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…
Holiday shopping, football, and theater make this weekend’s top picks. Alternative Black Friday Vintage Market @ CityScape Waking before the crack of dawn is the norm for thousands of Americans hunting for post-Thanksgiving deals. But what if we told you that you could sleep in, get your Black Friday shop…
If you thought your grandmother’s hand-knit sweater last Christmas was bad — what with its mismatched fabrics, bell-bottom sleeves, and your name stitched to the back — you can can take some solace in this: At least it didn’t come from her vagina…
Photo by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle – © 2012 – OB Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.Download this week’s Voice Film Club podcast before you get on the plane or maybe listen to it on your way to a restaurant where you’ll eat turkey and get a little drunk on red wine.”I…
Look, we understand some people are visual learners. So if you were craving an A/V counterpart to Jackalope Ranch’s 25 Reasons We’re Thankful to Live in Phoenix, we know a certain video that might prove satisfying…
Once upon a time — the 1980s — you could walk into a movie theater any day of the year, plop down a few bucks, and watch one man kick another man’s ass. Not every action flick was great, but most were good enough, the film equivalent of pizza. Back…
The great sins of the 20th century already are too many to list, but let us note one more: the abduction of infants from parents deemed unworthy or undesirable by governments and religious institutions. Thousands of children were kidnapped from leftist parents during Argentina’s and Spain’s respective dictatorships, while children…
For all its nasty twists, the biggest shock in Spike Lee’s remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy hits in the movie’s first minutes — during the credits. “A Spike Lee Film,” a title card reads, a first for any of Lee’s features. Jungle Fever, He Got Game, Inside Man, last year’s…
A favorite pastime of those who love Asian film is to carp about Hollywood’s annoying tendency to lay claim to and defile their favorites. But Spike Lee’s Oldboy is the remake that came too late, so benign and unmemorable that not even people who loved Park Chan-wook’s 2003 original will…
Thanksgiving isn’t easy for vegetarians and vegans. Between cursing your relatives for putting chicken stock in everything and having your crazy uncle beg you to “just take one bite of turkey, it won’t count,” the holiday is stressful for those who eschew meat. If you’re stick of eating Tofurkey by…
Waking before the crack of dawn is the norm for thousands of Americans hunting for post-Thanksgiving deals. But what if we told you that you could sleep in, get your Black Friday shop on in a leisurely fashion, and sip mimosas while you browse? Not in your wildest, right?But, friends,…
It’s official. Phoenix has fleas.That’s thanks to vintage shopping enthusiast Ashlee Molina, who’s organized the inaugural Phoenix Flea, which takes place Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30. Molina had been itching to start up a recurring flea market-style event in town since returning about a year ago. She’d traveled,…
Don’t call it a comeback — at least, not to his face. Instead, comedian Andrew Dice Clay refers to 2013 as his year of resurgence, due largely to an uncharacteristically sympathetic role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and the release of Andrew Dice Clay: Indestructible, his first stand-up special in…
In 2006, a University of Arizona fan screamed obscenities in our ear for a full minute while we tried to pee during the tailgate. In 2008, our roommate (a fellow ASU Sun Devils fan) nailed an 8-year-old kid in the head with a football because, and we quote, “He was…
Politics have always been a hot topic for comedians. Throw in a little song and dance, plus some wry word play, and you have the Capitol Steps. This long-running comedy troupe — originally comprising Senate staffers in search of some off-kilter holiday cheer — has been satirizing presidents, American politics,…
In case you hadn’t heard, there ain’t no party like a National Theatre party. Which is why the National Theatre of Great Britain is going all out for its 50th anniversary with a one-time-only performance recorded live in London and played only in select theaters across the country. This three-hour…
Whether you’re looking to give your tree some much-needed twinkle or you’re trying to find the perfect holiday gift for your favorite home-grown local, the Heard Museum’s Ornament Marketplace is here to help. This four-day shopping event features hand-crafted ornaments from more than 20 Native American artists, as well as…
Since 2010, Hanna Gabrielsson has been serving utterly delicious eats at Beaver’s Choice, which recently moved to Mesa from Tempe. The Polish-born chef spent time living and working in Sweden and later Canada, which explains the eclectic nature of the restaurant’s menu. At her cozy eatery you’ll find everything from…
The best we can say about Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber is that when he writes about real people (rather than, say, cats, rollerskating choo-choo trains, or creepy fictional guys who live under opera houses), he creates quite moving musical theater scores. And despite accusations that Evita contains historical inaccuracies about…
If Theatre Artists Studio chooses to produce a play, you know it’s a project that talented, experienced people are very passionate about. Honor and respect for the material also come standard. So although The Studio’s partially staged concert version of the evergreen, Tony-winning Cabaret won’t be as flashy or atmospheric…
Whether or not you can hear the bells, you’ll still be able to appreciate the extravagant gingerbread houses showcased at the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix hotel. This year’s whimsical creations will be inspired by The Polar Express, the movie and book about how one boy learns what it means to believe…
Remember that time you wrapped up your family dog in Christmas lights and watched him zoom around the back yard like a swarm of angry fireflies? Yeah, ZooLights is better than that. The annual winter festival turns the Phoenix Zoo into a dazzling display of luminescence that features 3.7 million…
