Wholesome and Horrific

Lots and lots of cool stuff this week, from a true(ish) story to photography to a couple of insane scientists. So let's get our arts on, boys and girls!

Becky's New Car, presented by Heller Theatre, tells the story of Becky and her midlife crisis. Written by Steven Dietz, the author behind such mind- and time-benders as Private Lives, the show involves a recently-widowed millionaire, a car dealership, and a misunderstanding. It's part screwball farce and part dramedy: Becky trudges through her middle age with a bored and boring husband, but when Walter stumbles into her place of employment one night and assumes that she, like he, mourns a deceased spouse (and she doesn't correct him), a double life ensues.

Becky's doofus, psych-major son starts dating Walter's daughter, and things start to come apart.

Directed by Julie Tattershall, the show runs Oct. 28-29, Nov. 1 and 4-6. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students; reservations may be made by calling 918-746-5065.

Tony Award-Winner Opens

Celebrity Attractions, always an organization that brings big-name crowd-pleasers to town, does it again, this time with Memphis, which comes to the Performing Arts Center Nov. 1-6.

Scandalous.

Based on the story of Dewey Phillips, a white disc jockey in Memphis, Tenn. in the 1950s who was one of the first white radio men to play so-called black music. The story is set in dance halls and segregated America of the mid-20th-century and is full of rollicking music and inspiring dance moves. The score also features original music from Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan. Memphis won four Tony awards in 2010, including Best Musical --well worth any of the ticket prices, which range from $20 to $65 and are available through tulsapac.com.

Texas Swing: The Play's the Thing

This weekend finds the first-ever musical about Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys at the Robson Performing Arts Center in Claremore. A Ride With Bob uses one musical legend to tell the tale of another.

Written by Ray Benson, who has served as the bandleader of Asleep at the Wheel for more than four decades, the show weaves better than a dozen of Wills' best-known songs into a plot that covers the career of Wills and the Playboys as well as that of Benson in his role at the helm of Asleep at the Wheel. The show runs this Friday and Saturday at the Robson, located at 101 E. Stuart Roosa in Claremore. Tickets run from $25 to $50, and can be purchased via 918-699-7390 or at claremorepac.org.

Debauchery as Art Form

One of the newer and more exciting theatre troupes in town is Tulsa Project Theatre (TPT). This is the bunch most closely (at least most recently) associated with The Rocky Horror Show, having performed it at The Joint in the Hard Rock Casino last October. This year, TPT presents Masquerade: A Rocky Halloween, a kind of Rocky Redux. All the songs and That One Dance that everyone knows, but without the terrible dialog we all remember from the movie, it's kind of like Rocky's Greatest Hits. The show features a professional cast, including Chad Oliverson as Dr. Frank N' Furter, (if you've never seen Oliverson inhabit Frank's platform heels, you're missing out -- I still laugh when thinking of him bellowing, "So QUAKE WITH FEAR, tiny mortals!"), Claire Kifer as Magenta, a few out-of-town pros, and a rocking band.

TPT's Masquerade: A Rocky Halloween gives a one-shot social event and fundraiser performance -- or rather, according to the website, "It's not a performance. It's an experience" -- on Oct. 29 at the Convention Center in Assembly Hall. Tickets can be had at tulsaprojecthteare.com.

Actual Art as Art Form

Tulsa native J. R. Jones, a photographer and artist, returns home for a month-long exhibit to benefit the Circle Cinema.

Jones worked as a staff photographer for the Tulsa World in the last millennium before traveling extensively and developing his artistic style, which he describes as "painting with light." The photographic exhibit runs from Oct. 27 to Nov. 27, with an opening soiree on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 5:30 at the Circle Cinema, located at 10 S. Lewis. All are welcome.

Murderous Results

Evil comes to town, coinciding with Halloween, as Theatre Tulsa (TT) presents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by TT bigwig Denny Meredith-Orr, the familiar story examines who and what we as individuals are and are not. Jekyll's inner conflict and torment are portrayed by four separate actors at different stages of Mr. Hyde's devolution, as the characters haunt the stage. Tickets are available through Theatre Tulsa at 918-587-8402, the PAC Ticket Office 918.596.7111, or online at MyTicketOffice.com.

More Murder

Broken Arrow Community Playhouse continues its run of Agatha Christie's classic tale of ten strangers invited to a mansion only to find themselves being killed off one by one. The company concludes And Then There Were None Oct. 28-30. Evening performances begin at 8pm, with matinees at 2pm. Tickets top out at $15, and are available through the BACP box office, which can be reached at 918-258-0077. BACP is located in The Main Place at 1800 S. Main St. in Broken Arrow.

Send all comments and feedback regarding Arts Experienced to bmorris@urbantulsa.com.