LITERATURE + LECTURES

Bayou City Concert Musicals and Ovations present Paul Hope's Broadway Party. PAUL HOPE (pictured), Houston’s raconteur of all that is musical theatre, will appear at OVATIONS on Thursday, June 23rd at 7:30 p.m. and will share some of the more hilarious and outrageous stories that he has gathered over a period of 30 years in theatre. These stories come from fellow actors who have worked on and off Broadway and regional theatre and from the stars themselves. (Robert Goulet was a great source of stories about Ethel Merman).

The evening of diva stories will spotlight such greats as Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Angela Lansbury, Gwen Verdon, Ann Miller and Bea Arthur and many more. He has amassed story after story of backstage mishaps, unbelievable anecdotes and exchanges and choice bits of theatre lore, both onstage and offstage. The audience will be falling in the aisles laughing at some of these hysterically funny stories.

PAUL HOPE is a native Houstonian and has been a company member of the Alley Theatre and appeared on the Alley stage for over 15 seasons in a wide range of roles. As a change, most recently Hope took over for John Lithgow as the narrator of Carnival of the Animals for Houston Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. His musical theatre roles include Rohne in Grand Hotel (with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi) and Col. Lockert in Dodsworth (with Hal Linden), both at Casa Manana in Fort Worth; Beauregard in Mame (with Juliet Prowse), Bienstock in Sugar (Robert Morse), and M Renaud in La Cage (with Lee Roy Ream) all at Theater Under The Stars. He has also portrayed Steve Baker in Showboat (with Eddie Bracken) for Houston Grand Opera.

He is the Artistic Director for Bayou City Concert Musicals, which has presented concert stagings of Follies, Falsettos, A Little Night Music, She Loves Me, 70 Girls 70, Assassins, Fiorello!, The Secret Garden, Pal Joey, On The Town and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Tickets for this evening of laughter will be available at the door of Ovations, 2536 Times Blvd. and are priced at $20.00.