Neil Rogers Actor, Singer, VO Artist - Dallas, TX
Titanic Sailing to 5 outstanding Reviews.
Read the Elaine Liner Review Below
This isn't the maiden voyage for the musical Titanic at Lyric Stage. The company did it in 2003 using the same staging by director Drew Scott Harris and the same stripped-down set designed by Scott Osborne that merely suggests, with three levels of steps and metal railings, the gleaming decks, deluxe "saloons" and hellfire coal-stoking rooms of the White Star Line's "city on the sea."
We liked this Titanic 11 years ago and we like it now. It's a gorgeous production, just the sort of grand piece of American musical theater Lyric Stage does so well, with 35 musicians in the pit and 38 actor-singers on the stage.
With a story and book by Peter Stone (Will Rogers Follies, My One and Only) and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston (Nine, Grand Hotel), Titanic won five Tony Awards in 1997. Musicals have grown smaller since then. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, this year's Tony darling, has a cast of two, with four musicians. The only really big musical on Broadway this past season was the revue After Midnight, with an on-stage orchestra and dozens of singers and dancers. It's closing at the end of June. Big musicals cost too much to sustain if seats aren't full every night.
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That's why Lyric Stage's mission of reviving American musicals and producing them with original orchestrations and a full-to-bursting pit is so essential. If Lyric doesn't receive the regional Tony (awarded to a NYC company this year, ahem) sometime in the next five years, it'll be a cryin' shame.
But back to this unweepy (unlike the 1997 movie) Titanic, going down in spectacular fashion with 35 numbers (some just a few bars long) in a mere 2.5 hours. Stone's story of the April 15, 1912, tragedy sticks close to facts. We see millionaire John Jacob Astor (played by Jackie L. Kemp) and his teenage wife (Meghan Miller) boarding alongside Macy's department store founder Isidor Straus and wife Ida (Jay Taylor, Lois Sonnier Hart, who played the same role in 2003), and Benjamin Guggenheim (Neil Rogers). "I Must Get on That Ship," they sing in the buoyant opening.
A tight-T-shirt-filling Irish coal stoker, Frederick Barrett (Anthony Fortino in an impressive performance, voice- and T-shirt-wise), wonders "How Did They Build Titanic?" A second-class couple, Alice and Edgar Beane (Mary Gilbreath Grim, Mark Oristano), mix uneasily with elite passengers as she tries to sneak into the afternoon tea dance. A class-conscious steward, Mr. Etches (the terrific Randy Pearlman), keeps chasing Alice back to her place with the hoi polloi. Farther down, in doomed third-class steerage, three Irish girls named Kate (Katie Moyes Williams, Kylie Arnold, Erika Larsen) sing about dreams of life in America.
Act 1 ends with the kid in the crow's nest spotting you-know-what. Act 2 is a high-spirited send-off to characters who go down with the ship.
The blend of big voices against the strings and woodwinds from conductor Jay Dias' orchestra makes for an enormous sound. A fitting first-class production that's smooth sailing all the way.
Shakespeare Dallas' fall production of The Winter's Tale, which happens in Dallas and Addison, is not to be missed.
A review by Kris Noteboom at TheatreJones
Despite its ominous sounding title, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, presented by Shakespeare Dallas, is akin to a fairy tale or old wives tale, as it were. That’s the historical grounding of the term. Of course, as it always is with the Bard, there’s a healthy grounding and foreshadowing accomplished by the title in this skillful production.
Really two plays in one, The Winter’s Tale opens in the court of the bombastic King of Sicilia, Leontes (T.A. Taylor). The court of the Kingdom of Bohemia, led by Leontes’ childhood friend King Polixenes (Neil Rogers) has been visiting for several months. Nine months, to be exact. Enter Hermione (Michelle Courtney Schwartz), Leontes’ very pregnant queen.
In a leap of logic indicative of the Leontes’ excitably negative nature, he accuses Hermione of having an affair with Polixenes. He imprisons her and seeks to have his old friend killed. And when at the trial a message from the Oracle at Delphi is read that absolves Hermione and Polixenes, Leontes refuses to believe and says the Oracle, and by proxy, Apollo, is wrong. Which, anyone who’s ever studied mythology will agree is a very bad idea.
