Theater

Phoenix Theatre's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Is Sublime

By Robrt Pela Fri., Jun. 14 2013 at 8:00 AM
Categories: Theater

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courtesy of Phoenix Theatre
A rock musical American history lesson that commences with the line "Here's the thing about the Indians!" then segues into a song whose refrain is "Populism, yeah, yeah!" can't be all bad. And in its brand-new, Ron May-directed Phoenix Theatre production, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is sublime.

See also:
-Space 55: 2013 Big Brain Awards Finalist (and Winner!), Performing Art


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Curtains

Carefree Theatre Company's Charming Cheaters at Phoenix Center for the Arts

By Julie Peterson Thu., Jun. 13 2013 at 2:00 PM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

Cheaters.jpg
Phil Soto
From left, Bruce Laks, Toni Jourdan, Austin Kiehle, Gabrielle Van Buren, Robert G. Bledsoe, and Kathleen Cameron star in Cheaters.
The setup: Cheaters' short Broadway run in 1978 put then 22-year-old playwright Michael Jacobs in the record books as the youngest documented author to open a show on the Great White Way. Jacobs went on to run a couple of the most popular TV shows of the following decade: Charles in Charge and My Two Dads, the latter of which, because you weren't born yet and it hasn't shown in reruns since the beginning of this century, starred a pre-Mad About You Paul Reiser, a post-BJ and the Bear (BJ and what?) Greg Evigan, and a you're-kidding-really? pre-The Wonder Years Giovanni Ribisi, then going by "Vonni."

Richards also produced Boy Meets World and the Oscar-nominated Quiz Show. But before all that, he cranked out this Neil Simon-influenced cheesy romantic comedy about long-married couples and their cohabiting children. It's very rarely produced, and fledgling Carefree Theatre Company gives it a sweet-but-peppy, time-capsuled treatment that can really grow on you -- it's the best-handled sex farce I've seen in years.

See also:
Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys from Arizona Theatre Company: Tap-Dancing Toward the Tar Pit
Actors Theatre's The Fox on the Fairway: Goofy, Good-Natured, and Loud (in More Ways Than One)
Onstage in Tucson: Ayckbourn Farce Taking Steps at Live Theatre Workshop


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Curtains

Nearly Naked's Side Show Is a Musical That's the Sum of Many Excellent Parts

By Julie Peterson Thu., Jun. 6 2013 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

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Sean Kapera Photography
From left, Hannah Zieser and Cassie Chilton star in Side Show.
The setup: Side Show, with music by Dreamgirls' Henry Krieger, was not a Broadway hit upon its 1997 debut. The play about the fame of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who made it out of the freaks' tent (but not too far) in the 1930s, is generally referred to as a cult favorite, although people who avidly follow little-known tuners seem to me more like geeks (the current definition, not the chicken-decapitating kind that's employed on stage) who display rarefied taste than they do alt-entertainment cultists.

Nearly Naked Theatre has, in any case, answered a lot of lonely fans' prayers by putting up a skillful and nicely glitzy production of the identity-affirming show.

See also:
Spring Awakening from Nearly Naked and Phoenix Theatre Is a Must-See
Eating Raoul: The Musical Packs Us Full of Over-Actors
Could Noises Off at Phoenix Theatre Be Better Than It Seems?


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Curtains

iTheatre's T Bone N Weasel Brings Low-Class Clowns to Downtown Phoenix's Herberger Theater Center

By Julie Peterson Thu., May 30 2013 at 8:00 AM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

TBoneNWeasel.JPG
courtesy of iTheatre Collaborative
Greg Lutz, left, and Mike Traylor in T Bone N Weasel
The setup: Jon Klein wrote "picaresque" antihero-buddy-comedy T Bone N Weasel more than 20 years ago. It became a made-for-TNT film starring Gregory Hines and Christopher Lloyd in 1992 and continues to be a popular show at offbeat regional and community theaters.

Currently, iTheatre Collaborative is presenting the rarely-seen-in-Arizona play that follows two parolees on a journey through a kind of timeless late-20th-century rural South Carolina.

See also:
PHX:fringe Week 2: Circusy, Gross-Out Humor in Tight Assets from the Bay Area's AlulA Ensemble
9 Circles at iTheatre Collaborative Showcases a Very Good Actor
Well Hung: Stuffed and nonsense


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Curtains

A Wrinkle in Time from Childsplay -- Only Three More Performances in Tempe

By Julie Peterson Thu., May 23 2013 at 12:00 PM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

AWrinkleinTime1.jpg
courtesy of Childsplay
Aunt Beast works to heal Meg (Rebecca Duckworth), who's just tessered with her dad (Kyle Sorrell) in A Wrinkle in Time.
The setup: The only 20th-century book for young readers that's sold more copies than Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is Charlotte's Web. Childsplay's current production of John Glore's stage version of Wrinkle is a great introduction to L'Engle's Time Quartet/Quintet/Murry-O'Keefe series for those who might not have read the book yet. It's also been hailed by existing fans as a faithful, respectful staging of the classic -- so bring them, too.

