The MST Q&A: Light Floods in Stage Left

Say hello to Carrie Cavins! Newly transplanted to the Houston area, lighting designer Carrie Cavins makes her Main Street Theater debut with our MainStage production of THE HEIDI CHRONICLES.

Let's learn a bit more about Carrie (and take a look at previous work) as she fills out the MST Q&A...


Full given name: Carrie D. Cavins

Hometown: Fort Worth and many others

What inspired you while preparing for this production?
The complex issues that Heidi has to move through to get to a place that she feels she has a place in a world full of one-sided thinking. The courage she has to be able to stand up in what she believes in and the ability to help make a change in a world that is resistant to change.

First Houston show ever saw: An India Festival

Current show you have been recommending to friends: The Heidi Chronicles

Favorite post-show meal: Anything that sets right.

Favorite show tune: Master of the House - Les Miserable’s

MAC or PC? PC

Last book you read: The Colorado Kid

Must-see TV show: HBO - True Blood

Last good movie you saw: Red

Favorite board game: Monopoly – Trivia Pursuit

Favorite cereal: Most any that isn't good for you.

Special skills: Can out talk most anyone and annoy them.

Carrie also tried to introduce us to the greatness she knows as Grippos Potato Chips. I got Cheddar with a touch of jalapeno. A touch? I think I am still feeling the heat! Ooooo-Weeeee!

And that's the word on the street

Everyone's a Critic! Madeline's Christmas

MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS opened last week for both school and family matinees. Did you see it? What did you think? We would love to hear what you thought! Just leave a comment here....

"In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
lived twelve little girls in two straight lines."

One teacher wrote saying, "I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of my school, it was a wonderful experience for the students! I look forward to bringing my school back in the spring for the Magician's Nephew."

Time to Shoop! Shoop!

The female cast of "The Heidi Chronicles"

Alright girls (and boys), it's time to take a trip down memory lane and get your "Shoop! Shoop!" on.

I know the first thing many of you will ask me when you see THE HEIDI CHRONICLES (which opens THIS Friday in the Rice Village) is, "What are all those fantastic songs in the show?" Well, your wish has been granted ahead of time! Below is a play list of all the songs featured during the performance. Now, this is only a list of the 25 songs actually IN the show. Pre-show and Intermission music is a whole 'nother list.

I will make you a deal: Post a comment here that you want a play list for Pre-show and Intermission too, and I will do it after Thanksgiving.

And a quick poll: Are those ladies in the pic rocking out or protesting?

And that's the word on the street!

The MST Q&A: The Magic Carpet Man

Fans of the Theater for Youth program already know Richard Solis pretty well. He maintains a constant presence on stage, not only because he is a fantastic actor, but because he is responsible for all the amazing props you see show after show.

He is now onstage in our soon to be sold out hit MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS teaching the girls how to fly as Harsha, the carpet vendor! Let's learn a bit more about Richard as he fills out the MST Q&A...

Full given name: Richard C. Solis

Hometown: San Antonio, TX

Zodiac sign: Aries

First Houston show ever saw: Jekyll and Hyde (Years before Broadway)

Current show you have been recommending to friends: MADELINE of course!!!

Favorite post-show meal: Well as much as I like to eat (ha ha) I usually try not to eat before a show, maybe snacking on beef jerky and or candy.

Favorite show tune: All the big no brainer mechanized shows. CATS yes CATS. Le Miz, Phantom, Wicked.

Performer you would drop everything to go see: Lady Gaga! The Cure, Catherine O'Hara.

MAC or PC? PC.

Most played song on your iPod: Anything by THE CURE or Deadmau5 (Google him)

Last book you read: BUSYTOWN (seriously)

Must-see TV show: , HELLS KITCHEN, HOW ITS MADE (the science channel) SHOP NBC (INVICTA WATCHES)

Last good movie you saw: Taxidermy

Pop culture guilty pleasure: STAR WARS!

Favorite cereal: ALL!

