Archive Search Results

1. Stage

   Doubt, a Parable; Rabbit Hole; and Nearly Naked Take Home the Hardware in This Year’s Robbie Awards

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: July 9, 2009

   You are seated, for the sixth consecutive year, in an imaginary auditorium, where the sound of rustling programs and impatiently shuffling feet suggest that the doling out of the R...

2. Stage

   Despite its hitting the right notes, ATC's The Pajama Game seems, oh, ho hum

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: January 17, 2008

   I needn't have worked very hard this week reviewing the show I saw, because the noisy dame who sat in front of me critiqued every musical number, every punch line in Arizona Theatr...

3. Stage

   Flat(ware) Season

   Here's hoping for more than flying forks in 2008

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: January 3, 2008

   Early in the year, I wrote that I wondered whether I'd see a scene all season that was as astonishing to me as the one I saw in Space 55 Theater Ensemble's Book of Liz, where actre...

4. Stage

   Transcendental

   Afternoon for a fawner

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: May 10, 2007

   Last weekend will remain in my memory as one of those rare weekends when each of the plays I attended was what people here rather regrettably refer to as "Broadway caliber." On Fri...

5. Stage

   The Year in Revue

   The good, the bad, and the tuneful

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: January 4, 2007

   Forced to give a name to the past year in theater, I would have to call it The Year of Ron May, because while many of his compatriots struggled to act, direct, run a credible theat...

6. Stage

   Robrt's Rules

   A new tchotchke for the trophy case

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: June 30, 2005

   We're a town lousy with theater awards: the ariZonis, the Scotties, the Milties and the Tilties. Chris Page at the Tribune has his Spotlight Awards, and even Mark Turvin hands out ...

7. Stage

   The Best and the Rest

   Our drama critic reviews the year in theater

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: January 1, 2004

   The theater year kicked off from the impossible heights of an excellent road company of The Producers and wound up, as ever, with a lot of cheesy Christmas shows. This was the year...

8. Stage

   So Farce, So Good

   Steven Dietz's Over the Moon goes there

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: October 23, 2003

   If there's a good reason why almost no one writes or produces farce anymore, I wish someone would share it with me. My fondness for all things foolhardy and my affection for excell...

9. Stage

   Aisle of the Damned

   Even a talented acting duo can't save the trite take on marriage that is I Do! I Do!

   By Robrt L. Pela

   Published: January 16, 2003

   I don't find married couples particularly amusing, but I do enjoy watching Bob Sorenson and Debby Rosenthal perform. Good thing, too, because these two local institutions are the o...

10. Stage

    Without Reservation

    There are few qualms to be had with ATC's new one-man show, Fully Committed

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: April 4, 2002

    Fully Committed is a play about conversations: Truncated, maddening, sometimes amusing conversations -- the kind we all have every day with total strangers we'd probably rather not...

11. Stage

    Family Affairs

    Local legends bring brilliance to one of the stage's tawdriest family dramas

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: November 15, 2001

    Whenever folks gripe about the dreary state of theater in our town -- which happens as often as you'd imagine -- I always point out that stage legends live and work here every day....

12. Stage

    The Play's the Thing

    Despite illness and downtime, for actress Jacqueline Gaston, work is what matters

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: August 9, 2001

    "I hate the idea that I've been resurrected," says actress Jacqueline Gaston. "I hear people say I've inspired them, that if I can come back after what I've been through, they can ...

13. Stage

    The Art of the Blank Canvas

    Arizona Theatre Company conveys the wit and intellect of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning Art

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: October 12, 2000

    A few years ago, I visited the home of a local museum curator. He took me on a tour of his private collection, a series of dreary sculptures and oversize canvases and a scary assem...

14. Stage

    de Sade State of Affairs

    Home on derange after a three-year absence, local stage stalwart John Sankovich whips Quills into shape

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: August 10, 2000

    John Sankovich hasn't once raised his voice, yet it booms above the clank and roar of the crowded restaurant where he's dining. He's discussing the 30-plus years he's spent pacing ...

15. Stage

    Two Little, Two Late

    A pair of local premières don't quite add up

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: May 18, 2000

    I expected to be wowed by Michael Grady's new play, one of two programs by local playwrights to première here this week. I've never seen a Grady play that I didn't enjoy, and ...

16. Stage

    Loco Boys Make Good

    Wallace & Ladmo Show channels beloved Valley TV nut fest

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: March 9, 2000

    Someone sent me a Ladmo Bag. It arrived just as I was sitting down to my monthly poker game with a pair of bitter characters I've known since high school. Our game usually dissolve...

17. Stage

    Magnum Farce

    Bad jokes steal the show in The Mystery of Irma Vep

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: January 6, 2000

    Bob Sorenson, left, and R. Hamilton Wright in The Mystery of Irma Vep.Those who have encountered playwright Charles Ludlam's work know that it is juvenile and silly and displays a ...

18. Stage

    Offender Bender

    Child abuse onboard in high-octane How I Learned to Drive

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: April 1, 1999

    At the end of the 20th century, no life is allowed to go unexamined, and none of us is permitted to claim a clean bill of mental health. Talk show hosts, self-help authors and amat...

19. Stage

    History Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard

    Complete History barely worth recalling, Picasso sparkles

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: October 15, 1998

    There are worse things to do than sit through a boring history lesson--like attending a dismal comedy trying to pass itself off as a history lesson. A pair of plays that plunde...

20. Stage

    Plays of the Day

    Laudable Scapin and Mission make for bravo combo

    By Robrt L. Pela

    Published: May 14, 1998

    If you go see Arizona Theatre Company's production of Moliere's Scapin, you may leave the theater wishing it were possible to stay and, moviehouse fashion, see the play again. That...