Unwrap Your Candies Now

In this episode of “Unwrap Your Candies Now,” Ernie Manouse talks with Eddie George about his transition from football to theater. The Heisman Trophy winner and former Houston Oiler/Tennessee Titan/Dallas Cowboy stars as “Billy Flynn” in the hit musical Chicago, which Society for the Performing Arts presents from June 4 – 9 at Jones Hall.

Catherine Lu chats with violinist Zoë Miller, concertmaster of the touring Broadway production of Miss Saigon. A graduate of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Miller earned her master’s degree from New York University last year and has been traveling with the Miss Saigon US Tour since the fall. She shares behind-the-scenes stories and “secrets” from the pit orchestra of a major show.

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Music used in Zoë Miller’s segment: Excerpts from the Miss Saigon National Tour.

In this episode of “Unwrap Your Candies Now,” Catherine Lu talks with Houston Ballet Principal Dancer, Jessica Collado, about her life as a dancer and her lead role in The Merry Widow, from May 31 – June 9 at the Wortham Center. 

Ernie Manouse chats with Society for the Performing Arts CEO, Meg Booth, about joining the organization this past December and about SPA’s 2019 – 2020 season. Booth previously served for over a decade as Director of Dance Programming at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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Music used in the ballet segment: The Merry Widow (excerpt) by Franz Lehar, Houston Ballet Orchestra conducted by Ermanno Florio.

In this episode of “Unwrap Your Candies Now,” Ernie Manouse chats with prolific actor Brett Cullen, who can be seen in Joker this fall with Robert DeNiro and Joaquin Phoenix. A University of Houston alum, Cullen is directing the World Premiere of Contradiction of the Southern Soul written by and starring Sally Mayes, at the UH Quintero Theatre from May 9-12.

Catherine Lu samples the Houston Chamber Choir’s new CD with conductor, Robert Simpson, who holds the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Artistic Director’s Chair. Released last month, Maurice Duruflé: Complete Choral Works was recorded at Rice University and produced by Grammy Award-winner Blanton Alspaugh. Simpson talks about the making of the album and reflects on how he started the choir back in 1995.

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In this episode of “Unwrap Your Candies Now,” Catherine Lu chats with Carleen Graham, director of HGOco, about Houston Grand Opera’s web opera series, Star-Cross’d.

And Ernie Manouse explores the Alley Theatre’s upcoming 2019-2020 season with the company’s new Artistic Director, Rob Melrose.

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Join Ernie Manouse and Catherine Lu as they welcome their first guests to the podcast, “Unwrap Your Candies Now.”

Ernie chats with director Marcia Milgrom Dodge about her new staging of the musical Ragtime, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, and brought lovingly to life by playwright Terrence McNally, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty. Dodge was nominated for the 2009 Tony for her Kennedy Center production of this same show. 

Catherine shares a sound portrait of Houston poet Outspoken Bean, who has been performing spoken word since 2005. He was nominated for Texas Poet Laureate in 2011 and ranked 9th at the National Poetry Slam 2014. He has collaborated with Houston Ballet and is the founder of Plus Fest. Music used in this segment: Forte, Sun Will Set and Possible (excerpts) by Zoë Keating from Snowmelt and One Cello x 16: Natoma

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Hosts Ernie Manouse and Catherine Lu chat about what to look forward to on “Unwrap Your Candies Now,” including how they came up with the title, their passions and what they love about Houston’s arts scene.

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