My visit to Hale Center Theatre last week marked the fifth production of Little Shop of Horrors I’ve seen in a decade — no surprise there, as this show is a musical theater staple, trotted out by Equity houses, children’s theaters and everything in between. The revelation is that this…
Like many thespians, the actors and actresses of Phoenix’s Space 55 dreamed of one day making a splash amongst the bright lights of the New York City theatre scene. They can now cross the accomplishment off their respective bucket lists, as the Valley theatre troupe traveled this month to the Big…
Update: Oedipus for Kids opens Saturday, August 20; Spring Awakening opens June 15, 2012.) The Valley theater company that swears its name is not about running around with no clothes on but manages to do it with some regularity nevertheless (and for that, we salute them) has unveiled its latest…
The nice people at Arizona Broadway Theatre sent someone to lecture me about the way I review theater. Apparently, my last review of an ABT show included a fart joke and the word “fuck” (hey, I’m not Frank Rich), so when I called to ask for a ticket to see…
For the purposes of this post, I feel I must divulge that I have watched a whole hell of a lot of MTV in my lifetime. Notice my careful wording — watched. I honestly cannot watch MTV nowadays — I’m not a 16-year-old who listens to Top 40 while waiting…
Somewhere in the universe, there’s always going to be someone whose idea of contributing to society is transcribing the dialogue of old sitcoms and posting it online. Without such people, it’d be an even rarer thing to be able to walk into a bar and see live re-creations of episodes…
This is not your stoned uncle’s Jim Breuer, that’s for sure.The 40-something year old comedian and actor noted for roles on Saturday Night Live and Half Baked took a break from the comedy scene.But now, Breuer’s back and has toured across the country, released a Comedy Central special (Let’s Clear…
While sipping on a Piña colada smoothie, local comedian Bryan Ricci bemoaned what his friends’ reactions would be had he ordered his drink’s alcoholic equivalent at a bar.”When you get a Piña colada as a guy, automatically: shit from people. You’re gonna get crap from people. From your friends, guys. It’s…
For theater so new you have to be careful not to touch its soft spot, Phoenix Theatre’s annual Hormel New Works Festival is a safe bet. It’s also one of those rare occasions that the development of art is as much fun for the audience as it is for the…
Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan’s Hairspray is, I’ve decided, made of Teflon. It would appear that nothing can hurt this oft-produced musical version of the 1988 John Waters film, a Broadway winner that’s been produced here twice this season already (and is about to take the stage at the Herberger…
The Bram Stoker International Film Festival is a horror flick freak’s wet nightmare. It’s four days of indie blood splat, vampires, and sci-fi thrillers in the English town Count Dracula called home, Whitby. And for choreographer Lisa Starry, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. Starry’s Scorpius Dance Theatre has been…
When we crave a home-town taste of the kind of theater that makes us miss New York, Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco — more thoughtful (though often still gaspingly funny), less spectacle-driven works that audiences elsewhere have enjoyed relatively recently — Actors Theatre is the place to go. The company’s staked…
Bill Bellamy is plotting a comeback. Due to the popularity of his Ladies Night Out stand-up comedy tour, he’s bringing it back out for another round of dates — coming this weekend to the Tempe Improv. Bellamy, accompanied by fellow comedians J. Reid, D’Lai, and host Ali Siddiq, says he’s using…
In an unlikely (and totally drool-worthy) collaboration, Aji Spa at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and ASU Gammage will host a Summer Spa Day with sneak peek visuals of the upcoming theater season. Just don’t splash the artwork. The all-day package includes a full body 50-minute Swedish Massage, lunch…
Lukas Avendaño remembers reading a book when he was a 15-year-old, growing up in Oaxaca, about a train that blew through Tucson and Phoenix on its way from Mexico. More than 15 years later, the performance artist is in Phoenix for the first time, and says the environment couldn’t be…
I hope nothing’s seriously wrong with the woman who plays Violet Beauregarde in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which doesn’t come with a printed program). She was missing this morning, causing her and Mrs. Beauregarde’s parts of the factory scenes to be cut. That’s a shame. I’m…
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella has an interesting pedigree. Originally seen as a live television broadcast in 1957, this three-act musical was viewed by the largest audience in history at the time of its première. More than half of America — some 107 million people — tuned in to hear Julie…
From time to time, I’ve noticed that a play called Over the River and Through the Woods is being presented by some community theater that’s known for sticking to very traditional, family-friendly musicals and comedies. (We have more than one theater like that in the Valley.) And the title’s made…
Memorizing lines for a play can be difficult enough, but jumping onto a stage without directions or a planned script takes a different set of skills. Improvisation, or improv, requires the ability to take audience suggestions and build a spontaneous performance based on chemistry with fellow actors and with audience…
As we were leaving for a matinee this past Sunday, my spouse said to me, “This has got to be the low point in your career.” It was hard to argue with him, but I was hopeful that the play we were headed to — a live-action re-enactment of the…
Michael Ian Black will take the local stage this weekend at the Improv. The comedian/actor/director/panelist from VH1’s “I Love the ‘__’s” shows isn’t exactly a Valley veteran, but his upcoming plans for a road trip (and a book) will see him in Arizona more often in the coming months.We caught up with Black…
The star of Footloose is in town this week for a little toe-tapping seminar at Dance Studio 111 in Phoenix. No, not Kevin Bacon — he’s busy riding the wave of box office success from his turn as supervillain Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class. We’re talking about Kenny Wormald,…
