Remember when live theatre was an event, a special occasion? Just as I was beginning to fear that those days were gone, along comes a troupe called In Mixed Company, which takes a good evening of theatre, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and turns it into a happening. Five…
Patsy Cline remains a top-selling artist more than 30 years after her death. The 1985 biographical movie Sweet Dreams (starring Jessica Lange), recent videos about her life and music, and the release of a greatest-hits album in 1992 (it sold more than four million copies) have kept Cline a prominent…
The novel Cry, the Beloved Country, written by a white South African schoolteacher named Alan Paton, was published in 1948, the year apartheid became official in South Africa. The story concerns two elderly fathers, one Zulu and one white, who become linked by tragedy–the former’s son is charged with the…
With the exception of the Western, the vampire movie may just be the most durable of all genres. It’s produced everything from cinematic masterpieces like Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932) and F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) to indelible pop-culture classics like Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) to lesser interpretations without number. Just…
thursday january 25 The NFL Experience: The 20-acre interactive theme park features more than 60 exhibits and attractions, including “QB1,” “Sudden Death” and “Halfback Option,” as well as scheduled appearances byabout 50NFL stars. The “Super Bowl Card Show” features approximately 75,000 square feet of collectibles, and the NFL Team Shop…
the ice is right Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Walt Disney’s World on Ice presents this special-effects-laden rendition of the Grimm fairy tale. Two-time Canadian figure-skating champ Karen Preston plays Snow White, and Russian blader Serguei Tartykov portrays the handsome prince. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and…
Let’s hope you never have a houseguest like the one currently visiting Theater Works, which is presenting Larry Shue’s uproarious comedy The Nerd. This guest is a nerd in the traditional sense–taped glasses, a pocket protector, and toilet paper hanging out of high-water trousers–and is inappropriate at every opportunity. In…
With a play first performed almost 2,500 years ago, Southwest Shakespeare Company provides the opportunity to transcend the ages by bringing to life the nightmarish story Oedipus Rex. One of Sophocles’ Theban plays, Oedipus is the well-known story of one man’s ignorant and arrogant fight against the gods. The play…
Sometimes it’s difficult to decide which is more annoying–a fluffy Brit period piece or a depressing Brit period piece. Carrington, to its credit, isn’t fluff. It’s a tough, solid piece of work, intelligently written and directed by Christopher Hampton. It’s also excellently acted. In most respects, it’s hard to fault…
Writer-director Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking is about a man awaiting execution, and the suffering and hope and reconciliation connected to his crime. The heroine, Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon), is a New Orleans nun who counsels Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), a death-row inmate at Angola State Prison. Despite a…
thursday january 18 Das Rheingold: The first act in Wagner’s tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, isn’t over ’til the vicious dwarf sings. Arizona Opera continues its season with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Hall, 225 East Adams. All shows are sung in…
good sports Pat Murphy’s “Spring Training” Baseball Camp: The head coach of the Arizona State University baseball squad hosts this multiweek clinic for kids ages 7 to 12. It continues Saturday. Call 965-6085. NFL Youth Clinic: Former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Nat Moore created this motivational event. More than 60…
Neil Simon, the most prolific comic playwright of our day, is a household name. Even those who don’t attend theatre know him through movies such as The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park. But few people have heard of Neil’s older brother, Danny. In staging Danny Simon’s most successful…
A plant that thrives on human blood, an innocent botanist looking for a break in life and a blond beauty with the IQ of Miracle-Gro are main ingredients of Arizona Theatre Company’s current theatrical feast, the funny, grisly musical Little Shop of Horrors. Made into a movie starring Rick Moranis…
Terry Gilliam, director of the apocalyptic scifi thriller 12 Monkeys, is a conflicted figure. He has the sense and sensibility of a grand English eccentric, yet he’s American. He is full of wonder and mystical awe, yet he also seems a sociological pessimist. His work mixes a childlike humor and…
Filmmaker Jason Bloom has nothing but the highest praise for the star of his first feature: Pauly Shore. On the basis of his award-winning student film, Irving (“a black comedy about a Jewish vampire”), Bloom was brought aboard a feature project called BioDome, a spoof inspired by Biosphere2. “We planned…
good sports Martin Bayless Football Clinic: Kansas City Chiefs safety Bayless is the namesake of the clinic, which teaches kids the basics. Free sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the Arizona State University practice fields in Tempe. Saturday’s session is for children in…
thursday january 11 “Fred Harvey’s Southwest”: Heard Museum Guild’s annual lecture series continues through February 8. The facility’s director, Martin Sullivan, lectures on “The Harvey Era: Trains, Tourists and Transformations in American Life” at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Rayna Green, director of the American Indian program at the National Museum of…
Ted the Bellhop (Tim Roth) is having a rough first night at the decrepit-looking old L.A. hotel where he works. It’s New Year’s Eve, and he’s the only bellhop on duty. In one room, a coven of chic Wiccans is preparing for some sort of pagan ceremony. In another, a…
It’s no exaggeration to say that Kenneth Branagh has made Shakespeare a player in the movies. Branagh’s two Shakespearean films as adapter/director/star–a rousing Henry V and a sunny, blissfully humane Much Ado About Nothing–transcended the Classics Illustrated style of Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. Branagh’s films were in no way…
arts and minds “Celebrating 40 Years: Many Faces, One World”: The exhibit features works by kids from Scottsdale and its sister cities: Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Cairns, Queensland, Australia; and Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. It continues through February 25 in Young at Art Gallery at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East…
thursday january 4 Little Shop of Horrors: Arizona Theatre Company continues its season with the dark and delicious musical about lovelorn Seymour Krelbourne and the voracious plant named Audrey II. Based on Roger Corman’s 1960 film, the play was penned by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. This week’s performances are…