Special Skills: I can make anything out of an old box and masking tape!

Who would play you in the movie? Why ME of course!

Worst mishap on stage: I've had so many but just recently I accidentally clocked Caroline Menefee (MADELINE) in the eye while onstage... She was okay but I was so scared!

Worst job you ever had: Lets see that is a hard question, HEB, Plastic Injection Molder, Pharmaceutical company assembly plant worker to name a very few...

Thanks Richard! Hey, have you ever made an Invicta watch out of on old box and masking tape? Just asking...

And that's the word on the street

The MST Q&A: Oh, the Places We'll Go!

Fans of Main Street Theater are very familiar with Set and Properties Designer Liz Freese. Last season she created the world of Willy Wonka for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and took us to an English country manor (past and present) for Arcadia (pictured left).

This season, Liz is working for us on back to back projects! In October she took us uptown for the set of BREAKFAST AT EIGHT, and now she is giving us a whimsical look at Paris, France for MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS! Let's learn a bit more about Liz as she fills out the MST Q&A...

Full given name: Elizabeth Kathleen Freese

Hometown: Houston

Zodiac sign: Aquarius

What inspired you while preparing for this production?
For Breakfast at Eight: West U architecture and lots of interior design magazines. Yeah for decorating!

The Set for Breakfast at Eight

First Houston show ever saw: Hmmmm... Lucia at Houston Grand Opera

Current show you have been recommending to friends: Peter Grimes at HGO

Favorite post-show meal: Amy's Ice Cream or Coco's Crepes

Favorite show tune: Children will Listen- Stephen Sondheim "Into the Woods"

Performer you would drop everything to go see: Steve Bono

MAC or PC? I'm bilingual and have both a Mac and PC laptop.

Most played song on your iPod: Amazin Blue (a capella group) CD

Last book you read: "What to Expect when you are Expecting"

Must-see TV show: ... don't really watch TV. I like House. Ever catch all the Sherlock Homes comparisons?

Last good movie you saw: see below

Pop culture guilty pleasure: pop culture illiterate.

Favorite board game: Apples to Apples

Favorite cereal: I'm a peanut butter on toast morning person

Most “happy mistake” on a production: For Madeline's Christmas: A black light is used for effects and scene changes during the show. When on, it makes the windows on the back drop look like they "light up" from the inside. Very cool!

Set Model for Madeline's Christmas

Worst job you ever had: Selling chocolate at Arsenal soccer games in London.

We won't be seeing Liz for a while because she is having a baby this spring, but one thing we all want to know: How long before that kid can hold a paint brush!?

And that's the word on the street

Who or What is Miss Clavell?

MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS opened this week at MST's Theater for Youth. An interesting question came up at our staff meeting: "What's up with Miss Clavell? Is she a nun or what?"

"Well, as it so happens", responded Vivienne St. John (our Theater for Youth Producing Director), "That question can be answered in our Educational Materials for the show!"

And indeed it can!

"Is Miss Clavell a nun? If she is a nun, why is she called “Miss” Clavell instead of “Sister” Clavell?"
At the time when Madeline is set, it was common practice to call nuns “Madame” and not “Sister” similar to the Italian tradition of calling priests “Don” instead of “Father”. “Madame” translates in English to “Miss”!

So there you have it! Answers to other questions can be found in the Educational Materials as well as some great activities not only for the classroom, but that families can do together as well.

Get a preview below of Miss Clavell, Madeline and the girls in action and then head on down for the heartwarming MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS. We added a show on December 11th because seats are filling up, so don't delay!

And that's the word on the street!

The MST Q&A: By Popular Demand

Okay! I know! We just heard from a Sound Designer, but there have been so many questions about the music choices for BREAKFAST AT EIGHT, it is clear the audience demands to know more!

Most of you are familiar with David Wald for his work on stage (A NUMBER, THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA), but what you might not know is David is also an accomplished musician as well. His background in jazz turned out to be a perfect fit for his maiden voyage into the field of Sound Design. Let's learn a bit more about David as he fills out the MST Q&A...