See also:
- Jane Austen's Emma from Arizona Theatre Company Is Both Loyal and Funny
- The Great Gatsby: A Sad Play About Horrible People
- The Borrowers from Childsplay: Cuteness and Fantasy with Just a Little Fun Violence


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Curtains

Space 55's Woman and Girl Is Charming and Comforting

By Julie Peterson Thu., May 16 2013 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

womanandgirl4.jpg
courtesy of Space 55
From left, Patti Hannon and Brinley Nasisse play the title roles in Woman and Girl.
The setup: Local writer Charlie Steak's short play Woman and Girl follows its two characters through a stressful period of accepting change and learning to live together. (It's quite different from Steak's popular short, I'm Voting Republican.) The première production is at Phoenix's Space 55.

See also:
- "Where's the play about Arizona that everyone has been waiting for?" Not at ASU Tempe (Not This Month, Anyway)
- Late Night Catechism's Patti Hannon Stars in Space 55's The Bakers of Lakewood
- Best Reason to Relive the Pain of Catechism


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Curtains

Legally Blonde at Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre Bends, Snaps, and Rules

By Julie Peterson Fri., May 10 2013 at 10:00 AM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

legallyblonde.jpg
Heather Butcher
Epiphany de l'escalier: From left, Taylor DiTola as Serena, Chelsea Soto as Margot, Brittany Howk as Elle Woods, and Brittanee Perkins as Pilar in Legally Blonde
The setup: If it isn't enough for you to know that the roman à clef that inspired the film Legally Blonde was written by ASU grad Amanda Brown (based on her Stanford experiences) or that the film, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is an oddly fluffy odyssey of female empowerment, you should know that it was turned into an unusually functional musical -- as in the songs fall in places that make dramatic sense, it's organically dance-y, and the suspenseful if preposterous plot unfolds rather nicely.

I saw Valley Youth Theatre's production last summer and realized what a tight show it is, and now that I've enjoyed the current mounting by Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre, I will probably turn into one of those people who travels all over seeing Legally Blonde dozens of times whenever I have an opportunity.

See also:
- La Cage aux Folles from Phoenix Theatre Tastes as Good as It Looks
- Three and a Half Kick-Ass Christmas Plays in the Valley
- Curtains: Desert Stages' Zanna, Don't! Is a Dream Date


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Curtains

Tennessee Williams Stripped of Illusion in Orange Theatre Group's You You Shouldn't Come Back

By Julie Peterson Fri., May 10 2013 at 7:00 AM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

youyoushouldnt.jpg
Joya Scott
From left, William Crook, Tucker Bingham (backstage in blue shirt), Sarah Harvey, Chelsea Pace, and Katrina Donaldson in You You Shouldn't Come Back
The setup: Orange Theatre Group, not unlike the ASU Herberger College grad cohort that more or less begat it, Interrobang, and its other offshoot, festina lente, is committed to pushing the envelope of new drama, developing performance that connects with varying degrees of tenacity to the existing texts it's often inspired by or based on. Besides healthy doses of pop culture, humor, shock, and nihilism, Orange adds a strong and purposeful multimedia component to the deconstruction/reconstruction.

OTG's current production, You You Shouldn't Come Back, is really quite a bit like the beginning and middle of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. It doesn't ask nearly the appreciation or even tolerance for totally fucked-up weirdness that a typical evening with Orange might require of its audience members.

See also:
- Best A/V Club - 2012: Orange Theatre Group
- Chris Danowski's Desiring Flight from Orange Theatre Group -- Two More Performances!
- The Revenger's Tragedy's a Compelling Work in Progress from festina lente


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Theater

Stray Cat Theatre's Chicks with Dicks Is a Camp Comedy You'll Want to Miss

By Robrt Pela Mon., May 6 2013 at 10:00 AM
Categories: Theater

Stage1-1-1.jpg
Stray Cat Theatre
Stray Cat Theatre's production of Trista Baldwin's Chicks with Dicks commences with a go-go dancing competition and a lap dance, and heads south from there. This unyielding camp comedy is so relentlessly awful, it should be offered up not as entertainment but as punishment for the worst possible crimes.

See also:
- Five Must-See Arts and Culture Events This Week in Metro Phoenix
- Our 10 Favorite Moments from RuPaul's Drag Race: Season 5

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Curtains

Southwest Shakespeare's She Stoops to Conquer in Mesa Is Tedious and Good-Looking -- Think Richard Gere's Private Life

By Julie Peterson Thu., Apr. 25 2013 at 12:30 PM
Categories: Curtains, Review, Theater

she stoops.jpg
Stacey Walston
Jesse James Kamps and Janae Thomas in She Stoops to Conquer
The setup: Like pretty much every other theater with "Shakespeare" in its name, Mesa's Southwest Shakespeare Company peppers each season with plays written by other people. They're usually referred to as "classical." Some companies also present newer shows that are Shakespeare-related or -inspired, and SSC has been doing quite a bit of Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde lately, as well, with mixed results.

One of the criteria that appear to mean "classical" is "centuries old, with an English script available." Many of us were required to read plays of this nature in college.

Some old classics are much better live, off the page, even today. Others, despite their historical and literary importance, can be quite a slog. Oliver Goldsmith's 1773 hit She Stoops to Conquer, Southwest Shakespeare's current production, is a huge milestone in the development of English comedy that now teeters on the brink of irredeemable fustiness.

See also:
- A Christmas Carol from Southwest Shakespeare Is Virtually Sold Out in Mesa and Worth the Trouble
- Shakespeare at the Biltmore: The Importance of Being Earnest and A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Curtains: Southwest Shakespeare's Blithe Spirit Is Blithe and Spirited, Thank God


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