but there’s not enough variety in his characterization. Shaw’s performance
Jack Foltyn, Morgana Shaw and Michael Corolla in Idols of the King (Nan Coulter/Special)Here s an advance look at my review of Theatre Three s Idols of the King:Nobody has ever come up with a show quite like Idols of the King before. There are, unfortunately, good reasons why they haven’t.Theatre Three opened the piece on Monday. Ronnie Claire Edwards, a television celebrity and stage actress who goes way back with the organization, teamed up with Allen Crowe to write it.The king of the title is Elvis Presley, played by Graceland Approved Elvis Artist (as well as actor, writer and choreographer) Jack Foltyn. Foltyn performs nearly 20 songs associated with the star, mostly on a raised platform above the stage – and dons a new costume for almost every one. Behind him plays a band led by stage and musical director Terry Dobson,monsterbeats-1store.com.Two actors,christianlouboutindoudoune-pour.com, Morgana Shaw and Michael Corolla, play all the other roles – various Presley fans en route to aLas Vegasconcert (or, in some cases, to view the dead singer’s body atGraceland). Two characters play out a short scene, or one delivers a monologue, to prepare for the next musical number – which usually reflects or comments on the preceding miniature story.The characters are quite various. Some crop up more than once, like the Harley rider and his girlfriend who have run out of gas in Death Valley, or an elderly couple transporting a toilet once used by Elvis around the country as a tourist attraction,christianlouboutin1shop.com. (We eventually learn that there’s a connection between these two pairs.)Others make their impact with a single scene,Gucci shoes, like the exotic dancer who once had an affair with Elvis, or a gay event planner who inherited his business, and his affection for the star, from his mother.The trouble is, these vignettes never add up to a play,borse louis vuitton. The theme seems to be “Why so many people adored Elvis Presley.” Yet even on those terms, the experience feels incomplete. Too many of these people owe personal debts to the star – an old Army buddy, a waitress who received financial assistance for her hospitalized son. We absorb little of what made this singer such a phenomenon, like his appropriation of a formerly African-American singing style or his daring sexuality.Foltyn sings with surprising nuance and power, but there’s little charisma involved. Corolla delivers the lines – many of which are funny enough – well, but there’s not enough variety in his characterization. Shaw’s performance, however, is a personal triumph. She’s genuinely moving as the sexy showgirl or the repressed piano teacher who dances with Elvis in her whiskey-induced reveries,louis vuitton Outlet. She and Corolla fall into silly caricature in some of the skits, notably as the older couple. But that’s more a fault in the writing than in the execution.Plan your lifeThrough March 30 at Theatre Three at the Quadrangle, 2800 Routh St., Dallas. Runs 125 mins,north face. $10 to $50. 214-871-3300. .
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