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    Dallas Trumps New York

    New musical Fly By Night triumphs in Dallas premiere

    Alex Bentley
    May 4, 2013 | 10:31 pm

    Thanks to Dallas Theater Center, Dallas has been privileged to play host to a series of productions that have played here before New York got a crack at them. In recent years, this has included the musicals Giant and Give It Up!, the second of which played on Broadway as Lysistrata Jones, and which also featured Andrew Rannells before his big break starring in The Book of Mormon.

    That streak continues with Fly By Night (playing at Kalita Humphreys Theater through May 26), a rock musical set in mid-1960s New York. A show with many interconnected storylines, it mainly follows three characters: Harold (Damon Daunno), a lowly sandwich maker whose recent personal loss provides the means for inspiration; Daphne (Whitney Bashor), a South Dakota girl who dreams of making it big on Broadway; and Daphne’s sister Miriam (Kristin Stokes), who reluctantly accompanies her sibling to New York to provide moral and financial support.

    A love triangle does ensue, but FBN has more up its sleeves than just that. A narrator (Asa Somers) deftly guides us through the trio’s daily interactions, which includes Harold’s father Mr. McClam (David Coffee), who’s trying to maintain a connection to the world; Crabble (Michael McCormick), Harold’s boss at the sandwich shop who still dreams of his time in the military; and Joey Storms (Alex Organ), a tortured playwright who comes to see Daphne as his muse.

    Fly By Night is about as finely-tuned a comic machine as you will ever encounter in the theater.

    In the first act, FBN shows that it’s about as finely-tuned a comic machine as you will ever encounter in the theater. The dialogue from writers Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock is crisp and transitions from character to character so smoothly that you’d swear the actors had been working together for years.

    Lines started by the narrator are finished by another character, often making a punchline come out of left field. Songs start and stop on a dime, with the narrator often interrupting to provide some sort of new information. If not done right, these quirks could be annoying, but they’re handled so well that they come off as delightful every single time.

    The songs are equally as fantastic. The structure in which each song is introduced is different than a traditional musical, as many of them have an organic beginning in the plot. Harold, Daphne and even Miriam usually have real reasons to be singing, as opposed to singing dialogue that could otherwise have been spoken.

    But even those that aren’t served by the plot are great, an indication of how well-composed they are. Highlights include an early rocker by Harold that resonates throughout the show; a song of hope sung by Daphne before she leaves for New York; a duet between Harold and Daphne soon after they meet; and a song about stars and fate sung by the astronomy-obsessed Miriam.

    As played by Somers, the narrator is likely to emerge as the audience favorite. More than just an omniscient presence, he’s called upon to play minor roles that help move the story along, often using nothing more than an accent and a period-appropriate pair of glasses or a scarf to indicate the transition. Somers’ skill at seamlessly moving between characters is one of the biggest pleasures of FBN.

    Daunno is cast perfectly as the mild Harold. His floppy hair and humble demeanor make Harold someone for whom to root from minute one, and his voice ensures that you’ll remember him long after the musical ends.

    Bashor and Stokes each get their moments to shine, utilizing their respective character traits to their advantage. At first it seems as if Bashor’s presence will overwhelm the plainer Stokes, but a big solo by Stokes blows away those expectations, and Stokes ultimately becomes the more memorable of the two.

    The set is simple and yet complex at the same time, making great use of limited space. Furniture and other elements come out from the sides and back on tracks. The band — Austin-based Foe Destroyer — is artfully on display behind windows on the rear left, allowing for multiple occasions for characters to interact with them in humorous or exciting ways.

    By the time the musical reaches its climax amidst the epic East Coast blackout on November 9, 1965, it's burrowed its way deep in the audience's heart. Hearty laughs in the first act give way to well-earned tears in the second, completing a journey of love, loss, destiny and hope.

    After it finishes its run here, Fly By Night will make its New York premiere at Playwright Horizons in spring 2014. But DTC isn’t through with premieres this season, as it will put on Fly, a new musical about Peter Pan, for its 2012-2013 season finale.

    Dallas-Fort Worth area theater lovers owe it to themselves to catch Fly By Night before it leaves town. It’s more than possible that the musical will go on to win multiple Tony Awards — it’s that good. And you can say you saw it first.

    Kristin Stokes, Whitney Bashor and Damon Daunno in Dallas Theater Center's Fly By Night.

    Dallas Theater Center presents Fly By Night
      
    Photo by Karen Almond
    Kristin Stokes, Whitney Bashor and Damon Daunno in Dallas Theater Center's Fly By Night.
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    news/arts

    Elon News

    Dallas bookstore and publisher gets federal arts funding axed

    Luciana Gomez
    May 7, 2025 | 12:17 pm
    Deep Vellum stack of books
    Deep Vellum
    Stack of books at Deep Vellum

    A Dallas arts organization got its budget chopped by the federal government: Deep Vellum, the bookstore and publisher at 3000 Commerce St., lost a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant due to federal government budget cuts.

    According to owner Will Evans, the award, which is granted annually, has been terminated as of May 31. The bookstore had received $20,000 for the past six years.

    Deep Ellum started as a publisher in 2013 and opened their bookstore in Deep Ellum in 2015. Since then, they have become a center for literature lovers. Evans is a translator whose mission has been to translate the world’s best novels into English for American audiences.

    Evans was notified on May 2 via an email that was reportedly sent to grant recipients nationwide. The note read:

    "The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities."

    The new priorities included projects that elevate the Nation's HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities.

    The Grants and Public Affairs departments at NEA did not respond to a request for comment. On Monday May 5, the Literary Staff was laid off, and the agency is facing possible elimination entirely, as part of the 2026 Discretionary Budget Request presented to Congress on May 2.

    This year's grant to Deep Vellum was earmarked to fund the translation, publishing, and marketing costs of four books:

    • Carapace Dancer by Natalia Toledo, translated from Zapotec, published trilingually with Spanish and English translations alongside the original, translated by Clare Sullivan
    • Juvenilia by Hera Lindsay Bird of New Zealand, making her US debut, illustrated by Dallas artist Gino Dal Cin
    • Schattenfroh by Michael Lentz, translated from the German by Max Lawton, a 1001-page masterpiece and English-language debut
    • The Ruins by Ye Hui, translated from Chinese by Dong Li, the English-language debut from one of China's most distinguished and independent poets

    The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency established by Congress in 1965 as a funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide anxd a catalyst of public and private support for the arts with the goal of advancing opportunities for arts participation and practice, according to their website.

    In their last stats document updated in November 2024, their FY’24 budget was outlined as $207M (representing 0.03 percent of the total federal budget), with 80 percent of their budget supporting grants and awards to organizations and individuals across the country. They typically offer over 2,000 grants each year.

    "It’s been a strange few days for us, and for countless other nonprofit publishers, magazines, and arts organizations," Evans said.

    Despite the cut, Deep Vellum plans to continue to promote literacy through unique books translated to the English language.

    “This is not going to imperil our future but it’s something we need to consider as we move forward. These books are extraordinary, and they add so much for readers and culture. We just need to find additional revenue to fund them," Evans said.

    Evans was first to reveal the funding cut but a number of organizations across Dallas and Texas have seen similar cuts including Ballet North Texas, Flamenco Fever, Dallas Theater Center, and Bishop Arts Theatre Center, as well as a number of groups in Austin.

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