Full given name: David Wald

Hometown: Houston

Zodiac sign: Taurus

What inspired you while preparing for this production? It was my goal to use alternative versions of popular standards: alternate takes, or performances by jazz greats that were different from the more popular recordings. Antonio Carlos Jobim, for example, was a heavy presence in the script. For the intermission music, I found a recording of "Corcovado" performed by Miles Davis and "Girl From Ipanema" performed by Oscar Peterson. Other finds included Diana Krall performing Tom Waits' "Temptation" and Frank Sinatra performing Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns." I also tried, in the pre-show and intermission music, to select songs that reflected the sentiments of the characters in the play. For example: Dianne Reeves' beautiful rendition of "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" began the intermission set, and I thought it was a lovely summation of the state of John and Abby's minds at the end of the first half; or Oscar Peterson's arrangement of "Where Do I Go From Here?", a song cut from the original score of FIORELLO!, which is about a woman in love with a man that didn't seem to adequately notice her, which I thought was a nice summary of Abby's state of mind when John storms out at the end of Act/Scene 1.

Abby mentions Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" when she describes how she and John first met. This song is about overcoming a toxic circumstance, and I thought it would be an ideal selection for the end of the show. However, the original Gabriel recording was a bit too out of sync with the rest of the selections in the show, so I took the opportunity to arrange and record a version myself that was much sparser, and at the same time more harmonically dense in keeping with the jazz selections in the rest of the show.

First Houston show ever saw: Klein Forest High School's CAMELOT, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1980.

Current show you have been recommending to friends: In New York a few weeks ago, upon Becky Udden's recommendation, I saw Roundabout Theatre's BRIEF ENCOUNTER, an extraordinary mix of theatre, film, music, and even puppetry. I'd recommend it to absolutely anyone.

Favorite post-show meal: Being a diabetic, I don't tend to eat post-show. However, pre-show and pre-rehearsal, they know me very well at Chicken Kitchen in Rice Village.

Favorite show tune: Sondheim's "I Remember Sky," from the TV miniseries EVENING PRIMROSE. Barely qualifies as a show-tune, but it's Sondheim.

Performer you would drop everything to go see: Bobby McFerrin. I caught him at a jazz festival in the Midwest some years ago with a small combo and it was the most extraordinary live musical performance I've yet to see. I doubt a single person left that show without feeling that he'd looked them right in the eyes and delivered some of his performance right to them.

MAC or PC? Mac. Always and forever.

Most played song on your iPod: Thanks to a recommendation from the incomparable Miss Janel Badrina, I can't get enough of Crazy Logic (Gnarls Barkley vs. Supertramp vs. Rockwell) by Arty Fufkin, from the "Best of Bootie 2006" mash-ups album.

Last book you read: Recently re-read Hunter Thompson's "The Great Shark Hunt."

Must-see TV show: Masterpiece/Mystery's "Sherlock Holmes" miniseries on PBS is quite fun.

Last good movie you saw: Howl. I caught this on my trip to New York a few weeks ago. It's a film about the writing of and events surrounding the Ginsberg poem starring James Franco.

Pop culture guilty pleasure: Star Trek: TNG. I'm a Picard man.

Favorite board game: Krull: The Board Game. Better than the movie. Barely. But, oh, the childhood hours wasted...

Favorite cereal: Cookie Crisp. It's been years since I ate any, but I sometimes stop and stare longingly at a box in the cereal aisle.

Special skills: 3 years Modern, 2 yrs Jazz/Tap.

Most “happy mistake” on a production: While recording "Solsbury Hill" for BREAKFAST AT EIGHT, I found that the verse for another song prominently featured in the script, Gordon Lightfoot's "Softly," fit perfectly within the chord progression of "Solsbury Hill." So, if you really listen to the song at the end of the show, you can hear strings playing the melody of "Softly" at the beginning and beneath the last verse.

