festina lente Presents Two Powerful Solo Shows at PHX:fringe Festival

If you’re available to really immerse yourself in this year’s PHX:fringe Festival, starting Friday, April 1, a bicycle might be the way to go, one’s mobility permitting. No performance venue is far from the Roosevelt-to-McDowell corridor, between Seventh Street and 13th Avenue, and it’s getting too warm out to sprint…

The Blue Room at Nearly Naked Theatre

Arthur Schnitzler was both a doctor and a playwright (as was Anton Chekhov) in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna. His play Reigen, most commonly known as La Ronde, is about a lot of things, but it’s partly about how easy it is to spread syphilis.Demonstrating that lesson involves a lot of sexual promiscuity,…

Sex and the Second City Is Neither Sexy Nor Funny

Last Thursday night, shortly before the curtain rose on Arizona Theatre Company’s Sex and the Second City Version 2.0, a young woman approached me and the three other theater critics with whom I was chatting in the lobby. “Excuse me,” she said, waving a camera at us. “Do you mind…

Ten Chimneys‘ Tale of Broadway Royalty Charms and Challenges

Massive theater geek that I am, no one had to tell me twice to attend Arizona Theatre Company’s newly commissioned unknown quantity, Ten Chimneys, once I’d learned it’s about Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the renowned golden couple of the 20th-century stage, retreating to their summer place in Wisconsin to…

Stage: My Fair Lady

When faced with a dinner theater version of My Fair Lady, the least a theater critic can be is…well, fair. Such is the case in this week’s “Stage” column in which Robrt L. Pela recounts his experience with Arizona Broadway Theatre’s version of Lady. Robrt L. Pela on Arizona Broadway…

Being Fair to Arizona Broadway Theatre’s My Fair Lady

Dearest Dear, I’m writing to apologize for having taken you to a dinner theater production of My Fair Lady. To be fair, you did agree to go with me to Arizona Broadway Theatre. And we were both excited to see Jeannie Shubitz in the lead — that’s why we were…

Closed For Business: Philthy Phil’s

Last night, Philthy Phil’s announced its last of last calls. After more than eight years in business, the favorite neighborhood dive bar on 16th Street closed for good due to “unforeseen circumstances.”The bar got a face lift more than a year ago with the help of Craig Citizen and a…

Actors Theatre Knocks Mundane, Whiny This Out of the Park

A few years back, Ron May directed [sic], a slightly twisted domestic comedy by Canadian Melissa James Gibson, at Stray Cat Theatre (where he’s also artistic director). The ensemble acquitted themselves respectably, the writing showed a bit more promise than the usual tale of single, dysfunctional, apartment-dwelling Manhattanites, but I…

Phoenix Art Museum to Broadcast Live Theatre Performances

The Phoenix Art Museum will soon be showing more than just a few documentaries and classical films — they’re bringing in a live theater. The museum recently joined up with National Theatre Live and the Arizona Theater Company to bring broadcast performances of Broadway musicals and powerful plays to museum…

Scottsdale Glee: Putting More Joy (and Less Glitter) into Youth Performance

Attention young music minds (and lovers of the musical television show who’d like to introduce their children to real-life performing arts): Scottsdale Glee is now enrolling. The Arcadia-based children’s choir, for 5- to 15-year-olds, is looking for new members for the Spring semester, which begins January 31. The choir’s also…