Behind the Scenes: Ballet Arizona’s Topia at Desert Botanical Garden

Ballet Arizona’s Topia takes Ib Andersen’s choreography, sets it to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, and places it on an 80-foot-long stage at Desert Botanical Garden with the Papago Buttes as a backdrop. As reviewer Katrina Montgomery stated, the combination makes for the most sensory ballet experience we’ve ever had. For…

A Wrinkle in Time from Childsplay — Only Three More Performances in Tempe

The setup: The only 20th-century book for young readers that’s sold more copies than Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time is Charlotte’s Web. Childsplay’s current production of John Glore’s stage version of Wrinkle is a great introduction to L’Engle’s Time Quartet/Quintet/Murry-O’Keefe series for those who might not have read the…

Space 55’s Woman and Girl Is Charming and Comforting

The setup: Local writer Charlie Steak’s short play Woman and Girl follows its two characters through a stressful period of accepting change and learning to live together. (It’s quite different from Steak’s popular short, I’m Voting Republican.) The première production is at Phoenix’s Space 55. See also: – “Where’s the…

Dulce Dance Company Explores Space in Para Tus Ojos at Icehouse

This Friday, Dulce Dance Company will debut Para Tus Ojos, a series of newly-choreographed movement pieces that seek to engage the audience in new ways. For starters, the performance will take place throughout several of the cavernous rooms in the Icehouse. “We wanted to make the audience feel that they’re…

Stray Cat Theatre’s Chicks with Dicks Is as Bad as it Sounds

Stray Cat Theatre’s production of Trista Baldwin’s Chicks with Dicks commences with a go-go dancing competition and a lap dance, and heads south from there. This unyielding camp comedy is so relentlessly awful, it should be offered up not as entertainment but as punishment for the worst possible crimes. Last…

Southwest Shakespeare’s She Stoops to Conquer in Mesa Is Tedious and Good-Looking — Think Richard Gere’s Private Life

The setup: Like pretty much every other theater with “Shakespeare” in its name, Mesa’s Southwest Shakespeare Company peppers each season with plays written by other people. They’re usually referred to as “classical.” Some companies also present newer shows that are Shakespeare-related or -inspired, and SSC has been doing quite a…

Life Lessons Learned from Comedian Jonathan Winters (1925-2013)

Jonathan Winters was an American artist and comedian, dubbed the “Pioneer of Improvisational Comedy.” Winters acted on stage and in films and television, including Stanley Kramer’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Twilight Zone. He was known as a comedic chameleon who slipped in and out of characters…