2013 was an exciting year for Artes de la Rosa Cultural Center for the Arts - full of art, creativity, family, and community! Of particular excitement were our theatre productions of Shakespeare's ROMEO & JULIET and The Tony Award Winning Musical, IN THE HEIGHTS. Yesterday, The 2013 "BEST OF" list was released and Artes de la Rosa received 19 "Bests" from 5 Theatre Critics including Editor & Senior Chief Theatre Critic John Garcia! We are so humbled by the outpour of love ADLR received and are so proud that our audiences have been apart of this amazing journey! 2014 looks to be just as an exciting year as musical, INTO THE WOODS just started rehearsals! Be on the look out for all the fun and excitement in the coming weeks as members of the cast of INTO THE WOODS blogs about their journey to "happily ever after..."
A list of all the recognitions from The Column follows:
JOHN
GARCIA- Senior Chief Theater Critic/Editor/Founder Picks:
BEST
NON-EQUITY PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR:
IN
THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theater). When I saw the national tour of
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical about Latinos living Washington Heights in New
York, I was enthralled and savored every moment of this musical. So
when the rights were released for theater companies to mount this Tony Award winning
musical, I thought to myself, “Oh dear. I smell major trouble here”. Because
the fact is there aren’t that many Latino actors in the DFW area. Plus to stay
true to the potpourri score of Cuban, rap, pop, and soul and bring it to
full vocal artistry, that’s another major issue I saw facing local theater
companies. Director Adam Adolfo faced these challenges head on and
brought to the stage a sublime production. The choreography of hip hop, jazz,
popping locking, and other elements of today’s genre of dance was executed with
great finesse by this cast. The staging and direction never fell off its tracks
as the evening went on. It was a very smart move by Adolfo in casting the role
of “Benny” with a Caucasian actor (normally it is played by an African-American
actor). This casting switch added much rich new subtext to the score and book
involving the romance and racism involving this character. The stage was
overflowing with resplendent performances, from the ensemble to the principals.
And here’s the ironic part-I was not the one on my staff to actually review it.
I simply went to go observe it at the invitation of the director. But
what impressed me the most was that Adolfo was able to find an armful of Latino
actors to bring this musical to life. When I saw this musical way back in May,
I posted on Artes de la Rosa’s face book page that this was one of the best
musicals of the year that I had seen so far. Now I feel it was indeed the Best
Non-equity musical of the 2013 season.
OUTSTANDING
PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR:
 |
| Joshua Sherman |
 |
| Lorens Portalatin |
Matt
Ransdell Jr. as “Usnavi”, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
Joshua
Sherman as “Benny”, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
Lorens
Portalatin as “Nina”, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
Pilar
Ortiz as “Abuela Claudia”, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
BEST
DIRECTION OF THE YEAR:
Adam
Adolfo, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theater)Elise Lavallee, Michael Sylvester Maegan Marie Stewart, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theater)
BEST
SCENIC DESIGN OF THE YEAR:
 |
| Matt Ransdell |
Aaron Sanchez, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
Matt Ransdell, Jr., IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)
The cast of IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theatre)- Kevin Acosta, Michael Alonzo, Austin Ray Beck, Jeremy Coca, Jordan Ghanbari, Benicka Janae Grant, Gina Gwozdz, Courtney Harris, Aigner Mathis, Darren McElroy, Addie Morales, Mark Quach, Rebekah Ruiz, Meagan Marie Stewart, Michael Sylvester, Rashad Turley
MARY
L. CLARK: Assistant Editor in Chief/ Associate Theater Critic's Picks:
 |
| Michael Alonzo with choreographers Austin Ray Beck & Rebekah Ruiz |
 |
| "Juliet" - Courtney Harris" |
BEST
PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR:
Michael Alonzo –Balthasar The Balladeer – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. His stage presence, his spectacular tenor voice made Alonzo the play’s heartthrob, but his role as the narrator lent the important ominous flavor to the play.
Courtney Harris– Juliet – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. Harris beautifully played all of Juliet’s emotions and showed the character’s realistic transition into womanhood.
Michael Alonzo –Balthasar The Balladeer – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. His stage presence, his spectacular tenor voice made Alonzo the play’s heartthrob, but his role as the narrator lent the important ominous flavor to the play.
Courtney Harris– Juliet – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. Harris beautifully played all of Juliet’s emotions and showed the character’s realistic transition into womanhood.
BEST
DIRECTION OF THE YEAR:
Adam Adolfo– Director – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. Adolfo’s staging was naturalistic, moving actors easily and quickly, and set changes without blackouts and fades. Actors played characters with a more realistic air than most Shakespeare productions I’ve seen.
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR:
Austin Ray Beck and Rebekah Ruiz – Choreography – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. While not highly difficult dance moves, Beck and Ruiz created work that made each dancer shine and every dance look spectacular. Precision over flash was the order of the day and it was well worth the effort.
_________________________________________________________
Adam Adolfo– Director – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. Adolfo’s staging was naturalistic, moving actors easily and quickly, and set changes without blackouts and fades. Actors played characters with a more realistic air than most Shakespeare productions I’ve seen.
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR:
Austin Ray Beck and Rebekah Ruiz – Choreography – Romeo Juliet – Artes de la Rosa. While not highly difficult dance moves, Beck and Ruiz created work that made each dancer shine and every dance look spectacular. Precision over flash was the order of the day and it was well worth the effort.
_________________________________________________________
RICHARD
S. BLAKE- Associate Theater Critic's Picks:
BEST FEATURED ACTRESS:
Lorens Portalatin as Apothecary/Dancer, ROMEO JULIET, (Artes de la Rosa)
As one of DFW’s most exciting up-and-coming young actresses, Ms. Portalatin commanded the stage in the show, yet never when the focus wasn’t on her. It was a truly stunning performance and I’m sure we’ll see this rising star on some of the area’s largest stages very, very soon!
_____________________________________________________________
Lorens Portalatin as Apothecary/Dancer, ROMEO JULIET, (Artes de la Rosa)
As one of DFW’s most exciting up-and-coming young actresses, Ms. Portalatin commanded the stage in the show, yet never when the focus wasn’t on her. It was a truly stunning performance and I’m sure we’ll see this rising star on some of the area’s largest stages very, very soon!
_____________________________________________________________
LK FLETCHER-Associate
Theater Critic's Picks:
BEST DANCER: Michael Anthony Sylvester “In The Heights”, Artes de la Rosa
___________________________________________________________
JOEL TAYLOR-Associate Theater Critic's Picks:
BEST DIRECTION:
Adam Adolfo for In the Heights, Artes de la Rosa Theater
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY: Elise Lavallee, Michael Sylvester Maegan Marie Stewart, IN THE HEIGHTS (Artes de la Rosa Theater)
No comments:
Post a Comment