Bullets fly over Hobby Center
Jeff Brooks (Cheech) and the cast of the North American tour of the hit musical comedy BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen featuring original direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
December 28, 2015
If a house was on fire and you had the the chance to either save the last copy of all of Shakespeare’s plays or save the life of a single human being, which would you save?
If you couldn’t fire the talentless actress who is weighing down your play, would you kill her?
Between flying bullets, love affairs, raging hormones, witty lines, showstopping dance moves and the music that made the 1920s roar, some deep themes are explored in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway”. The show runs everyday this week through Saturday Jan. 2 at the Houston Hobby Center.
Olive Neal (Jemma Jane) is the annoying, failed actress girlfriend of the mafia boss Nick Valenti (Michael Corvino). Valenti financially backs David Shayne’s (Michael Williams)’s play how on the condition that Olive is made a star.
hit musical
comedy BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen featuring original
direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
Shayne’s dream of directing his own show on Broadway soon turns into a nightmare with the squealy voice of Olive contorting her lines and the ever-present mobsters standing in like a greek chorus on his production.
The spine running beneath the wild hilarity is the idea of choosing art over life. Shayne, the struggling playwright, answered the first hypothetical question at the beginning of the show, but mafia man Cheech (Jeff Brooks) answers the second real question.
In the hypothetical question, Shayne says he would save Shakespeare over some ordinary person. He does chose art over life when he falls in love with Broadway star Helen Sinclair (Emma Stratton) and neglects his fiancee Ellen (Hannah Rose Deflumeri). Helen is a work of art herself, but Ellen is his life.
There is a lot of foul language, violence and sexual content in “Bullets Over Broadway”. It is not appropriate for younger or more sensitive audience members. Olive’s “The Hot Dog Song” felt like it came out of nowhere and it’s what drove the sexual content over the top for me. It seemed to be thrown into the show for shock effect.
This show is hilarious. It will make a fantastic night of entertainment during the holiday break. It is a show I would want to see again. Tickets to see “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Hobby Center can be purchased here.
