FROM MEADOWS TO MADRID: One of the major focuses of the Meadows Museum is Spanish art. So why not hitch your wagon to the most important Spanish art museum in the world? The Meadows Museum has announced a three-year partnership with the Prado Museum in Madrid. As part of the deal, a selection of Spanish masterworks will come to Dallas, and the museums will co-host an American postgraduate student for a fellowship. The Meadows will also produce scholarly publications and symposium about the works.

CRUSADERS FOR THE CAPE: When you’ve got a minute or 30, be sure to read the Dallas Observers‘ cover story about the Dallas Theater Center’s staging of It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman! Of particular note is the idea that DC Entertainment may not be wild about the show living on past its DTC run. When Robert Wilonsky, who wrote the story, contact DC for comment, he got this statement in return: “When DC Comics became aware of the Dallas Theater Center production of It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman!, we advised the producers that the show must remain faithful to the original 1966 production. The Dallas Theater Center, a not-for-profit organization, understands that this production is limited to a one-time run in Dallas.”

LIVING ON ON STAGE: Douglas Balentine co-founded Hip-Pocket Theatre with Johnny and Diane Simons in 1977. In 2008, years after he had left the organization, he was found dead while on a camping trip. In an effort to deal with the tragic loss of his friend, Johnny has written The Angel Play: A Suicide Burlesque, which follows a couple of campers who are visited by ghosts. So the question is: how much of the back story do you need to know to enjoy the play? “This highly imaginative presentation works with or without context,” writes Punch Shaw in his dfw.com review. “But anyone attending should understand that much more is going on than just dancing girls and devils.” Mark Lowry mostly agrees. “At times, the whole affair feels too insiderish,” he writes on theaterjones.com. “But it’s also so simple and lovingly staged that HPT newcomers should have no problem grasping the concept.” Meanwhile, Lawson Taitte is all for the memory element of the play but is a little worn out by the lip-syncing.