Forecast: flurries

Let it snow! How TUTS creates a White Christmas for its audience every night

The cast of White Christmas dodges snow flakes.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
It's a winter wonderland at the Hobby Center every night.
Photo by Tarra Gaines
Stage crew members making sure everything is working just right...and enjoyingthe magical indoor blizzard
Photo by Tarra Gaines
Richard Winkler, lighting designer, shows his approval of the snowfall.
Photo by Tarra Gaines
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Testing, testing...snow, snow
Photo by Tarra Gaines
The ceiling at Sarofim Hall
Photo by Tarra Gaines

Dreaming of a white Christmas? For Houstonians enduring Decembers when it can be 70 degrees one day and 35 the next, even our most trusted local meteorologist can never guarantee snow for the season. Theatre goers, at least, know they can count on an artful blizzard onstage in many holiday shows, and this year, Theatre Under the Stars is going to take its wintery special effects to the next level.

TUTS is using the title of their holiday musical, White Christmas, as a special promise to the audience that snow will not only fall onstage but everywhere and on everyone in the Sarofim Hall theater.

I recently got a sneak peek of the show’s indoor snow storm during a tech rehearsal when I spoke with the man in charge of illuminating the winter wonderland. Richard Winkler, the production’s lighting designer, has been working with TUTS for over a decade. Along with his lighting design work on many of their most popular shows, he is also an awarding winning Broadway producer.

TUTS is so committed to its snow that in addition to the 10 snow machines, “We have augmented those with other snow machines because our theatre is so large."

Winkler calls White Christmas “an absolutely delightfully charming version of the wonderful Irving Berlin musical from my youth.”

White Christmas is the theatrical version of the classic Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye film of the same name, not to be confused with the classic Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire film Holiday Inn where the Irving Berlin song “White Christmas” originated. White Christmas, the stage musical, tells the story of two World War II army buddies, turned famous entertainers, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis. The song and dance duo fall for the singing Haynes sisters while attempting to save the failing Vermont inn owned by their former commanding officer. The inn is close to bankruptcy because an unseasonal heat wave has chased away all the guests.

Will our heroes win the sisters? Will Davis and Wallace’s new musical revue be successful? Will they save the inn? Will snow fall in Vermont? For a holiday show that Winkler describes with words like “old fashioned” and “charming,” the chances are good for a happy ending the keeps the promise of the title.

The play harkens back to its golden age of movie musical beginnings with a story of love, loyalty, and tap dancing. This traditional type of story call for a traditional way of telling it. Winkler explains,

It’s not a very complicated show technically. It’s an old fashioned musical which requires old fashioned scenery. . .as a designer you are responsible for rendering the author’s work and if the author has written an old fashioned musical, no matter what, if you’re going to do a traditional production of it, you need to render it in an old fashioned way.”

TUTS last produced the show in 2008 and while the set and costumes will be the same the new director, Bruce Lumpkin, and choreographer, Mary Jane Houdina, have made some changes, so audiences who fondly remember the 2008 production can look forward to a familiar show with a few surprises. They can also look forward to a special, special effect at the end.

Two types of snow

The show is owned by TUTS and two other theatre companies, and snow is such an intrinsic part of the production that, along with the sets and costumes, 10 snow machines are included in the whole White Christmas package. There are actually two different types of snow in the production, the stage snow which is a solid material that is used and recycled after each performance, and the snow the audience will experience.

TUTS is so committed to its snow that in addition to the snow machines, “We have augmented those with other snow machines because our theatre is so large and because we wanted to include not only the ground floor but the mezzanine and the balcony. So we have to have snow machines all over,” says Winkler.

“It’s really interesting because I designed this three years ago as well and I remember, I got to tell you, when the snow comes on the entire audience just goes wild."

And what exactly is this snow made of? Well, the production would like to keep some of its secrets, so I’ll only reveal that one of ingredients in the snow that falls in Hobby Center is the same as real snow and another might help the audience leave the theatre a little cleaner than when they arrive.

After taking part in this mini-course on theatrical snow making and learning some of the tricks these stage crew magicians use to create their wintery illusion, I found my new knowledge didn’t lessen the experience at all. Once Richard Winkler called forth the snow, I turned into a wonder-eyed eight-year-old. For a few moments, my brain could only manage the following observation: Awww, snow. Pretty.

And I wasn’t the only one rendered into a child-like state by the indoor snowstorm. Even the experienced stage crew paused in their work for a few minutes to quietly watch it fall or take photos.

Winkler has noted a similar reaction from audiences, observing: “It’s really interesting because I designed this three years ago as well and I remember, I got to tell you, when the snow comes on the entire audience just goes wild. It’s wonderful to be part of the creative staff that affects an audience as much as this does. And the show is delightful, but the addition of the snow, because it’s so unusual, somehow just sweeps everybody up. It just grabs everyone and makes them become a part of the whole emotional experience.”

The TUTS production of White Christmas is at the Hobby Center through Dec. 18. For more information, click here.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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