THE Magazine - Dallas / Forthworth

The WaterTower Theatre concludes its Discover Series with the regional premiere of Adam Bock's twisty comedy The Receptionist. At the beginning of an ordinary day at the Northern Office, receptionist Beverly effortlessly handles the ringing phone and her colleagues' love lives. But the appearance of a charming representative from the Central Office disrupts the routine. As the true nature of the company's business becomes clear, Beverly realized that her life will never be the same. The play gains insight into the power of office politics from the playwright's personal experience as a front desk receptionist at a design firm and a temp agency. Mr. Bock, a Canadian playwright living in the United States, was nominated for two 2007-2008 Outer Critics Circle Awards, including The Receptionist for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play.

With ten days of dance, theater, music, and art, this festival has a bit of everything. Some of the offerings will touch your funny bone while others will challenge your beliefs. Suffice to say, this is one festival with some edginess to it, so not all performances are family-friendly. Some of the highlights include: Muscle Memory Dance Theatre of Dallas, Texas performing Breaking News: Dancing with the Media, a commentary on American journalism -- television, newspapers, magazines and more; The Play about The Coach, which dives into the final defining minutes in a coach's career; One Man Star Wars Trilogy, a one-hour, high energy interpretation of the three Star Wars films; and Cowboy versus Samurai, a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac as one man must choose allegiance to the Asian-American and the American within himself in a pursuit of a love. Festival passes are available, as are tickets for individual performances.

Even for those longing for a "pair of Gene Tierney eyes" and "Ava Gardner's eyebrows," as sings the title character in Violet, the most well-know adage about true beauty comes from within. Convincing yourself, however, isn't always so easy. This is the theme of Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's 1997 musical, a much-loved work among musical theater acolytes who admire Tesori's seamless melding of Southern music styles (folk, country, gospel) in a Broadway idiom.
It's a hard sell for audiences; the story of a girl whose face was scarred in an axe accident -- based on Doris Betts's short story The Ugliest Pilgrim -- doesn't scream out "musical!" But somehow, Tesori and Crawley make it work, thanks to vividly drawn characters and memorable tunes. WaterTower Theatre's current production is North Texas' third professional staging. Casting-wise, it's the most successful of those. But as directed by James Paul Lemons, it's slow-moving and oddly staged in a tennis court configuration in the Addison Theatre Centre's alterable space (the set, featuring light representations of various locales, is by Andy Redmon). There is a live orchestra, directed by James McQuillen and placed somewhere out of view -- but the score sounds piped in.

The character Violet is represented by two actresses: Ruby Westfall as the young girl growing up with her father (Sonny Franks) in rural North Carolina (told in flashback); and Stacey Oristano as the woman in her twenties who takes a bus to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her hope is to find an audience with a faith healer (a charismatic Paul Taylor) who she hopes will magically evaporate her disfiguring scar. On her journey, Violet meets two Army men, Flick (Markus Lloyd, who played this role in the previous versions at Casa Mañana and Plano Repertory Theatre) and Monty (Luke Longacre). The latter initially teases Violet for her scar while Flick fights prejudice himself as an African-American traveling through the 1960s South.

They rival for Violet's attention, and in Oristano's portrait of an emotionally and physically scarred woman who never asks for sympathy, it's easy to see why. This is a plum role for Oristano. It's not too vocally difficult, made for an actress who's at her best when she's singing softly. Her accent and speech pattern, though, are a bizarre mix of country bumpkin, valley girl, and Forrest Gump.

The performances by her, Lloyd, Taylor, and ensemble vocalists Wendy Welch and Sheran Goodspeed Keyton elevate the show above its sluggish pace. Still, that's probably not enough to convince non-musical theater enthusiasts that Violet is an inventive and worthwhile musical.

The theater kicks off the New Year with the award-winning musical Violet. The story follows a young girl after a traffic accident left her scared for life. As an adult, she embarks on a cross-country journey to discover a cure but finds her past and present circumstances intermingled. Through her experiences, Violet finds the true meanings of love and acceptance. The production will feature Stacey Oristano as Violet. Ms. Oristano has been a featured regular on NBC's Friday Night Lights, appearing as Mindy Collette. The cast will also consist of Philip Bentham, Chimberly Carter, Sonny Franks, Markus Lloyd, Luke Longacre, Paul Taylor, Wendy Welch, and Ruby Westfall.