Reviews

New Escovedo show still electrifies

By Michael Corcoran
Oct. 7, 2004

It couldn't have been scripted any better. Alejandro Escovedo was early into his set at the Texas Union Theater on Friday, his first show in seven months and only his second in a year and a half. The crowd was energized at seeing that, although he was skinnier and his hair was a tad thinner, Escovedo could still perform at almost full strength. His set had concentrated on moodier songs such as "Broken Bottle" and "Wave," each soulfully caressed by Susan Voeltz's violin and Brian Standifer's cello.

Then, all of a sudden, Escovedo and his seven-piece band -- including impressive opening act Jon Dee Graham on guitar -- cranked it up a notch with "Everybody Loves Me (But I Don't Know Why)." It just all came back in an instant, Escovedo's ability to transform a room, and the crowd, overcome by the spirit, leapt to its feet to reclaim a favorite son. Escovedo really just had to show up and everybody would've loved him, but it was obvious that he had something to prove on this first of a two-night stand.

That Escovedo is not yet at 100 percent became apparent on the second encore. He had ended the set in a flurry, with the new "Dearhead On the Wall" stretching his boundaries to include grandiose pop, "Break This Time" harking back to the True Believers days and then the local radio hit "Castanets" sealing a splendid hour and 20 minutes. The crowd wouldn't leave, however, and after a long period of hooting and clapping, Escovedo and the band came back out. All right, Al fans, you knew what was coming. There's one song that could knock the audience into the stratosphere. But instead of "I Wanna Be Your Dog," the 10-minute epic snatched from the Stooges, Escovedo ended up with the somber and poignant "Rosalie."

The choice seemed to make a statement. Things are not as they used to be. Escovedo has gone through so much in private while suffering from the effects of hepatitis C. To just pull out the expected rock star ending was not appropriate to how he wanted this personal landmark show to feel.

"I Wanna Be Your Dog" would have been a celestial moment, but heaven can wait.

Theater

HATS OFF TO SPECTACULAR SINGING IN 'CROWNS'

Maya Angelou explains that on Sundays, after working all week for someone else and spending Saturdays on her own chores, an African American woman is allowed a chance to breathe and celebrate. She may have decided on her church clothes the day before, but Sunday is the day to select her hat. Her hat is the crown that has been literally bought and paid for by her hard work and figuratively bought and paid for by the sacrifices of her religious savior.

Photo by Kirk R. Tuck Judy Arnold, left, Willie Gene Denmon, Jacqui Cross, Janis Stinson and Tim Curry lift up their voices in 'Crowns,' a moving combination of story and song.

Who wouldn't praise the Lord when surrounded by the voices of Janis Stinson, Judy R. Arnold, Tim Curry, Willie Gene Denmon and Jacqui Cross? Musical director Allen Robertson's arrangements showcase the best features of each voice. No one could resist marching when Cross sings "Oh, When the Saints." Curry is powerful on "Oh, Lord I'm Waiting on You," Denmon with "I'm on the Battlefield" and Fulton for "I've Got Peace Like a River." Stinson's comic timing helps bind the show together, and her rendition of "When I've Done the Best I Can" is right on. Arnold brought the house to its feet with "Mary Don't You Weep."

The only false note is found in director Dave Steakley's choice to go all Alvin Ailey during the salvation scene. Granted, I can't hear "Wade in the Water" without flashing to Ailey's iconic "Revelations," but that choice didn't fit with the already tenuous storyline. A nod to scenic designer Michael Raiford for the uplifting interior that suggested sunrays and shadows of a simple, whitewashed church. Fun hats by Michael McDonald and Leslie Bonnell stand out against the white suits worn by the performers. The hats are great and the stories heartfelt, but it's the fabulous voices that are really the crowning glory.

('Crowns' continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 14, Zachary Scott Theatre Kleberg Stage, 1421 W. Riverside Drive, $33-$40, 476-0541, www.zachscott.com.)
-- Jamie Smith Cantara

Theater

A DOCILE RENDITION -- WITH CLAWS

Christa Kimlicko Jones is movie-star gorgeous. Raven hair, porcelain skin, arched neck, coruscating eyes -- she brings to mind Elizabeth Taylor one moment, Vivien Leigh the next. And like her glamorous stage-and-screen predecessors, she can act up a hurricane.