By the time Leontes comes to his senses, everyone close to him is either dead or in exile in Bohemia, including the daughter born to him by Hermione that he was so convinced belonged to Polixenes.
The second act takes place primarily in Bohemia 16 years later where the orphaned and exiled princess, Perdita (Vanessa DeSilvio) has grown up the daughter of an Old Shepherd (Adrian Spencer Churchill) and sister of the clownish Young Shepherd (Clay Wheeler). Along the way, Perdita and Polixenes son Florizel (Nathan Dibben) fall for each other, and since this is not a tragedy, happy endings eventually ensue.
This production is sharp and entertaining, though the conclusion does drag somewhat. Of particular note, the production team on this project is due for recognition. Jacob A. Climber’s set design is deceptively simplistic. Sicilia is represented as a wood paneled room with Peter Paul Rubens’ imposing painting The Judgment of Paris looking in the background. Yet, when it comes time to travel to the more bucolic kingdom of Bohemia, the painting lowers to the ground, swinging out from the wall, to create a country hillside. It’s a perfect handling of the assertion that Sicilia is all court and Bohemia all country.
Costume designers Climber and Jen J. Mason also created wonderful contrasting pallets for the two kingdoms, Sicilia drab and Bohemia bright, especially in Wheeler’s Young Shepherd and Ian Ferguson’s awesome portrayal of the rogue, Autolycus.
Finally, this show adds some musical flair with original music written by Max Hartman and Ferguson, performed expertly by Ferguson, who is one of the highlights of the whole show playing two parts, but the Autolycus part being so varied and colorful.
Director René Moreno put together more than just a stellar production team though. His cast is equally as impressive. As already mentioned, Wheeler and Ferguson are given two of the more fun roles, and make the most of them. But there is plenty of drama to be had as well. Schwartz is heartbreaking as the doomed Hermione, and Taylor is scary as the unflinchingly cold Leontes. Taylor really shows his mettle when it’s time to take the incredibly angry king and turn him regretful and sad.
Leontes actually is probably the barometer for the entire show. A tale of two acts, as it were. Beginning dark and foreboding, but eventually giving way to light, this is one of Shakespeare’s more nimble works. For very few people could handle killing off or exiling major characters in the first act and actually finding redemption in the second act. It’s not something audiences are used to or likely, in most cases, to believe. As fans looking forward to this weekend’s conclusion of Breaking Bad can attest.
Yet, there’s a reason Shakespeare is still read, studied and performed today and it’s because of plays like The Winter’s Tale, a fantasy story where the limits of reality are only as certain as the person telling the story. And thankfully, Moreno and Dallas Shakespeare prove to be apt storytellers.
The Little Foxes wins Best Play 2011
The Little Foxes at ICT Mainstage, directed by Chris Robinson and staring Neil Rogers as Oscar Hubbard (Nominated best actor) and Doug Fowler as Ben Hubbard (Nominated as best supporting Actor) has won the coveted Best Play award at the 2011 Column Awards. Read the Column Review Excerpt below:
Reviewed by Kristopher A. Harrison, Associate Theater Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN
ICT's production of The Little Foxes was a triumph. A tight ensemble of talented actors in the hands of masterful direction created a "don't miss" theatre experience for the Metroplex.
The Little Foxes, Lillian Hellman's second play, told the story of the Hubbard family. Two brothers, Oscar and Ben, have plans to build a cotton mill in their turn of the century Southern town. They know the mill will make them rich, but they lack the final $7,500 dollars to complete the deal. For that, they've turned to their sister Regina whose husband Horace has the money they need. Horace's heart condition forced him to spend several months at a hospital out of town, and the brothers have trusted Regina to convince him to come through with the final piece of the investment that will have them all set for life. Yet Regina has plans of her own, and is tired of living in the shadow of her brothers. The play was a searing commentary on capitalist greed and peeled back the outer façade of this southern family to reveal the ugliness that ultimately lies at the heart of each of us.
