Bunch as Vernet, Michelle Elaine as Collet, Dylan Godwin as Rémy, Chris Hutchison as Silas and Christopher Salazar as Bezu Fache. Also: Kevin Cooney as Jacques Sanuière, Victor J. Flores as Philip, Susan Koozin (Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d) as Sister Sandrine, and Todd Waite (Resident Acting Company Member Emeritus) as Sir Leigh Teabing. Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose directs.

    Of special note: This will be Chris Hutchison’s 100th production at the Alley.

    Brown’s book was first published in spring of 2003. Asked why it continues in its many forms to interest people, Fine says: “In a simple way I think like Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle a great mystery stays with us for a long time because it pulls the audience forward.

    “He’s done a great job of pulling us into a mystery. And that mystery is specific to Leonardo Da Vinci and and Christianity. It pulls at the part of us that goes ‘I think there’s something more underneath what we call the truth.’ It pulls at some big themes and good mysteries pull us into that part of our intuition that there’s something more, but I don’t know what it is.  It does a really effective job of just drawing us in. It engages in puzzle solving and I think puzzles are just endlessly intriguing for people. There’s a sense that there’s an order to the universe at times; there’s an order behind what feels like chaos.”

    Another major factor in the book is all the places Langdon and Neveu travel in their quest. How can that be represented on the Alley stage?

    “You’re going to be thrilled by it. This production is going to be using cutting edge scenic design, projections, sound and lighting to capture these iconic locations like the Louvre and cathedrals. We’re going to move all around the world. It’s going to be a showcase for how amazing the Alley Theatre is. It will utilize  the full spectrum of resources and artists on every level. It’s going to be even better than the movie. You can quote me on that.”

    Performances are scheduled for September 19 through October 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. Opening night is Wednesday, September 24. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org.$36-$135.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Alley Theatre Managing Director Dean Gladden Announces Retirement

    Alley Theatre Managing Director Dean Gladden Announces Retirement

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    When Hurricane Harvey struck and much of the lower levels of Alley Theatre were under water and out of power including the elevators, Dean Gladden walked up 16 flights of stairs in the dark carrying the server, to IT and finance so payroll could get out on time.

    The flooding, which wasn’t supposed to happen after costly renovations completed in October 2015 ($46.5 million) was just one more unexpected hurdle to be negotiated for Gladden  who is more or less a walking history book of challenges, adversities and triumphs for the Alley over the last almost two decades.

    Tuesday, Gladden announced he is retiring by the end of June 2025 after 19 years at the Alley as Managing Director.  What he wants to be remembered for, he said in an interview with the Houston Press, is that he has always worked to support the arts.

    “The most important thing is supporting the artistic product. And every major capital campaign that we’ve done has as a priority investing in the artistic product. The second would be the renovation of the theater and all the technical capabilities that we can now do that we couldn’t do before.

    “To have a real fly loft, to have real side stages to have a trap room, all that has made a difference and the theater is more intimate than it was before. The relationship of the actor to the audience is much more intimate.” Theater acoustics got a big upgrade as well, he said, adding that the old acoustics “were terrible.”

    It was the Alley Theatre’s need for an upgrade that first brought Gladden to Houston, to oversee a big capital campaign to renovate the theater. .

    “We [Gladden and his wife Jane] had just become empty nesters in Cleveland. And I’d been at the Cleveland Playhouse for 20 years. So I said to Jane, ‘I think it’s time for a new adventure.’ So we came down.

    “We kicked off the campaign in the fall of 2008. Just as the market collapsed,” he deadpans. “We were not going to raise any money in 2008, 2009. So what we did was we pulled back the campaign and then we spent more time on planning the construction project. We had a good three and a half years under our belt of planning.”

    Once they finally got the needed funds and the final go-ahead for the extensive renovation of the theater, they had 14 months to get the work done.

    “Think about that. $46-and-a-half million you’re going to spend. You’re going to leave the roof open during hurricane season. And you’ve got to get that building  done,” Gladden remembered. “And we did it on time and on budget and paid for it with no debt.