Worst job you ever had: Driver for a courier service in Indianapolis. Horrible, lonely work spent largely in rush hour traffic. I lasted about 3 weeks.

For all you Mr. Wald fan's out there, not to worry! David will once again tread the boards at MST in our upcoming productions of THE HEIDI CHRONICLES and A CATERED AFFAIR. For more information about the music for BREAKFAST AT EIGHT, check out the iTunes iMix below. We look forward to hearing Dave's musical selections again soon!

And that's the word on the street!

Peer to Peer Shakespeare!

Tonight, Main Street’s Kids On Stage department is presenting its second workshop for Peer-to-Peer Shakespeare, a new interactive workshop targeted for middle and high school students.

Peer-to-Peer Shakespeare is a short, lively, participatory introduction of Shakespeare’s life and works for middle school and high school audiences. Stranded without half their cast and any of their props, a traveling troupe of actors proves that the show must go on—with the audience’s help. With audience members filling in, we will stage scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and others.

The learning doesn’t end after 45 minutes, though. After the workshop, students have an assignment to complete. The results will be in the comments of this post!

To book Peer-to-Peer Shakespeare for your middle school or high school class, please call Lauren Smith at 713-524-9196 x 104.

The MST Q&A: Music the Doctor Ordered

Janel Badrina has been working with MST since 2000. As both Stage Manager and Sound Designer, she has made quite a mark on our productions. You might remember her rockin' sound track for The Pie Dialogues a couple of seasons back, the swinging touches she added to last season's The Last Night of Ballyhoo or the bluegrass sound of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in Driftwood.

This season, Janel starts us off in the classical mode as she fills turn of the LAST Century London with the sounds of composers like Saint-Saëns, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff for THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA. Let's learn a bit more about Janel as she fills out the MST Q&A...

Full given name: Janel Joy Badrina

Hometown: Houston born & bred!

Zodiac sign: Gemini

What inspired you while preparing for this production? The composers from this era (Impressionism & late Romantic) - which also happens to be my favorite time period in classical music. I was especially inspired by Claude Debussy (my favorite composer) and Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I love the way Mussorgsky paints with music - you can almost see the pictures just by listening to the music!

First Houston show ever saw: National Tour of The King & I (with Yul Brynner) - I know it's not a Houston show, but it was the first show I remember seeing in Houston.

Current show you have been recommending to friends: The Doctor's Dilemma of course!

Favorite post-show meal: Champagne (does that count?)

Favorite show tune: It varies - at the moment it's "Breeze Off The River" from Full Monty

Performer you would drop everything to go see: John Mayer and Yo-Yo Ma

MAC or PC? MAC! (was that a serious question?)

Most played song on your iPod: You're asking me to pick 1 song??? 4 of my most played (at the moment) are "Tainted Love" (Marilyn Manson cover), "Jesusland" (UNC Loreleis cover), "All Will Be Well" (Gabe Dixson Band) and "Encore" (Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse)

Last book you read: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (I'm prepping for the movie!)

Must-see TV show: Glee, West Wing, Gossip Girl, Battlestar Galactica (the recent remake)

Last good movie you saw: It's been so long since I've seen a movie, I can't remember...

Pop culture guilty pleasure: Twitter and Foursquare

Favorite board game: Cranium

Favorite cereal: Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries

Special skills: Doing just about anything in stilettos (scaling ladders, hanging lights, scene changes, chasing down actors, etc.)

Most “happy mistake” on a production: Finding muzak versions of Tool, Marilyn Manson and Led Zepplin which I then used as background music for the restaurant scene in Pie Dialogues. I was determined to get some Tool and Manson somewhere in that show!

Worst job you ever had: Data entry for a research project at MD Anderson. That was one of the most boring and mind-numbing jobs I've ever had! I dozed off a few times mid-entry. Thank goodness I never fell asleep on the keyboard!

