Performing Arts

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Phoenix’s Black Theatre Troupe Is Tellin’ It on the Mountain

By Julie Peterson

The setup: For several if not most of the past 17 years, Black Theatre Troupe presented Langston Hughes’ seminal 1961 pageant Black Nativity as its Christmas show. I never got to see it, but I hear it’s rather awesome, and now it’s a Major Motion Picture. Meanwhile, BTT is premièring…

Ballet Arizona’s Nutcracker Is an Enjoyable Holiday Staple

By Lauren Saria

If you’re like my family and me, then seeing The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition. The score is as familiar as Christmas carols, and the story as well known as a favorite bedtime book. And if you go to Ballet Arizona’s Nutcracker looking to witness the magic of the Nutcracker…

The Snow Queen Is Heartwarming at Phoenix’s Herberger Theater

By Lauren Saria

Though the story of Frances Smith Cohen’s The Snow Queen isn’t exactly a holiday tale, the local show has become a Christmastime tradition for many Valley families. In it, Cohen turns the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name into a 90-minute performance that includes students from dozens…

Space 55’s A Bloody Mary Christmas Features Killer Perfomances

By Julie Peterson

BIG OL’ HOLIDAY THEATER UPDATE: Because of you people and how much you love to go to good plays, White Christmas has added two performances, one this Sunday evening, December 15, and one on Christmas freakin’ Eve! Back to our regularly scheduled weirdness: The setup: Can it be only three…

All New People at Stray Cat Theatre Is an Engaging Black Comedy

By Robrt L. Pela

There’s a lot of cinematic shorthand, both literal and figurative, in Zach Braff’s All New People, now on stage at Stray Cat Theatre. That’s to be expected from Braff, a TV star whose first indie film, Garden State, was a huge critical and commercial success. Braff employs quippy dialogue and…

Your Guide to 6 A Christmas Carol Productions in Metro Phoenix

By Julie Peterson

A Christmas Carol is a moving, witty, smoothly written piece of 19th-century propaganda about being a nice person all the time — and maybe just being extra-nice at Christmastime — and removing that stick from up your butt already. It works so well and is so very in the public domain…

Andrew Dice Clay Is Kind of an Asshole, But You Already Knew That

By Janessa Hilliard

To call Andrew Dice Clay’s comedic career long and storied would be an understatement. Since first appearing on a Rodney Dangerfield special in the late 1980s, Clay’s leather-jacket-wearing, chain-smoking mug has become synonymous with the kind of raunchy comedy that dominated the scene in the 1990s. He became the first…

Childsplay’s The Velveteen Rabbit Hops Back Onstage in Tempe

By Julie Peterson

The setup: Though Childsplay first presented The Velveteen Rabbit 25 years ago and it was the company’s go-to holiday offering for many years, the past several seasons have featured alternates such as Seussical, Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! and, one memorable year, Lyle the Crocodile, who I hope…

Jim Breuer Isn’t High, That’s Just the Way His Face Looks

By Alexandria Conrad

Though Jim Breuer has been performing stand-up comedy for over 20 years, he’s had success in other creative areas as well. Breuer showed his talent for portraying a pothead in his role as Brian, Dave Chappelle’s lovably high best friend in the stoner cult comedy Half Baked. He showcased his…

Ragtime at Theater Works in Peoria Is Close to Perfect

By Robrt L. Pela

An old friend who knows theater phoned me last week. “I’ve just seen the most perfect production of Ragtime,” she said. “At Theater Works. You should go!” Oh, dear, I thought. A community theater production of Ragtime. No. But I went — fortunately. This well-crafted production of Terrence McNally’s musical…