    “So no, you can’t panic when things happen. You just can’t.”

    click to enlarge

    Gladden in hard hat walking a group through the extensive renovations underway in 2015 at Alley Theatre.

    Photo by Margaret Downing

    All staff — front of house and back of house — had been consulted on what their dream theater would look like. The result was 24 pages of a single-spaced wish list, Gladden said. There was careful consideration of how to avoid the flooding devastation caused by Tropical Storm Allison in its two sweeps through the city in 2001.

    However, two years after the renovations, those protections put in place were no match for the massive downpour created during  Hurricane Harvey which did $26 million in damage, concentrated in the lower level Neuhaus Theatre as well as thousands of props, dressing rooms and the lobby section. The world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night  had to be moved off site and its destroyed set had to be rebuilt.

    Gladden got on the phone to University of Houston officials and was able to secure the use of the small theater at UH so the show could go on.  “We built the set in a few days. We premiered that play  and it went to New York and that November it won the Obie for Best New Play in America. If we hadn’t gotten that show up then they would have premiered it and we wouldn’t have gotten the credit.

    “We got in here two days after [Harvey hit] and found out if was flooded and were completely surprised because Allison had come in through the tunnels and we had a submarine door so I didn’t expect that we’d have a problem,. But it came in a different way and flooded 15 feet high in the basement and ten feet high in the theater. And all of our new electrical through the building.

    “So the first thing we did was hire immediately on that Monday Bellows [Construction] the general contractor and all the subs so we could beat everybody else in town. We had them all under contract that first day. That was the most important thing.”

    Other details followed. The staff would have to relocate. “I’ve got like 80 people in offices  I have to move,” Gladden said. He was the head of the Convention and Visitors Bureau at the time and knew they had moved their offices to the Houston First building. So they had all these empty offices “We did a deal. We moved in on Tuesday after Labor Day weekend.”

    “And then we were able to get Blackmon Mooring to come and start pumping us out. on Tuesday. And by Thursday you could at least slosh through the building and see what the damage was. At the first meeting with the Alley’s board of directors a week later, Gladden appealed for help in reaching General Electric to get their electrical system redone and were able to get things accomplished in six weeks instead of the normal three months, he said.  And getting all that done by Thanksgiving weekend so we could open Christmas Carol.”

    In 2018, Gladden was the face of the Alley when he issued a statement apologizing for the theater not being transparent about the abrupt departure of former Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. The Alley had declined to answer questions about why Boyd suddenly left even though he had several years left on his contract. What came to light was that there had been accusations from several actresses and staff that Boyd had engaged in abusive behavior and had made unwanted sexual advances to some. Gladden promised a change in how the theater dealt with workplace complaints in the future.

    And then there was COVID-19 which by March 2020 suspended artistic operations throughout town. During the two years that followed Gladden is credited by the Alley with retaining as many employees as possible even though there was no income. Members of its Resident Acting Company maintained year-round employment which according to the Alley were the only Actors Equity members to do so at any regional or Broadway theater in this country.

    On Tuesday, the Alley put out a press statement that included a long list of financial achievements during the years Gladden has been managing director. When he came to the Alley the Houston theater was facing an $800,000 deficit. “The Alley now boasts financial reserves exceeding $5 million.” The operating budget has doubled. Its Summer Chills murder mystery series has increased its annual revenue by 370 percent from 2007 to 2024.

    Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose wrote: ““I feel so lucky to have worked in partnership with Dean Gladden these past six years. Dean retires as a true legend in the American Theatre, having expertly guided the Alley through some of the most challenging times imaginable including a hurricane and a global pandemic. As his partner, I have benefited greatly from his unwavering support of the art, his commitment to fiscal responsibility, his passion for pushing himself and his teammates to new heights, his tireless fundraising, as well as his strategic mind. He deeply cares about the Alley, and I know that even after his retirement, he will continue to be the Alley’s lifelong friend and greatest advocate.”

    Acknowledging that few people decide they’ll get into the business side of the arts when they are children, Gladden recounted his somewhat winding path that got him to where he is today. He was a music major— a percussionist —  with a bachelor’s degree in music education from Miami University in Ohio. He managed a couple bands: a Dixieland band and a black ties band that played the society circuit. While in college he heard a campus speaker talk about arts management, something that had never occurred to him before. He decided he could be an orchestra manager.

