Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2001 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• Sweet Nothings

  published May 17, 2001

  The new musical revue at Phoenix Theatre epitomizes everything I loathe about the genre: It's formulaic and predictable, full of half-written... More >>

• Dab Fab

  published May 10, 2001

  The Herberger's center stage this week is splattered with paint and piled high with blank canvases. This carefully arranged mess (which bursts... More >>

• Going Coastal

  published May 3, 2001

  Michelle Gardner arrives bearing Danish. She shows up for what she calls her "farewell interview" clutching a four-foot-long cheese-and-blueberry... More >>

• Foul Bawl

  published May 3, 2001

  Bleacher Bums is a baseball comedy which, from its earliest moments, had me root root rooting for the curtain to fall. The kind folks at... More >>

• Sweet Judy Blue Eyes

  published May 3, 2001

  As a kid, I could never remember which one was Judy Collins. I shared a room with an older brother who favored female folk singers, all of... More >>

• Enrico Savvy

  published April 19, 2001

  Luigi Pirandello's Enrico IV is enjoying a revival. There's a production running now at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater,... More >>

• The Ex Files

  published April 12, 2001

  "It's hard for men to date me," admits Tori King. "I just can't let go and trust someone. Which, in turn, is hard on me, because I have a huge... More >>

• Lady Sings the Blahs

  published April 5, 2001

  Rose Robinson is tired. She's tired of white men calling all the shots; tired of dreaming about one day being a famous singer, like Billie... More >>

• Perverse Case Scenario

  published March 29, 2001

  After seeing her performance in In Mixed Company's Pterodactyls, I have scratched Barbara McGrath from my list of Actors I'd Rather Not See... More >>

• Stale Mates

  published March 29, 2001

  Ever since Arizona Theatre Company announced early last year that it had optioned Alan Ayckbourn's How the Other Half Loves, I've been... More >>

• Miller's Tale

  published March 15, 2001

  Very occasionally, one of our local companies produces a perfect evening of theater. The first indication that Actors Theatre of Phoenix had... More >>

• Flight From Phoenix

  published March 8, 2001

  When he closes his eyes, Heinrich Palmer can still see Phoenix from his home in Münster, Germany. "It was for me a very strange place," he... More >>

• Ethereal Killer

  published March 8, 2001

  If the measure of a good play is its ability to evoke emotion, then Love Waits is a stunning success. The play's teeny opening-night... More >>

• Biblical Bungling

  published March 1, 2001

  Forget that I'm an atheist. Or that the last time I heard a disco song I liked was nearly a quarter-century ago. My objections to God's... More >>

• At Wit's End

  published February 15, 2001

  Those of us foolish enough to have left our handkerchiefs at home exited last week's matinee of Wit wet-faced and weary. Arizona Theatre... More >>

• A Crying Good Time

  published February 8, 2001

  I've been dodging invitations to see the Oxymoron'Z improvisational troupe for nearly a decade. The materials, faxed or sometimes mailed to me by... More >>

• Trekker Treat

  published February 1, 2001

  The enormous pleasure of American Safari begins even before the curtain rings up on this nostalgic pseudo-comedy. As playgoers settle into... More >>

• Vocal Girl Makes Good

  published February 1, 2001

  Linda Eder sounds bored. If what her publicist says is true, Eder would probably rather be out riding one of her horses than yakking long-distance... More >>

• Oys in the Hood

  published January 25, 2001

  Deep in the heart of Scottsdale, tucked into a forgotten strip mall, tiny Metro Theatre -- home to the often brilliant but financially troubled... More >>

• Unsung Hero

  published January 25, 2001

  If fame is fleeting, it also has its own geography. While New York types and theater buffs the world over revere Stephen Schwartz as a superstar,... More >>

• Y'all Come Back, Now

  published January 18, 2001

  Halfway through Black Theatre Troupe's Waiting to Be Invited, I decided that the three women seated in front of me were more entertaining... More >>

• Punched-Up Topsy Turvy

  published January 11, 2001

  If there's a heaven, it surely contains a room with David Ira Goldstein's name on the door. Goldstein has, with Arizona Theatre Company's new... More >>