The two brothers, Ben and Oscar (played by Doug Fowler and Neil Rogers,
respectively) began their work as stereotypical "good old boy" Southern businessmen, but quickly nuanced their roles to be smarmy, vulnerable, and ruthless. The strength of this production is in the acting. The challenge of producing an older play like this one (it was originally produced in 1939) often lies in making the production relevant to modern audiences. This cast has certainly overcome that obstacle.
Director Chris Robinson should be commended for having allowed his actors to explore every ounce of subtle sub-text. The play oozed with tense moments of unspoken conflict, without being melodramatic. Every actor in the production was quite talented, and the way they worked together created a production that gripped the audience tightly and didn't let us go until the end.
Big River wins Best Musical
Big River at Artisan Center Theatre wins Best Musical at the 2012 Column Awards. This amazing musical that included performances that used sign language and which the performers signed their own songs recieved great accolades and won the coveted top award in 2012. I was proud to play Pap in this production, the drunk abusive father of Huck Finn who sings the great song Guv'ment while stumbling drunk accross the stage. Read the excerpts of a review below:
Reviewed by Richard Blake, Associate Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN
It's hard to surprise me with a production I've seen so many times, but Artisan Center Theater does just that by executing a difficult production that is entertaining, with a confident cast and exciting technical aspects in Big River!
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a musical based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with music and lyrics by Roger Miller and book by William Hauptman. In keeping with the setting of the novel, Big River features music in bluegrass and country styles.
The original Broadway production opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on April 25, 1985. It ran for 1005 performances and was nominated for ten Tony Awards. It won seven, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. A critically acclaimed revival of Big River opened on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre on July 24, 2003.
This production, staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company and Deaf West Theatre, was exceptional in that it featured both deaf and hearing actors performing together. About half the characters, including the leading role of Huck, were played by deaf or hard-of-hearing performers. All dialogue and lyrics in the production were both spoken or sung and signed, making the production equally accessible to hearing and deaf audiences.
The revival was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards and three Tony Awards, and won one of each; the 2004 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical and the 2004 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre. It was remounted for a U.S. tour in 2004, and was nominated for several regional awards for excellence.
Artisan usually produces its shows in the round but for Big River they have re-arranged the entire space into a small "proscenium-esque" stage with a thrust. Well, not just a thrust, but a massive river (a.k.a. the Big River Wishing Well Tank) with complicated moving and floating platforms! There are many more exciting production elements you will have to see for yourself, but from the moment I walked in I knew this was going to be a truly unique production "Big River".
Dennis Canright's direction is very well done and very fluid. There are great opportunities on this ever changing stage and Mr. Canright uses them all excellently. Big River has many locations, and the choices he makes in direction keep you in every one of them. I will credit Mr. Canright for making the "River" just as important a character as Huckleberry Finn himself. I am very impressed with the overall use, style, scenic innuendos and transitions of the production which never takes away from the performers, but excellently enhances them!
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The set design team of Dennis Canright, Jason Leyva and Lily Stapp-Courtney has done one of the most remarkable designs for a small space I believe I have ever seen! The use of a massive tank, building the set on it, moving, adding and replacing the set pieces flawlessly throughout the performance, shows a massive amount of conceptualization of this musical's needs.
The design makes for some amazing scenic presentations and offers the cast great opportunities to perform. I can't imagine that first production meeting when the concept was discussed? `Ok, so I want a huge tank that holds thousands of gallons of water in the center of the theatre and oh? the set has to break apart with the cast on it while singing and floating!' Bravo to this wonderful design team!
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The large ensemble cast does very well vocally and works with each other on stage with great ease and confidence. Every member of the cast at some point shines on stage and carries this story with wonderful presence and passion.
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Artisan's presentation of Big River will entertain you, expose you to some amazing DFW talent and is an exciting evening at the theatre.
1776! at Lyric Stage a major success - Nominated best Musical.