Preview audiences really wanted to know what the music selections for THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA were. Here is a list from Janel of the pieces selected for the production proper. Sorry, no preshow or intermission here.
First Half
Top of Show - Camille Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals - No. 10 "Aviary"

Act 1 – 2 - Sergei Rachmaninoff: Preludes, Op. 32/5 - Prelude In G

End Act 2 - Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25 (‘Classical’), 4. Finale: Molto Vivace

Second Half
Top of Act 3 – Claude Debussy: Suite Bergamasque, IV. Passepied

Act 3 – 4 - Franz Liszt: Consolation in E Major, S. 172

Act 4 – 5 – Antonín Dvořák: Serenade In E Major Op.22, 2. Tempo Di Valse

End of Show/Curtain Call - Camille Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals - No. 14 "Finale"

And that's the word on the street!

A Penny Saved

Okay all you discount seekers, penny pinchers, starving students and just plain paupers. Do you think the cost of a theater ticket is out of your reach? Does even buying a “slightly obstructed” seat at $26 break your weekly budget? Maybe you are a fan of musicals or comedies, but not sure you want to risk it on a new or a classical drama?

Well, MST is here to help! We have done away with some of our old MainStage discount programs like Half Price Rush and Pay What You Can and replaced them with some new and exciting ones. Read on if saving that buck is the difference between a great theatrical experience or curling up with the DVR ... again ...

GUARANTEED SEATS
Probably the hardest thing about discount policies in the past is you didn’t know what you had until you got there. “You mean, I have to drive 20 – 30 minutes, find a place to park and still, I might not have a ticket?” Torture! I know!

That risk is now entirely GONE! Take advantage of the new discount programs and be rest assured, there will be a seat for you in the theater when you get here!

$10 PREVIEWS
For years now we have offered $10 previews in advance of the press opening. That’s as good as the price of a movie and cheaper than the new “3-D spectaculars”. And it is in the original 3-D format. No glasses required! What’s a preview you ask? Check out my previous blog for that answer.

$5 FRIDAY
Replacing our Pay What You Can performance is $5 Friday. The day after opening has always been a slow day. We used to just take the day off! Now we are performing that day and every seat in the house is only $5! Get out you say! Yes, you can get a $40 seat for only $5 on $5 Friday.

Well, not for The Doctor’s Dilemma. Those seats are already gone.

You can get a $36 seat for only $5 on $5 Friday! And I don’t mean just at the door. Go now and buy it on-line or call our box office and grab that ticket, and know your efforts to get here will be rewarded with a seat.

BUY EARLY AND SAVE
The ART Discount (or Advanced Rush Ticket) can save you $5 or $10 per ticket for a regular performance IF you buy the ticket before the show’s opening night. Beat the rush, get the best seats and save big before that rave review hits newsstands and everyone wants a seat.

STUBDOG IS A THEATER-GOER’S BEST FRIEND
Are you tired of calling the theater the day of, hoping for a chance to get half-priced tickets at the door? Well, throw that worry out the window because we have thrown the Half-priced Rush ticket out the door.

But, if you are still looking for that half-priced ticket, try our friends over at StubDog.com. If available, a small allotment of tickets will be made available through the discount ticket site for the run of the production about a week before it opens. And these half price tickets are guaranteed seats. Basically, we take the guess work out of Half-price Rush by giving you the chance to get the tickets ahead of time!

But act fast! Once those seats are gone, they are dog gone.

... AND STUDENTS
Don’t forget, students are ALWAYS only $10 for regular performances for any MainStage show. That price cannot be beat, especially if you have a paper due the next week.

All these discounts are available for THE DOCTOR’S DILEMMA which starts previews tonight!

Previews are SOLD OUT!

ART – Deadline to use this discount is Thursday, September 9th. Use on-line code DOCART to buy the tickets on-line. (Find the other ART discount codes on our website.)

$5 Friday is September 10th. Tickets are still available!

Half-priced Seats have been sent to StubDog.com. They are beginning to go, so get on it!

And that’s the word on the street!