The Arthropologist

The wonder of getting held over: The Houston plays that just won't quit, nearPhantom style

Holland Vavra Peters as Peggy the Pin-Up Girl and Ross Chitwood as PatrickAndrews in Roger Bean’s musical, "The Andrews Brothers" at Stages RepertoryTheatre (2009)
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Rachael Logue, from left, Chelsea McCurdy, Christina Stroup and Holland VavraPeters in "The Marvelous Wonderettes," now playing at Stages Repertory Theatre
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Mikah Horn as Pickles, from left, Susan O. Koozin as Betty, Carolyn Johnson asLin and Joseph Corri as Duke in "The Great American Trailer Park Musical" atStages Repertory Theatre (2006-2007)
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Susan O. Koozin as Louise Seger and Julia Kay Laskowski as Patsy Cline in StagesRepertory Theatre’s first long-running show, "Always…Patsy Cline" (2003-2004)
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Amanda Hebert as Sister in "Late Nite Catechism" at Stages Repertory Theatre(2007)
Photo by Bruce Bennett
A scene from Main Street Theater's production of "The Trust" with Mark Pickell,from left, Andrew Ruthven and Charlie Trotter
Steve Garfinkel and Jack Young in Main Street Theater's production of "Awake andSing"

Held Over. Extended. Three more weeks!

Oh the joys and tedium of the long-running show. And I am not talking about Broadway. Phantom of the Opera will be playing after the sun runs out.

Every now and then, Houston gets held over. Right now, it's happening at Stages Repertory Theatre with The Marvelous Wonderettes, a show whose wonder just won't quit.

It's fun, fluffy vocal candy with an indeed marvelous cast, which collectively possess some stunning pipes. Who doesn't want to "lollipop lollipop" to forget the most recent tragedy; musical Prozac is the safer option. Even former President H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush showed up.

The cheery musical is about to go into the record books as the largest grossing show ever at Stages. Coming in second is The Great American Trailer Park Musical, followed by Always...Patsy Cline and I Love You, You are Perfect, Now Change.

"What's up? I asked the always grinning Stages chief Kenn McLaughlin. "It's a numbers game," he says. If they keep coming, he will keep extending.

Held over shows tend to fall into a certain category. "They have to be populist, accessible, offer a fun time in the theater and involve the audience in the event," McLaughlin says. "I have no illusions that this is high-brow theater. But I like this stuff too. The audience really feels ownership and they provide great entertainment."

Then there are the people who go over and over to the held overs. "One person saw Trailer Park 20 times. So far, 14 is the record for Wonderettes," reports McLaughlin. Stages has even started sing-a-long Fridays if you want to join the Wonderettes.

Stages has the luxury of two theaters, which allows edgier fare to run simultaneously. Chances are, Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations, opening on Jan. 26, will not be held over, despite the fact that The New York Times claims, "Eno confirmed the singular nature — and singular beauty — of his voice with Middletown," his most recent play. (Prove me wrong people. Eno is one of the most original voices since Edward Albee.)

Most theaters already have published dates for the next show, limiting the possibility of a hold over until the end of the season. After a rave in The Wall Street Journal, Main Street Theater (MST) extended Awake and Sing, and rightly so, it was a ravishing production. WSJ critic Terry Teachout even liked their Brooklyn accents. MST also had a hit with The Trust, the story of the murder of the founder of Rice University, which has been held over numerous times during its numerous productions over the years.

“It’s a great, local and an important Houston story," says Rebecca Green Udden, MST's artistic director. "It’s based in fact (though with some speculation). And the fact is, Rice University might not had happened if these guys had gotten away with it. As a Rice alum, I think that’s very important."

MST plans to bring Trust back next season and they anticipate it will be, you guessed it, held over.

Long-running shows have a different meaning for actors. Lindsay Gee has played many a "Connie" in A Chorus Line and also performs with Suchu Dance when her schedule allows. Next, she's singing and dancing in casa mañana's production of Evita.

