Corpus Christi, Go See The Producers!

Grandad and Grams spent Saturday evening at the Aurora Arts Theater. Their current production is The Producers ... and it's great!

I'll confess right up front that I am a huge fan of live theater ... particularly of musical theater. I also embrace local theater. I think there are a lot of talented people who work for a living and I love seeing them shine in local theater.

We've been to several shows at the Aurora over the past couple of years. It's an intimate, 100-seat theater. Some shows have been better than others. But we've enjoyed every one of them. It's great entertainment for a really good price.

The Producers features an exceptionally strong cast. Right from the beginning when The Usherettes open the first act with a strong performance of "It's Opening Night" to the end when the entire cast closes with  "Goodbye," this show is funny and entertaining.

Standouts for me were Michael Mora, whose performance as Max Bialystock is spot on, and Peter Lopez, who is riotously funny as Roger De Bris. Both deliver strong performances, sing beautifully, and have impeccable comic timing.

Holly Crowley is beaming as Ulla. Her smile and her voice absolutely light up the stage. Travis Jordan as Leopold Blum is believably young and naive. And Jordan Bruster is hilarious in the role of Carmen Ghia. Ian Schoolcraft's performance as Franz Liebkind was funny. He brings a larger than life personality to the role that actually makes a Nazi charming. And the "little old lady chorus" cracked me up with their precision walker routine.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Charlie Chapa, who is making his stage debut at the Aurora. Charlie, who is very convincing in the role of Mr. Marks, has stepped into a leadership role to keep the Aurora Theater up and running after the sudden death earlier this year of his brother, Eddie Chapa.

The entire cast of The Producers is delightful and their performances are strong. Kudos to Director Patrick Crowley, and to Choreographer Carolyn Atwood, who did an exceptional job of staging this "big" musical production in the Aurora's small space. The Aurora sets and scene changes always fascinate me. You've got to see it to believe it. They do a lot with a little.

The Producers runs weekends until September 4; Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $14 with reduced prices for seniors, students and military. You definitely should go see The Producers. As I said earlier, we've seen several productions at this theater. With each production, this local theater group is getting better and better.

If you are one of those people who says "there's nothing to do in Corpus Christi," I have a message for you. There is a lot to do in Corpus Christi! Stop complaining and get out and DO SOMETHING! If you don't know what to do check out Joe Hilliard's web site 40 Things To Do in Corpus Christi.

Photos are from a flash mob performance at La Palmera. You can catch the flash mob performance on YouTube.

The Rocky Horror Show

On Halloween night, Grams and Grandad were looking for an escape from our neighborhood block party and trick-or-treaters. We don't want to buy candy, because if we buy it, we eat it ... and neither of us need candy in our diets.

Grams had seen on 40 Things To Do in Corpus Christi's Facebook Page that Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show was playing live at the Aurora Arts Theater. We've been big fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for many years. I didn't even realize that it was a play, I thought it was just a movie.  Silly me!

Turns out they had been doing three performances every weekend since the end of September. Halloween weekend they had two performances each night at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. We were able to get tickets for the 7 o'clock performance on Halloween. There are no reserved seats in the small theater. It's first come, first seated in this 100 seat theater.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Aurora Arts Theater believes in a "complete" live performance. No canned music at the Aurora; live music is an important part of the production. Admission was only $14 each and "prop bags" were $5 each.

This was a great way to spend Halloween night. It was so much fun. The actors were well cast and "the chorus" added a lot of fun to the experience.  The small size of the theater makes this an intimate theater experience. The entire playhouse becomes part of the staging. It's truly an interactive theater experience, especially during The Rocky Horror Show. For example, every time someone says "Brad" the audience shouts "Asshole" and every time some says "Janet" the crowd shouts "Slut." There are many other opportunities for crowd interaction and a few words that I won't put into print here. I was surprised to see a number of audience members who seemed significantly older than Grams and Grandad. We're in our mid-fifties. I was a little bit concerned that the gentleman seated next to me was somewhat older and I thought he might be offended, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least.

It's a lot of fun to soak the cast with water from a water pistol during the "rain" scenes. And I loved waving my light to the tune of "Over At The Frankenstein Place." For me the highlight of the night was when the cast invited the entire audience to dance the "Time Warp" at the end of the performance. It was so much fun, even if Grandad and the old guy next to me just stood there instead of dancing.

Photos are not allowed inside the theater, but the cast graciously posed in the lobby for quite some time after the show. And, as is tradition, many of the audience members were also in costume. I regret that I did not get a photo of either Raymond Guttierrez who played Frank-N-Furter or Aaron Cooper who was the narrator. They were both delightful in the play, but somehow I just missed them when I was taking pictures.

It's clear that everyone involved at the Aurora Arts Theater is there for the love of theater and performance. We will definitely be attending more productions at this intimate little theater.

Next up on their schedule is Grace and Glorie by Tom Zeigler. They've just recently announced their 2011 season. I can't wait!