    He ended up doing an internship in Erie, PA. From there, he became executive director of the Arts Council of Lima, Ohio. He moved on to Director of the Arts Commission in Toledo. Then he got a call from a person with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival who asked him if he’d ever thought about getting into the theater business.

    “I said no but I knew I needed to get into a single discipline. I knew I needed to get out of the arts council business because I’d almost peaked.” A couple moves later and by the time he was 32 he was managing director of the Cleveland Playhouse where he stayed for 20 years before coming to Houston.

    With about eight months to go, he’s not quite done making deals and strategizing. He’s still working on the $80 million Vison for the Future campaign, by which the Alley hopes to increase its endowment from $12 million in 2009 to $62 million.

    The Alley has already launched a search for his successor. Asked about how someone will come in with all the history and connections he has made, Gladden didn’t seem too concerned. He said he learned along the way, bringing his past experiences (the Cleveland theater flooded once so he already knew about pumping water out of a building) and he watched and listened to the Houston community. He expects the person who follows will do something similar.

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Love is in the Alley’s Charming Production of Brontë Classic Jane Eyre

    Love is in the Alley’s Charming Production of Brontë Classic Jane Eyre

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    “Dear Reader…”

    If you would, allow me but a moment to…Okay, that’s as far as that intro’s going to go. But please do allow me to tell you about Elizabeth Williamson’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre, now playing at the Alley Theatre.

    The novel, about the life and times of a young orphan girl, was published under Brontë’s pen name Currer Bell in October 1847, and has since gone on to become a staple of gothic fiction, required reading for lovers of romance, and a stalwart of AP English syllabi.

    Williamson’s adaptation opens with an 18-year-old Jane Eyre about to depart Lowood School, her home of the last eight years – six as a pupil and two as a teacher – to begin a new job, that of governess at Thornfield Hall. We quickly learn that, for Jane, Lowood School was a “grim, cruel place,” and that she has no friends or family to speak of. With this in mind, it’s easy to understand Jane when she declares, “I wanted change” – even if that change meant an unknown future at a secluded countryside estate.

    Upon arriving at Thornfield, Jane learns from the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax, that her charge is Adèle, the young, French-speaking ward of the estate’s absentee owner, Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane spends three seemingly uneventful months settling into life at Thornfield – uneventful aside from the mysterious, cackling laugh that sometimes echoes from the house’s third story – when Mr. Rochester returns. Though their introduction has all the elements of a meet-cute, Jane describes it as “an incident of no moment, no romance, no interest,” saying only that “it marked with change one single hour of a monotonous life.”

    click to enlarge

    Melissa Molano as Jane Eyre and Ana Miramontes as Young Jane in Alley Theatre’s production of Jane Eyre.

    Photo by Lynn Lane

    But trust, dear reader, that’s not the end of it. Mr. Rochester appears quite taken with Jane, and she with him and, well, is it really a spoiler to say that Mr. Rochester and Jane are endgame?

    Anyway, in short order, Jane saves Mr. Rochester from a fire; Mr. Rochester abruptly leaves and returns with a group of strangers, one of which may soon be his fiancée; Jane is summoned to the bedside of her dying aunt (the very person who sent Jane to Lowood instead of honoring the promise she made to Jane’s uncle to raise her as her own child); and an unexpected visitor arrives from Jamaica and leaves Thornfield mysteriously bitten and bloodied. And that’s just the first act.

    Williamson’s play is unfailingly faithful to its source material while being downright breezy in comparison to the 466-page brick that is Brontë’s novel (that’s 466 pages in my 1993 Barnes & Noble hardcover though, of course, copies may vary). The tightness of the script, a delightfully successful distillation of Jane Eyre to its mostly romantic and occasionally spooky core, is a slap of wrongness to the face of anyone who thinks a work of 19th-century Victorian-era literature wouldn’t make for non-stop action or appease a 21st-century attention span. Director Eleanor Holdridge helms the pleasingly dynamic production with ease. Special credit, too, to Williamson, as well as Holdridge and a superbly talented cast, for mining possibly every moment of humor from the story for our viewing pleasure.

    click to enlarge

    Melissa Molano as Jane Eyre in Alley Theatre’s production of Jane Eyre.