"It's good for artists because these shows pay the bills," Gee says. "Also, I can afford to take more dance classes, voice lessons or acting workshops with the money I save. A long-running contract allows me to discover new things about the character I'm playing which enables me to develop a richer, layer-filled performance. So often, on short contracts, rehearsals are super fast and product driven and just when I'm starting to get into the groove of the show, it's over."

Susan Koozin has lit up many a held over show, including The Great American Trailer Park Musical and Always...Patsy Cline.

"It's a huge commitment, but I am always grateful to have the work, especially in Houston," she says. Koozin paces herself for a long run, keeping herself healthy and focused. As for the tedium, she has her own method

"It's good when you have material you can keep deciphering and keep nuancing. If It's a crowd pleaser and funny, that helps," says Koozin, who starts up yet another round of Trailer Park on June 1. "Once I get there and put on my makeup, I can feel the energy. The crowd feeds me."

And this just in, Late Nite Catechism, another energizer bunny of the stage, returns this spring at Stages. If there are enough recovering Catholics, it will be, yeah, held over.

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Movie Review

Heartfelt animal adventure Hoppers is another Pixar classic

Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

Mabel (Piper Kurda) and King George (Bobby Moynihan) in Hoppers.

For the first 15 years of their history, animation studio Pixar delivered one classic film after another, an astonishing streak that included their first 11 movies. Things got bumpy starting with Cars 2 in 2011, and even though the majority of their output has been good-to-great ever since, their releases are no longer considered slam dunks like they once were.

They’re back with an original film, Hoppers, trying to return to form by going back to the animal world. The film centers on Mabel (Piper Kurda), a 19-year-old environmentalist who’s trying to stop a new highway being built by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) in the fictional city of Beaverton. Her activism has as much to do with helping displaced local animals as it does with being nostalgic for her youth, in which she spent years observing nature with her Grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie).

She finds an unlikely possible solution when she discovers that her college professors have created a system that allows them to transfer — or hop — their consciousness into animal-like robots. Hijacking a beaver robot, Mabel joins up with the local wildlife, including beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) to try to convince them to help her execute her plan. But with the highway almost complete and Mayor Jerry willing to do anything to make it happen, Mabel might be too late.

Directed by Daniel Chong and written by Jesse Andrews from a story by Chong, the film cycles through a variety of genres in its 105-minute running time, including comedy, drama, thriller, and even a touch of Pixar-style horror. When Pixar has been at its best, it seamlessly goes back and forth between genres, trusting that audiences will go along with them for the ride, and Hoppers feels like a return to form in that respect.

Humor rules the day as Mabel adjusts to being part of the animal world while her professors desperately try to get her and their robot back. Mabel encounters not only wildly confusing things like “pond rules” (if a predator catches you, you don’t fight it), but also the existence of a hierarchy within the world that involves kings or queens from various animal classes like reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and insects. Her one-track mind and the way of the world she is invading clash in a variety of funny ways.

As the film goes along, Chong, Andrews, and the rest of the filmmaking team also find a way to burrow into the audience’s heart. There are many elements that threaten to tip into eye-rolling territory, but the filmmakers consistently pull back before that happens. The number of fun characters on both the human and animal side helps in that regard, as does the simple yet profound message they’re trying to convey.

Pixar has assembled one of the best voice casts in recent memory for this film, including such big names as Meryl Streep, Dave Franco, Melissa Villaseñor, Vanessa Bayer, and the late Isiah Whitlock, Jr. However, due to the sheer number of characters, only Kurda, Moynihan, and Hamm truly stand out. Still, they all fit together well and give the always-stellar animation even more life.

Since the pandemic, Pixar has only released one truly great film (Inside Out 2), but with Hoppers and the seemingly bulletproof Toy Story 5 coming within a few months of each other, they might go back-to-back on that front. Like the classic films from the studio, it has goofy, heartfelt, and exciting parts, mixing together for an enthralling time at the theater.

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Hoppers opens in theaters on March 6.

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