Opening weekend for 10 theater productions (May 1-3)

by Shawn Parikh

With the beginning of May comes the opening of many shows around town. Make sure to double check if some events are taking precaution for the swine flu:

• And Then They Came For Me, presented by Dallas Children's Theater. This riveting multimedia drama about the hidden children of the Holocaust returns so that its dark history will never be forgotten. Videotaped interviews with two Holocaust survivors and friends of Anne Frank, Eva Schloss and Ed Silverberg, are interwoven with live dramatic action to chillingly recreate their World War II experience in hiding and in concentration camps. This moving play about families becomes a promise to the future of hope and acceptance. Purchase tickets ($12-22) online or by calling 214-740-0051.
• Don Juan in Chicago, presented by Collin Theatre Center. A sexy new comedy about the search for eternal bliss. Don Juan is a handsome, rich, sexually naïve nobleman in sixteenth-century Spain. His servant, Leporello, urges him to find a girlfriend and lead a normal life, but the Don is more interested in finding the meaning of life through books and alchemy. Afraid he won't have time to find it, Don Juan calls up the Devil and cuts a deal that grants him (and Leporello) immortality ... as long as Don Juan seduces a different woman every day. Four hundred years later, exhausted by endless liaisons, Don Juan and Leporello grapple with the sexual mores of contemporary urban America. Will Don Juan and Leporello be doomed to eternal damnation … or, to eternal bliss? Purchase tickets ($6-8) online or by calling 972-881-5809.
• Crazy For You, presented by Music Theatre of Denton. This is the "perfect" musical comedy -- one where everybody sings, everybody dances and where anything on hand is used to make music. Adapted from the Gershwin 1930s musical, "Girl Crazy," the new version includes high energy characters, outrageously funny humor and one of the best musical scores of the century -- who could ask for anything more? George and Ira Gershwin, responsible for some of America's best known musicals, used classical and jazz music styles. Gershwin songs can be hummed, whistled, or sung by us all. "Crazy For You" uses seven great tunes from "Girl Crazy," including "Bidin' My Time," "Embraceable You," "I Got Rhythm," and "But Not For Me" and thirteen additional songs from other Gershwin works. One of Broadway's greatest hits, "Crazy for You" was awarded 3 Tonys. Call 940-382-1915 for reservations ($10-18).
• Channel Surfin’: A Night of Live TV, presented by Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre. An evening of live television! Presented by the students of the Young Artist Training program, Channel' Surfin' is a fun original musical in classic variety show format. Actors poke fun at the wide array of your favorite tv shows. Tune in. Purchase tickets ($12-20) online or by calling 972-724-2147.
• Timon of Athens, staged reading presented by Shakespeare Dallas for this weekend only. A great mystery to scholars as the only remaining manuscript seems to be unfinished, Timon of Athens is one of Shakespeare's most pessimistic tragedies. Tickets are free-$5.
• Cash On Delivery, presented by Plaza Theatre Company. This farcical comedy tells the story of a con artist who has been bilking the government by claiming benefits for multiple fictitious persons - all who supposedly live in his home. When he decides to go straight and kill off the made-up persons, only then does the government investigate. Witness the amazing amount of tight spots the con artist escapes from with the help of his neighbors and his mysterious Uncle George. A comic farce sure to split sides with laughter. Call 817-202-0600 for reservations ($9-12).
• Funny Girl, presented by Azle Arts Association’s Popcorn Players. A semi-biographical story based on the life and career of Broadway and film star and comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. The musical is set in and around New York City just prior to and following World War I. Ziegfield Follies star Fanny Brice, awaiting the return of husband Nick Arnstein from prison, reflects on their life together, and their story is told as a flashback. Fanny is shown as a stage-struck teen who gets her first job in vaudeville. Her success as both a comedienne and a singer leads her to meeting the sophisticated Nick Arnstein. They soon become romantically involved and marry. As Fanny becomes a major star with Ziegfield, Nick's business ventures fail and he is arrested for embezzelment. Purchase tickets ($5-10) online or by calling 817-238-PLAY.
• Into The Woods, presented by Creative Arts Theatre & School. A childless baker and his wife cannot have a child until they follow the bidding of the witch next door to get a cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold. Good thing, then that they've got neighbors named Jack, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella to help them before (and after) Happily Ever After. Purchase tickets ($10-15) online or by calling 817-861-CATS.
• Zombie Prom, presented by Tarrant County College Southeast Campus, for this weekend only. This rock and roll musical is set in the atomic 1950's at Enrico Fermi High. Toffee has fallen for Jonny, the class bad boy. When her parents force her to end the romance, the heartbroken but angry Jonny hurls himself into a vat of nuclear waste. But that's just the first ten minutes of the show. What will happen to Toffee? How will the school deal with Jonny's death? But most important to everyone - will Principal Strict allow zombies at the prom? And what will he wear? Call 817-515-3599 for reservations (free-$6).
• Lobby Hero, presented by Theatre Northwest. Kenneth Lonergan's "Lobby Hero" is a bitingly comic exploration of the ways in which corruption, ambition, and race affect American justice. The story follows Jeff, a hapless security guard who becomes entangled in a murder investigation along with his tightly wound supervisor, William. Heading the police investigation are Dawn, an ambitious rookie, and her cynical, more experienced partner, Bill. As Jeff and Dawn discover that Bill and William are concealing embarrassing information, they are forced to take a stand. Humor abounds as the lines between loyalty and honesty, right and wrong blur beyond recognition, turning the New York apartment lobby into the ultimate grey area. Don't miss this off-Broadway hit where right and wrong is never as simple as black and white. Tickets are free-$6.