    Photo by Lynn Lane

    Melissa Molano plays our heroine with delicate care and a firm hand, handling every Janian line with an endearing honesty and earnest sincerity. Though Jane begins the story with no family or friends, the audience serves as something of a surrogate companion, as Jane monologues to the audience. Not only does it stay true to the intimacy of the novel’s first-person narration, it allows Molano’s Jane to become a dear friend almost immediately. It is, however, during the explosion of emotion in the second act, Jane’s moonlight mutiny, that Molano most has the audience in the palm of her hand.

    Jane Eyre is a romance, and Molano’s chemistry with Chris Hutchison’s gruff Mr. Rochester is captivating. Hutchison manages to deliver each of Mr. Rochester’s blunt and smart-ass comments with a charm that allows you to appreciate their developing relationship without pause.

    Aside from Molano and Hutchison, every actor plays two or more roles, slipping in and out of them with chameleon-like ease: There’s Susan Koozin, who goes from kindly housekeeper to attic-bound madwoman with a zombie-like countenance, and the childlike turn Ana Miramontes takes playing two couldn’t-be-more-different young ladies, the excitable Adèle and the beleaguered young Jane. Melissa Pritchett’s dour Grace Poole, which contrasts with the seemingly well-meaning but stifled Bessie.

    Then there’s Joy Yvonne Jones, who earns laughs as the shade-throwing Blanche Ingram just as easily as she does with a single “uh uh” uttered as servant Leah. Todd Waite stealing focus, albeit briefly, as John, Colonel Dent and Mr. Wood, and Gabriel Regojo’s rigid St. John Rivers, though he stands out even more as Jane’s bratty cousin John Reed.

    Finally, nothing says both Gothic and an English countryside setting like a stormy night – complete with the sound of pelting rain, blinding white flashes of lightning and loud cracks of thunder – which is exactly what audiences walk into when they take their seats in the Hubbard Theatre. The stage is mostly bare, shrouded in shadows with a single, flickering oil lamp set on a desk, but scenic designer John Coyne quickly proves its dexterity. Valérie Thérèse Bart’s serviceable costumes, Alberto Segarra’s moody lighting and Melanie Chen Cole’s rich sound designs, which range from string heavy instrumentals that set the (metaphorical) stage to one particular cacophonous moment that elicits very real chills.

    The point, dear reader, is that Williamson and the Alley have mounted a Jane Eyre production that is very nearly perfect, so much so that you won’t need the threat of failing English class to stay awake through it. Instead, the show comes and goes in a most pleasing blink of an eye, something anyone can appreciate, but especially anyone who’s sat down by desire or coercion to read the 466-page book.

    Performances continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, through May 5 at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $29-$81.

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    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Alley Theatre Announces a Few Changes to Its Artistic Staff

    Alley Theatre Announces a Few Changes to Its Artistic Staff

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    Alley Theatre has announced several changes to its artistic company including the addition of Michelle Elaine, now part of a national tour of Clue, to its resident acting company.

    Elaine has been seen on the Alley stage in Clue, Sweat and A Christmas Carol among other productions. Most memorably she appeared as Clyde in Clyde’s at The Ensemble Theatre. The devilish role won her the Best Supporting Actress award in the 2023 Houston Theatre Awards.

    For 2024-25 the Resident Acting Company will include Elizabeth Bunch, Michelle Elaine, Dylan Godwin, Chris Hutchison, Melissa Molano, David Rainey, Christopher Salazar and Todd Waite.

    Brandon Weinbrenner, formerly the Associate Producer and Casting Director, steps into the role of Associate Artistic Director. Bradley Michalakis, previously the Literary Manager, will now serve as Head of Dramaturgy.

    The Alley has also created a new position, that of Resident Artist. In a statement, the Alley said: “Amber Gray has served as Associate Director for A Christmas Carol, originally adapted and directed by Rob Melrose. She will direct the production’s remount this coming season. Her background includes producing at Arena Stage and The Public Theatre, and leading festivals like The Obsidian Theatre Festival and The Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival.”

