Theater Holiday Round-up

10 traditional and twisted Dallas-area shows to get you in the holiday spirit

Junie B. Jones teaches kids how to be generous during the holidays. We shouldall listen to this lesson.
Avenue Q has been playing at Theatre Too since June. JUNE.
Photo by Jeffrey Schmidt
Dallas Theater Center's version of A Christmas Carol will play at the KalitaHumphreys Theater for the last time this year.
Don't touch the dancers. It's not that kind of festive show.
Eye-high kicks and lots of pretty costumes: must mean the Rockettes are in town.

Overeating, overspending — the holiday season has its traditions. Going to the theater should also be one of them, based on the variety of seasonal productions about to open in Dallas-Fort Worth.

From high-kicking Rockettes to singing puppets, wing-seeking angels to martian kidnappers, there's something for everyone.

Avenue Q, Theatre Three
Through December 9
Ok, so it’s not technically about the holidays. But the hit musical about a directionless post-grads puppet looking for his purpose — which has been extended an impressive three times — does feature a character named Christmas Eve. If you’re looking for something salty to counteract all that sugarplum sweetness, then it’s nearly impossible to do better than naughty singing puppets who gleefully teach you what the Internet is really for.

The Forgotten Carols, Artisan Center Theater
November 16-December 22
Enterprising storytellers often find success when focusing on lesser-known characters in well-known tales. In this case, an elderly man insists he’s pushing 2,000 and was around for the birth of Jesus. He’s eager to tell — and sing — his stories to a hard-hearted nurse, including one about the manger’s famously stingy innkeeper. But will a fear of love and joy keep her from believing in the spirit of Christmas? If so, Hallmark could always turn this play into a feature film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt or perhaps Tori Spelling.

Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Dallas Children’s Theater
November 16-December 22
Precocious first-grader Junie B. Jones is back for more holiday mischief and important life lessons in this returning favorite. Faced with either gifting her Secret Santa an enjoyable present or buying something for herself, Junie B. digs deep to discover the true meaning of the season. But, to be fair, you could argue that she’s just being thrifty by originally choosing to give coal from her dad’s barbecue.

A Christmas Carol, Dallas Theater Center
November 20-December 23
As we’ve mentioned before, this year’s rendition of A Christmas Carol by the DTC is a must-see. Why? It’s the last time this particular version, written by Richard Hellesen and directed by Joel Ferrell, will be performed at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. Local favorite Chamblee Ferguson stars as the time-traveling and bah-humbugging Scrooge, and he’s accompanied by an intriguing mix of Brierley Resident Acting Company Members, DFW-area stage regulars and fresh faces.

The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents: A Bur-Less-Q Nutcracker!, MBS Productions
November 23-December 29
As songs like “Santa Baby” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” prove, the holiday season can actually be quite sexy. At the Stone Cottage Theatre in Addison, the Velvet Kittens are saving Christmas by performing The Nutcracker as a fundraiser after a bad casserole sickens the dainty toy soldiers and dancing snowflakes of the Beaumont Ballet. Producer Mark-Brian Sonna is also the choreographer and playwright, but don’t worry — he’s not also one of the burlesque dancers.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
November 23-December 8
What little girl (and a few little boys) didn’t want to be a Rockette upon growing up? The leggy beauties are only a part of the lavish extravaganza, however, which promises even more sparkly wonders this time around. Classics like “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” and “The Living Nativity” boast new costumes and sets, but if you’re like me you’re just waiting for the camels to come onstage. Dallas should feel proud: We’re one of only four cities getting the tour this year.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, WaterTower Theatre
November 23-December 16
Five actors embody more than 50 characters, bringing iconic Bedford Falls to life with only their voices and an array of Foley sound effects. The audience is encouraged to rely largely on its imagine to envision Mary Bailey, Clarence and all the rest while they show despondent George what life would be like if he’d never been born.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Runway Theatre
November 30-December 16
Again, you say? Ah, but this version is by Philip Grecian instead of Joe Landry. Hard to say if that really makes a difference — we’re pretty sure there will still be angel wings and bell ringing involved — but now that the film is shown so sparingly on television, Zuzu overload isn’t so pressing a concern.

