Albee damned

Is Dallas theater suddenly eclipsing the Alley? The New York Times says yes

Artists in a production of "Cabaret" at the Dallas Theater Center

Photo by Karen Almond/Dallas Theater Center/Facebook
A scene from The Alley Theatre's production of "Wonderland"

Photo by Michael Daniel
The Alley Theatre

Photo by Alley Theatre
Wyly Theater in Dallas

Photo by Bryan Amann

In the interminable Houston versus Dallas wars, Houston has always had a couple areas of excellence that Dallas couldn't match. With a world-class company like Alley Theatre as a cornerstone — the only company in Texas ever to win the Regional Theatre Tony Award, in 1996 — dramatic theater has for years been a force in Houston that had no equal in Dallas.

But is all that changing? Christopher Kelly writes in The New York Times (and Texas Monthly) that the Dallas Theater Center has recently taken a few pages out of the Alley's playbook, garnering national attention while the Houston company has stumbled.

Though the Alley remains the state’s heavy hitter, with an annual budget north of $14 million and recent world premieres like Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries, the theater earlier this year sustained a high-profile disappointment. Gregory Boyd, the Alley’s artistic director, was the co-author of and directed the musical Wonderland, which had a short run at the Alley before opening on Broadway in April. But the show was a flop; it received mostly negative reviews and closed after just 31 previews and 33 regular performances."

Perhaps more notably, the Texas theater buzz has traveled north, to the Dallas Theater Center, a company that has recently made impressive strides. It presented the premiere of a musical comedy in early 2010 called Give It Up!, which recently had a successful Off Broadway run in New York under the title Lysistrata Jones and will open on Broadway this year, with a number of the original Dallas cast members. Another world premiere, a reworked version of the 1966 musical It’s a Bird ... It’s a Plane ... It’s Superman, was staged during the summer of 2010."

Frankly, Mr. Kelly — who is also the critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and thus promoting his own turf — doth protest a bit too much.

Yes, the Dallas Theater Center has new digs in the form of the plush Charles and Dee Wyly Theater, part of the new cultural arts megaplex known as the AT&T Performance Arts Center. And it's great that the DTC has actually hired a resident company of actors, something that the Alley has had, oh, forever.

Certainly Dallas, as a major American city, deserves a top-level theater program. If Dallasites and outsiders want to give the resurgent company credibility by comparing it to Houston, that's fine. But a theater town isn't made in one or two strong seasons — nor is it unmade with one New York non-starter. When Dallas has more than just whispers about getting Tony attention, or relationships with legendary talent like Edward Albee, then maybe I'll concede a general parity.

Until then, the Alley is still the Texas program to beat.

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Movie Review

Supergirl fails to take flight in a movie weighed down by grief

Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures

Milly Alcock in Supergirl.

Last year's Superman reboot brought a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.

When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.

Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.

Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.

Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.

While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.

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Supergirl is now playing in theaters.

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