-
By Robrt L. Pela
Caridad Svich's theatrical translation of Isabel Allende's bestselling The House of the Spirits arrives on the stage as a mere shadow of its... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
When one writes of her here, she is "Broadway's Kathy Fitzgerald." In New York, for which she left us more than a decade ago, she is one among a... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Desert Stages Theatre artistic director Terry Helland clearly is mad. Onto the tiny black box stage of his Actor's Café, he continues to... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Theater fans are anticipating Nearly Naked Theatre's upcoming production of Spring Awakening, but I'll venture that nothing else the company does... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Not far from where I sit typing this, theater people are wringing their hands. That's what I picture, anyway: The folks at Actors Theatre, pacing... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Tolstoy was right: It's more fun watching people be miserable. And so we have David Mamet, the American playwright who has brought us the... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
In Bill Harris' Stories About the Old Days, an elderly man and woman stand in an old church and recount their lives. They bemoan the passing of... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Stray Cat Theatre has kicked off its 10th season with a meandering mess of dramatic devices masquerading as a play. A murder mystery of sorts,... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
We were, as we do most Saturday nights, dressing for theater.
"Why does this shirt look so nice on the hanger," I asked my spouse, "and so dumpy... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Things were looking up, even before Nearly Naked Theatre's Oedipus for Kids! commenced on opening night. It's always nice to open a playbill and... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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,... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella has an interesting pedigree. Originally seen as a live television broadcast in 1957, this three-act musical... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Paul Bartel's musicalization of his 1982 black comedy, Eating Raoul, is a blast. This is an excellent example of a musical theater subgenre that... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
My friend Ruth Beaumont often says, "If the play is boring, you can always just stare at the stage décor." Unfortunately for me, the set... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
You know the economy's in the toilet when the state's largest professional theater is presenting a rerun. The Mystery of Irma Vep, the rather... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
In Venice, I've looked for evidence of movies I've seen that are set there. I'm always peeking into shop windows, looking for the timepiece... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
I have seen Theatre Artists Studio's Lenin's Embalmers, and, oh, the wisecracks I could make about dead comedies and performances by walking... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Grey Gardens: The Musical is not for everyone. One's ability to truly enjoy this camp musical depends on one's knowledge of (and affection for)... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of fictional Walter Lee Younger, a black man in 1950s Chicago who represents the social transition of black... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
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... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
The trouble with Mama and Jack Carew is that there's so very much of it. Hal Corley's full-length play, at least as presented by Theatre Artists... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
I think I need a break from camp.
I realized this after attending Devil Boys from Beyond at Nearly Naked Theatre last weekend. It was, I... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Eventually, American theater will run out of 20th-century musical troubadours to venerate. In the meantime, there is Woody Guthrie's American... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
I long to take the month of December off from writing, so that I can focus on tree-trimming and card-making and other seasonal events. December... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
I long to take the month of December off from writing, so that I can focus on tree-trimming and card-making and other seasonal events. December... More >>
-
By Robrt L. Pela
Last winter, I attended a holiday dance show — one of those Christmas-themed musical pageants where the stage is overtaken by crowds from... More >>