Santa Claus vs. the Martians, Level Ground Arts
December 7-29
So bad it’s good, so beloved they brought it back. Andi Allen’s send-up of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, one of the worst films of all time, proved a hit for Level Ground Arts in 2010, so why not revive the spacey holiday campfest? Martians kidnap the Fat Man in Red because their little green kids need toys too, but Earthling tykes Billy and Betty Foster accidentally tag along for the ride. Everyone eventually bands together to save Santa from an evil alien, because isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas?

Christmas Belles, Theatre Coppell
December 7-23
Squabbling siblings, a disastrous church pageant and an Elvis impersonator: It’s Christmas in Fayro, Texas, y’all. As tacky and colorful as an ugly holiday sweater, this East Texas spoof centers on the Futrelle sisters — “the fertile, the flirt, and the felon” — who are determined to make this year’s “Bethelham-a-palooza” at the Tabernacle of the Lamb Church the best their hillbilly neighbors have ever seen. Holiday ham with a hefty side of Southern sass.

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Coffee News

Black Sheep Coffee from the U.K. comes to U.S. with debut in Dallas

Black Sheep Coffee

Black Sheep Coffee, coming from the U.K.

A coffee shop from the U.K. with celebrity ties is opening its first U.S. location in Dallas. Called Black Sheep Coffee, it's a growing chain based in London with a renegade stance: to champion the robusta coffee bean, one overlooked by most coffee snobs.

Black Sheep was founded in London in 2013 by friends Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth, who loved coffee and wanted to start their own business. They've built it into a chain with 60-plus locations including cafés and take-out shops across England, Scotland, Wales, France, and the Philippines.

The Dallas shop will open at 6240 E. Mockingbird Ln., in a shopping center in the Lakewood neighborhood. Shohet says it'll open in late spring.

Dallas came onto their radar after they formed a partnership for the U.S. expansion with Kristaps Porzingis, a professional basketball player who was playing for the Dallas Mavericks. He's since been traded to the Washington Wizards, but Shohet says Dallas still seemed like the perfect place to launch.

"I love Texas, it's a great state and a lot of people are moving there," Shohet says. "There's so much growth and Dallas has a good vibe. Kristaps became a good friend and ended up investing. He moved to Washington but we'd gotten this great location on Mockingbird and we're building a local team."

They'll make Dallas their headquarters, with a plan to open another half dozen locations, plus franchise opportunities as well (email franchising@leavetheherdbehind.com).

One of the non-coffee drinks at Black Sheep Coffee is a peanut-butter hot chocolate.Black Sheep Coffee

Shohet and Holth built the company brick by brick, starting out doing pop-ups before moving into brick-and-mortar locations. Their goal is to break the wall between specialty coffee and the mass market.

"We've always been about the coffee," he says. "We source the beans from plantations in southern India, Papua New Guinea, Brazil. We get the best beans in the world: specialty-grade, shade-grown, and hand-picked."

"But our premise was also, How can we bring great quality coffee to the mass market, by providing the best coffee but not making people feel like they're disturbing the coffee sacks?" he says. "Our baristas know their coffee, but if you just want to get your drink quickly and want caramel syrup, then go for it. We make it inclusive."

Their most radical act is their use exclusively of the robusta bean, whose stronger, less delicate flavor profile has seen it relegated to uses such as instant coffee and pre-ground cans, while arabica has been the bean favored by the discerning coffee crowd. But some roasters have begun to reject the narrative that robusta is inferior to arabica.

"We're the only coffee company in the world to focus 100 percent on specialty robusta," he says. "Everybody is always touting arabica, but if you can find a great robusta that’s not commercial grade, you have a cool product."

Robusta has twice the amount of caffeine, and he says the growers they work with are more enviro-friendly, requiring less water with more cherries per bush.

"Robusta is thicker and richer, and has an amazing crema when you brew it as espresso," he says. "It's also less acidic, so it's easier to digest on an empty stomach and has more body. It might have less flavor notes than arabica, but that extra body punches through the milk. Robusta is a great bean for drinks made with milk. It's unfair that it has a bad reputation."

Their championing of a bean that others forsake goes with their entire ethos. They also eschew plastic.

"When everybody’s doing something, we do something different," he says. "That’s what our slogan is about: 'Leave the herd behind.'"

In addition to coffee, their shops have exotic lattes, smoothies, and a signature peanut-butter hot chocolate. They do a small selection of food including bagels, "toasties," and Norwegian waffles, a signature.

"But we don't want to be a restaurant — we'll offer the pastries and items that go with coffee, but we just want to focus on making the best coffee."

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