1776! recieved great acclaim and was very popular with the audiences. I recieved a Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (equity) for my role as Lewis Morris and the show itself recieved a Nomination for Best Musical (equity) at the 2012 Column Awards. Read the Theatre Jones review below:
At first thought, a musical based on the deliberations of the Continental Congress that led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence sounds like a dry subject for a musical. After all, anyone who has attended a committee meeting about anything will understand how difficult they are to endure—and this one went on for years.
However, 1776, the musical, with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone, succeeds on many levels. It is a thoughtful character study of the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and mostly the "obnoxious and disliked" (as he is frequently described) John Adams. The show is also an historical reenactment of a turning point in the history of the world that is portrayed with accuracy and with little extraneous added.
One of the most important moments in the show, being revived by Lyric Stage, is a surprise to some in the audience. Many are unaware that the demands of the south to delete the mention of slavery in the declaration, on threat of withholding their vote (which had to be unanimous), brings into stark relief just which part of "all men" it was "self-evident" the founding fathers thought were "created equal."
Hearing the same racist words, which would echo through the centuries, coming out of the mouth of South Carolina's Edward Rutledge, is revelatory. Could this battle have been resolved right there and then? Alas, no. The can was kicked down the annals of history and eventually erupted into the Civil War, women's suffrage, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and finally as the work-in-painful-progress of the extension of equal rights to gays and lesbians.
It is the perfect musical to be presented in this highly disputed and polarizing election season. It shows that, as the French say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose ("the more things change, the more they are the same thing"). Politicians arguments are nothing new and compromise frequently means the total capitulation of one side or the other, an argument we hear on today's campaign trail. Getting the civics lesson from 1776 is reason enough to attend—and bring the kids, neighbors and grandparents.
... In the hands of musical director Jay Dias and director Cheryl Denson, a talented cast of fine singing actors, and a 30-piece symphony orchestra, Edwards' music rises to the occasion. ...
Brian Gonzales, as the irascible John Adams, comes in second. He has a lovely baritone voice, but is a little on the small side that would rule out the more popera big voice roles. However, he is a master at creating a totally believable character and it is not a surprise that he is on everyone's radar as a big star on his way up. Speaking of stars, David Coffee, one of the area's best character actors, does a star turn as the cantankerous Ben Franklin. In Coffee's able hands, Franklin is always in the process of thinking up his "sayings" and in being his own greatest fan. But when he erupts and exerts his considerable force of personality, everyone just says "Yes Sir" and falls in line in a flash.
Bryant Martin is an example of luxury casting in the role of Thomas Jefferson. He did his expected excellent job in the role, but we didn't get to experience the full range of this fine singing actor as we did when he played Curly in Oklahoma! last season at Lyric. Maranda Harrison is not quite as successful as his wife, Martha. Vocally, she is a little squeaky and plays Martha as a ditzy girl-toy.
Kyle Cotton, who greatly impressed as Jud Fry in the aforementioned Oklahoma!, is Edward Rutledge, the South Carolina delegate who gummed up the racial works. Once again, it is his ability to physically inhabit his character that is so outstanding. Vocally, on Sunday at least, he was not as strong. He pushed the voice, which caused him to go sharp, and his diction left many of us wondering what he was so worked up about.
Drenda Lewis does a fine job with historically accurate costumes and Phillip Plowman works overtime on all the dozens of wigs that were the rage of fashion for men at the time. The rest of the male-heavy cast—Jeff Bailey, Lon Barrera, Russell Batchelor, Jonathan Bragg, David Cook, Christopher Curtis, Parker Fitzgerald, Gordon Fox, Kevin Friemel, Joseph Holt, M. Shane Hurst, Michael Isaac, Art Kedzierski, Mark Oristano, Randy Pearlman, Ben Phillips, Michael Pricer, Neil Rogers, Max Swarner, James Williams and Chip Wood—are all up to the high standards that Lyric Stage sets. The ensemble singing is clean and virile and may use authentic accents that match their respective characters.
We know you're sick of politics right now, but this production deserves a "yes" vote.