Which makes her ideal for Maggie in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at Austin Playhouse. The whole first act of this sodden Southern family drama belongs to Maggie -- it's almost a monologue -- and Kimlicko Jones takes every opportunity to play the flashy role in camp-free style. As the childless, manipulative yet likable beauty, she acts opposite her real-life husband, Judson L. Jones, who makes a distinctively anguished and effective Brick, the former star athlete with a drinking problem and a sexual secret.

Sexually frank for its day, "Cat" still raises eyebrows almost 50 years later.

Most productions of the show are built around an equally potent performance from the actor playing Big Daddy, the coarse, bullying patriarch who wins our hearts with his dedication to the truth. At first, Dirk van Allen appeared tentative in this Southern Gothic part, searching for the right tone and rhythm. But his climactic scenes of self-discovery were harrowing, and his later moments of peace were smoothly handled.

The rest of director Don Toner's cast -- especially Mary Agen Cox as the emotionally careening Big Mama -- displayed evenly distributed talent. Everything about this production was cool to warm and reserved -- the set, for instance, looks more like an upscale hotel than a Southern plantation -- which is an honorable, if not particularly creative, way to treat Williams, America's greatest dramatist.

("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 31. Austin Playhouse at Penn Field, 3601 S. Congress Ave., Building C, $22-$25, 476-0084, www.austinplayhouse.com.)
-- Michael Barnes

Music

INTERNATIONAL TALENT TRIUMPHS

A struggle developed at the Round Rock Performing Arts Center on Saturday. On one side was world-class virtuosity, on the other, a World Music event marred by low-order musical arrangements and the minefield of post-9/11 visas. Virtuosity won by a knockout.

"Aman, Music for Peace," a fund-raiser for the Association for India's Development, showcased two legendary figures in the World Music scene: South Indian violinist L Shankar and tabla player Zakir Hussain. Drummer Sivamani, a no-show due to visa problems, was replaced by David Gaziel. Second violin and vocals were provided by Gingger.

Shankar's pop tunes lacked craft and depth: Segues to orient the listener to mood changes often were nonexistent. On the other hand, his and Gingger's soundtrack contribution to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was a hauntingly, slow meditation on suffering, with an underlying sense of beauty pointing to redemption and hope.

Shankar's violin playing provided stark contrast to his spotty compositional skills: blazing pyrotechnics, impeccable intonation and an astounding sense of rhythm at every turn. But even here one senses, sometimes, a formulaic turn to technique over imagination.

When Zakir Hussain takes the stage, shows often get stolen. This was no exception. His post-intermission solo began by teasing the crowd with endlessly playful turns of phrase using crystalline enunciations of pitch and timbre. Eventually the solo turned serious. What evolved was an event where natural competency and sheer complexity touched you with the sense that every musical element was just as it should be. It was as playful as the Hindu god Krishna, as serious as a heart attack and completely deserving of its standing ovation.
-- Duncan Goodrich

Theater

'GIRLS' RINGS TRUE TODAY

COTTONWOOD SHORES -- From the outside, the Hill Country Community Theatre's metal-clad home, located in this village between Marble Falls and Horseshoe Bend, looks like a motorboat showroom -- which it once was. Inside, one finds a commodious, comfortable theater well suited to "The Girls in 509," the opening production of the troupe's 20th season.

Howard Teichmann's tidy comedy about two recluses in an old hotel must have appeared a little old-fashioned when it premiered on Broadway in 1958. It recalls the screwball comedies of the 1930s and '40s, especially those populated by eccentric characters who nevertheless speak in timeless insights. (Refer to Kaufman and Hart's "You Can't Take It with You," which recently closed at St. Edward's University.)

Round Rock-based director Barry Pineo -- whose useful book, "Acting that Matters," was recently published by Allworth Press -- coached his performers to a crisp correctness. And with some tighter transitions, "The Girls" could be even more amusing.

Playing a Republican patrician who withdrew from the world after Herbert Hoover's defeat in 1932, Sally Stemac makes a convincing East Coast blueblood. As her man-starved niece (originally played by Imogene Coca), Beth Burroughs earned consistent chuckles, while Dave Pantano etched the most extravagant character, a nerdy journalism professor -- parlayed á la Jerry Lewis -- who befriends the duo.

Teichmann's script offers some timely parallels with the present political situation. You don't have to be a hermit to realize that politicians haven't changed their tunes that much in the intervening 46 years.

("The Girls in 509' continues 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2:15 p.m. Sunday, $7-$25, Hill Country Community Theater, 4003 W. FM 2147, Cottonwood Shores, 830-798-8944, www.hcct.org.)
-- Michael Barnes