The setup: Whether you embrace or avoid contemporary musical theater, you’ve heard of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, he of the dancing, spandex-clad kittycats and singing choo-choo trains on roller skates, the man who (with the able assistance of iconic source material and talented collaborators) gave us the desire to have…
I’m standing out front of the Torch Theatre — an improv space in downtown Phoenix — on a recent Saturday night, asking the performers how improv has impacted their lives. I feel like I’m getting two shows for the price of one. The first was the one I just watched…
Phoenix is in for something of a lunar landing. This week, Chicago-based pan-Latina theater troupe Teatro Luna will deliver a double dose of culturally driven performances, presented by Performance in the Borderlands, that explore Latina sexuality through two plays…
Oy vey. Interviewing comedian Richard Lewis is like being inside one of his monologues. The only difference is that rather than a one-sided conversation operating on a stream of consciousness level, there are breaks where questions are inserted — though those are only brief bumps in Lewis’ full-throttle comedic autobahn…
The setup: Agatha Christie may not have been the first mystery writer to maroon a bunch of strangers in a house together, tell them one of them is a murderer and some of the rest of them are potential victims, and then just let the secrets and paranoia do all…
Getting a PhD in English from Yale is not like eventually completing a stint in rehab. You don’t have to do it in order to remain insurable in the eyes of film producers who decide whether you can work on a project that involves paying hundreds of people pulling down…
There’s a rather presidential-sounding voice that answers Tommy Davidson’s cell if the comedian doesn’t happen to pick up in time. In fact, it’s a dead ringer for the current commander-in-chief: “Hi, I’m Barack Obama and you just called Tommy Davidson’s phone.” It ain’t the actual POTUS on the comic’s outgoing…
Since 1994, Flam Chen has been perfecting the art of circus fire performance in Arizona and around the Southwest. It’s one of the country’s premier circus arts and fire performance troupes, best known for its participation in the Tucson All Souls Procession, the city’s annual public ceremony for which a…
The setup: The 1992 film Sister Act was the perfect storm of Motown girl-group revival, a dream cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, and Kathy Najimy, and a feel-good story that made Catholics and the sketchy denizens of Reno, Nevada, both seem a bit nicer than they probably are. It…
Geeky standup Dan Mintz is awkward as all get out, and that’s not a detriment in the slightest. In fact, the comedian and humorist’s ill-at-ease stage presence, deer-in-the-headlights gaze, and ultra-deadpan delivery while performing are all part of his bizarre charm. It also makes the often-surreal non-sequiturs — including many…
Shaking your groove thing on a dark dance floor in the club can be intimidating enough, but in front of a mirror in a brightly lit dance studio? Well, that’s a whole different ballgame. There are scores of places where you can learn to pas de chat and pirouette, but…
The setup: Damn Yankees is a zippy, popular 1955 musical about a rabid baseball fan, Joe Boyd, who says he’d sell his soul for a long-ball hitter for his beloved Washington Senators team. Satan, badly disguised as a guy named Mr. Applegate (and it’s taken me my whole life to…
Good news, comedy nerds. The first-ever Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival presented by Funny or Die will stop in 13 cities across the U.S. this summer. And what city just happens to be the final stop for this one-of-a-kind stand-up celebrity showcase? You guessed it. Phoenix. Headlining the tour will…
A rock musical American history lesson that commences with the line “Here’s the thing about the Indians!” then segues into a song whose refrain is “Populism, yeah, yeah!” can’t be all bad. And in its brand-new, Ron May-directed Phoenix Theatre production, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is sublime. See also: -Space…
The setup: Cheaters’ short Broadway run in 1978 put then 22-year-old playwright Michael Jacobs in the record books as the youngest documented author to open a show on the Great White Way. Jacobs went on to run a couple of the most popular TV shows of the following decade: Charles…
Father’s Day is Sunday, and because we at Jackalope Ranch can think of nothing sexier than a man willing to change a diaper, see the Wiggles, and sing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” we’ve compiled a list of our five favorite FILFs; fathers we’d like to… y’know. The Rocker: Josh Homme…
Well all know that girl. Hell some of us are that girl — the girl whose facial default is downright bitchy. Blame it on bone structure, PMS, or the fact that she is simply not amused, but Bitchy Resting Face (or BRF) is condition that countless women are plagued by…
Whitney Cummings has gone from pranking celebrities on Punk’d to becoming one herself. The comedian became a regular on Chelsea Lately and Comedy Central Roast, which led to her starring in and writing her self-titled series, Whitney, hosting a talk show, and co-creating the sitcom 2 Broke Girls. Now Cummings…
Phoenix native and past winner of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance Lauren Froderman will perform a guest solo at Scorpius Dance Theater’s Kick-A Dance Showcase. Froderman’s sexy, high-energy and contemporary dance style will be a perfect fit for the collection of kick-ass dance. Her impressive flexibility, both physically…
The setup: Side Show, with music by Dreamgirls’ Henry Krieger, was not a Broadway hit upon its 1997 debut. The play about the fame of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who made it out of the freaks’ tent (but not too far) in the 1930s, is generally referred to…
For the second year Lisa Starry of Scorpius Dance Theater will bring together dancers and choreographers from around the state for a showcase of kick-ass contemporary dance. The show is a take on the highly acclaimed Choreographer’s Carnival, except Kick-A Dance Showcase features work from Arizona choreographers. If you enjoyed…
Kids say the darnedest things. But when those same things escape the mouth of a grown man in his underwear, the result is a prefect blend of extremely creepy and equally hilarious. A new web series by Warmland Films is quickly working its way into the browsers of parents and…