    The Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose said in a statement: “Nina Vance, Alley’s founder and long-time Artistic Director, had a resident professional company that included actors and directors, designers, and technicians. I am making a slight nod to Nina by welcoming Amber Gray in this role. In addition to directing the remount of A Christmas Carol this season, Amber will also assist with producing, casting, and assistant directing duties.”

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    Houston Press

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  • Slumming at the Alley with The Nerd

    Slumming at the Alley with The Nerd

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    When the august, Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre goes slumming it always goes swank. And Larry Shue’s crass sitcom, The Nerd (1981), needs all the swank it can muster.

    Designer Tim Mackabee’s luxurious wood lake house in Terre Haute, Indiana, is as solid and sturdy as any seen on HGTV. When the doors slam shut, as they must do in any farce, the set stays upright without a shake in sight. Aja M. Jackson’s warm lighting spews from shaded sconces and flush-mount ceiling fixtures. It’s all plush and tony, like the ’70s furniture with cushy chairs and a retro stereo system as large as a dining table. The Alley’s resident company is in full frontal mode, with able assist by Chelsea Ryan McCurdy and young Chris Ramirez. But all seems so futile and not nearly as funny as it tries so hard to be. The whole thing is rather sad and passé.

    The Nerd was Shue’s first hit – his second was the equally successful The Foreigner (1984) – and both have had a surprisingly long shelf life considering how thread-bare they are. Shue died, age 39, in a place crash soon after Foreigner‘s off-Broadway premiere, so he never lived to see how successful that play would become. But he saw The Nerd travel the world.

    Basically, it’s a poor rehash of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s classic golden oldie The Man Who Came to Dinner. Budding architect Willum (Christopher Salazar) had his life saved in Vietnam by fellow soldier Rick Steadman (Chris Hutchison). They have never met but have corresponded through the years. Willum has always promised Rick anything he asks for after saving his life, and one day Rick appears in Terre Haute ready to move in. Naturally, pandemonium ensues, or so everyone concerned with this production would like you to believe.

    Rick is an obnoxious, rude innocent fool, saying anything that enters his mind, without social grace, or any other grace to speak of. He picks his nose and wipes it on the couch. He plays the tambourine to the “Star-Bangled Banner” and eats deviled eggs by swiping his finger through each of the yolks. He interferes with Willum’s big-deal project by offending businessman Waldgrave (David Rainey) and wife Clelia (Ms. Ryan). He’s on the cusp of ADHD, but Willum is to indebted to him to criticize or correct. But his best friends, sharp-tongued theater critic Axel (Shawn Hamilton) and Willum’s long-suffering girlfriend Tansy (Melissa Pritchett) have a plan to give him some “gumption” to rid his house and his life of this human pest. That occurs in Act II, along with a surprise twist.

    Although there are a few bright lines that elicit gentle laughs, nothing lands with any elegance or wit. It’s all so forced and predetermined in its comedy set-ups and zingers. Yet the couple behind me wheezed in gales of laughter at each more dispirited situation or wizened joke. Rainey’s entrance covered in cottage cheese is a great sight gag, I must say, perfectly timed, and certainly the best moment of the evening.

    Alley veteran Hutchison relishes his nerdy role with a hint of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean and the crazy vocal cadence of Jerry Lewis. There is a moment – sadly only a few seconds – when Hutchison twists his body, and his arms, like Slinkys, wrap around the opposite sides. It’s a wonderful visual, and absolutely something Rick Steadman would do to idle away the time. More seconds like this would be appreciated. The remaining cast is okay, but never lands the right style in which to play this farce. They either overdo it or toss away the laugh lines as if embarrassed to say them. It’s played zany and frenetic, both the good and the bad, sort of pitched to one shrill note. Director Brandon Weinbrenner becomes a traffic cop, moving everyone around the set as if motion will make the comedy funny.

    No, more funny would make this comedy funny.

    The Nerd. Through March 17. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sunday; and 7 p.m. Sundays. Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $35-$81.

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    D. L. Groover

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