Slinky Slithers

The real story of Miller Outdoor Theatre: Inside Houston's outdoor artsinstitution

Cissy Segall Davis, Miller Outdoor Theatre managing director
Photo by David W. Clements
A scene from the Miller Outdoor Theatre's early days.

While constricting neckties and ankle-breaking stilettos seem to be the uniform du jour for some highbrow art performances, Houston concertgoers should give thanks to a venue where fashion is meaningless and comfort is king. A land of lawn seating and picnic baskets, where vino is optional, and encouraged.

But don't let the informal ambiance fool you. If it's not good enough for the best stages around the country, you won't find it at Miller Outdoor Theatre, either.

Since its dedication as Miller Memorial Theatre in 1923, the venue and 7.5 acres of greens have served as the country's only proscenium theater of its kind. It presented over 140 professional performances to 431,000 people last year, free of charge. That's more than some of the indoor theaters in town.

Back in its formative years, Miller was built as a permanent bandstand flanked by 20 limestone columns (now part of the Mecom Rockwell Colonnade Fountain across from Hotel ZaZa) hosting pageants, sports radio broadcasts and later accommodating the Houston Symphony's first outdoor concert in August of 1941, drawing an estimated crowd of 15,000 even with temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

It wasn't until 1952 that a city official pointed out that Miller Outdoor Theatre, not Miller Memorial, was the intended name. It's unsure of how the misunderstanding happened.

Cissy Segall Davis, Miller Outdoor Theatre's managing director, has been involved with the venue's activities since 1979 while working at Theatre Under the Stars. Today, she has quite an arduous but richly rewarding responsibility: Working with local arts organizations to program an eight-month performance season and finding touring groups to fill in any cultural and artistic gaps.

"What you see when you look out is an audience that reflects Houston's diversity, including all age, ethnic and socio-economic groups, all sitting together watching the same show at the same time," Segall Davis said. "Anyone can come here to see great performances totally free of charge.

"This is a gift and we are very lucky the city invests in this facility and program."

The Miller Theatre Advisory Board (MTAB) — a 21-member governing group appointed by the Mayor and approved by City Council with five chairs designated for Rice University, University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Houston Independent School District and South Main Alliance — administers a grants program for Houston’s finest performing arts and community-based organizations to perform free of charge at Miller Theatre. Roughly, 85 percent of what's on stage is from these Houston organizations.

And with monies primarily coming from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds through the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA), there is a strong desire to ensure the programs promote tourism and are of the highest artistic merit.

Working with Houston non-profit groups to schedule out the season, underwriting is available for up to 50 percent of the production costs. Segall Davis and her team assess issues of quality, diversity, broad popular appeal and cost effectiveness, followed by a thorough evaluation of the performance.

For touring groups, the funding process is different as HOT funds can only be granted to organizations that operate within city limits.

"This is such a fabulous venue, so well equipped, that the Miller Board wanted to augment the schedule of free performances by Houston’s performing arts groups with outstanding regional, national and international touring artists and groups," Segall Davis said. "The board takes on the responsibility of raising funds to cover these costs."

The Aluminum Show, a touring troupe from Israel, opens the Miller Outdoor Theatre season this Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.

Think Texas big aluminum slinkys slithering about the stage, creating a sparkling pseudo sci-fi family-friendly world of industrial-meets illusion and fantasy. Using found materials from factories, dancers tell an all-familiar story of a young futuristic machine determined to find its parents.

Spoiler alert: portions of the show are interactive.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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