In a few hours, the world will hear Jake Heggie’s opera Moby Dick for the first time. In the weeks leading up to the debut, Heggie felt confident that his work had come together, was polished and complete. With Moby Dick there were no horror stories of last minute revisions and added music. We spoke with Heggie about putting the finishing touches on his opera and seeing the entirety of the work take shape.

If you happen to be heading up to Chicago this weekend, you won’t be alone. Dallas Museum of Art curator Charlie Wylie will be in the windy city for the annual Art Chicago art fair where he will participate on a panel entitled “Big Culture: Contemporary Art in Texas.” Wylie will be joined by Risa Puleo, Assistant Curator of Contemporary and American Art, The Blanton Museum, Sue Graze, Executive Director, Arthouse Texas, and Matthew Drutt, Executive Director, Artpace, in discussing ..read more

Looking to get your art fix? Via the Dallas Arts Salon: a wonderful rundown of this week’s Dallas Fort Worth art openings and events as compiled by Jim Mathis. One show that is a can’t miss for any of you out there who, like me, horded tens of thousands of baseball cards in shoe boxes under his or her bed as a kid: Mark Collop‘s paintings (pictured) that are created from 1970s Topps baseball cards opening at 500x. Jump for ..read more

In the lobby of the Dallas Hub Theater, flat against the wall, there is a long glass-enclosed display case, the kind you might find in an antique nick-knack shop of a long since deserted town center. Beneath the glass, on a billowing ream of burgundy fabric sit three court jester figurines. All three of them posed, legs stretched forward, arms out to the side, gazing out at passers-by with their sinister upturned smiles. The musty smell of heavy velvet stage ..read more

Top-notch performances of a largely second-rate repertoire characterized Thursday night’s performance by the Dallas Symphony at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Guest conductor Claus Peter Flor opened the evening with the one really fine composition on the program, Dvorak’s tone poem The Wood Dove. Late in his career, Dvorak’s ability to draw convincing structure out of folk material inspired this masterpiece of descriptive music, rich with Bohemian melody and so durably crafted that the listener doesn’t need to ..read more

1. Leonard Foglia’s staging of Moby Dick is changing everyday, the director tells KERA. That all changes tonight when the production becomes performance.

2. Moby Dick has been a great excuse to get some out-of-town writers to Dallas, and with their trips comes the inevitable arts district articles. Today’s comes from the Houston Chronicle, entitled (you know it) “Big Art in the Big D.” It is a rundown of the usual highlights: starchitecture, top venues, good organizations – “Almost an embarrassment ..read more

A week or so ago, Danna Reubin praised Charles Santos’ TITAS for bringing in and promoting modern dance programming at the AT&T PAC. Now comes word similar programming will continue through 2011. Next year’s season will bring MOMIX, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and it will feature a year-long residency of the Complexions Contemporary Ballet who will present the world premiere of a new work commissioned by TITAS. Other highlights from the TITAS / Jazz Roots ..read more

If you cracked open Andy Bothwell’s head, you would likely be overwhelmed with the volume of content spilling out: clippings from People magazine, Bill Murray’s scotch glass, a dozen pulp novels, a handbook on bloodletting.  In my interview with Andy, who performs under the name Astronautalis, I accused him of being an insatiable information junkie.  “Inspiration junkie,” he politely corrects me, “I’m constantly inspired by little facts and tidbits.  It’s a game of collect and store it.  You research fighter ..read more

One of the many subplots surrounding the Dallas Opera’s production of Moby Dick is the physical feat Canadian superstar tenor Ben Heppner is forced to undertake as Ahab, a Wagnerian-sized role on stage for the vast majority of the show, playing the role of a maniacally obsessive ship captain battling a whale with . . . wait for it . . . only one leg. The singer was fitted for his peg leg by costume designers in New York, and ..read more

When the creators of a musical name it [title of show], you know they’re betting their bucks on pure moxie.  Theatre Three has Bruce R. Coleman directing a sparkling cast in this “let’s put on a show” musical, and that’s a good thing because the moniker is a harbinger of the level of jokes to come.  It is a musical about writing a musical, which isn’t such a new idea.  Only this musical about writing a musical is about writing ..read more