GONE TO THE DOGS

posted by James Reel

    In the latest Tucson Weekly, I review a musical about singing canines:

    Bark! is a recent show with music by David Troy Francis, words by a lot of other guys and performances by six singer-actors assuming the roles of dogs. Kevin Johnson's Arizona Onstage Productions always takes big chances with its material, and on every opening night, Johnson wonders if this will be the show that bites him in the ass.
    Despite all the dogs on stage, this isn't it.
    Bark! doesn't sniff around the dark corners that most of Johnson's productions--including the comedies--do, and it's way too slight a show to be as life-changing, gut-wrenching or merely thought-provoking as most Arizona Onstage fare. Yet the writing is sufficiently clever and the production sufficiently polished that it's pleasing entertainment you shouldn't be embarrassed to admit you've enjoyed ... even though you spend an hour and a half watching six grown men and women singing about chewing socks, peeing and discovering the benefits of being neutered.

    Read the rest here. Performances are selling out very quickly, so if you want to see this, you’d better not stop and sniff the hydrants on your way to the box office.
    Otherwise, some poetry news of interest:

    Pity the poet: Appreciated by few. Scorned by some. Ignored by many. Tortured. Solitary.
    But now that's changing. At least you can scratch the word "solitary."
    Oh, the torture, scorn and limited appreciation remain, especially for slam poets, those brave souls who get up on a stage and compete for audience approval and, in their dreams, valuable cash prizes. These days, however, slam poetry is becoming a team sport, and Tucson is sending its first-ever team to the National Poetry Slam next month in Austin, Texas.
    Traveling to the National Slam, of course, requires money. These are poets we're talking about, so money is a problem. Or it would have been, had the local team not had the bright idea to raise funds this weekend with a three-hour event offering poetry, music and a collaboration between a border poet, a Mexico City video jockey and Tucson alternative-entertainment troupe Flam Chen.

    My full preview of the event lies here. I’m also mentioned in Tom Danehy’s column this week; he was obviously desperate for material.