Phoenix Theatre’s Hormel New Works Festival wrapped up Sunday night with the presentation of the 24-Hour Theatre Project, five fully produced 10-minute plays that had been created entirely in the previous 24 hours.Actors (who were cast as an unassigned group a week or so ago) showed up Saturday night in…
Not every theater company can take a metal-roofed, tin-ceilinged building with no central A/C in a Phoenix July (“an oven,” as Soul Invictus artistic director Franc Gaxiola astutely described it in his curtain speech) and turn it into a venue that’s relatively comfortable if you dress appropriately and sit still…
It was an evening of cat calls, curtain calls, and glittery dresses as seven Valley bartenders competed for the third annual “Dancing with the Bars” championship at the Wyndham Phoenix Hotel on Sunday, July 25. The Dancing with the Stars-inspired competition, sponsored by Sway Events and benefiting the One Voice…
Recently, ’80s one-hit-wonder Ah Ha broke up. They realized that the 1980s were over and even though “Take On Me” was a catchy song, its time in the limelight was over. They got the memo. Desert Stages apparently didn’t. Their rendition of The Wedding Singer is full of nostalgia, but…
It had to happen eventually; I’m reviewing a play I’ve already reviewed (presented by a different theater company, of course). And you’ll have to click here to find out how cool I think Rupert Holmes, who co-wrote Curtains, is, because I can’t beat that horse again either. Mesa Community College’s…
It’s late to be further bemoaning the state of the American musical. Like it or not, staged musicalizations of popular motion pictures have become a genre of their own, and a staple at little theaters like Scottsdale’s Desert Stages. I attended this company’s mainstage production of The Wedding Singer with…
I guess Footloose definitely merits inclusion in this summer’s Festival of Uncomfortable Truths — for example, if you work too hard as a religious leader, you risk neglecting and alienating your family to the extent that your daughter takes up with someone who’ll beat her for trying to break up…
I did some stand-up comedy once, and it was excruciating. It was at the Sweets And Beats Comedy Hour; I signed up for a slot at the open mic, went up to do my thing for five minutes, and it felt like an eternity. An eternity without laughs. From that…
Ben Turk isn’t trying to turn you in to an anarchist. But if you want someone to discuss it with, he’s okay with that. “The idea is to get people to think about questions they maybe haven’t before,” Turk says, explaining his purpose for his DIY company Insurgent Theater’s latest…
“Three is a magic number,” as Schoolhouse Rock! taught us. Ever traveled or, God forbid, lived with two of your friends? If it’s not unanimous, someone always loses, and there’s always that tipping-point tension — no spare legs to keep the whole thing upright.In Yasmina Reza’s Art, currently at Desert…
While it often doesn’t get talked about, Phoenix does have a pretty busy comedy scene. With local standup comics lining up to perform at bar comedy nights every day of the week, and dozens of improv troupes doing their thing throughout the month, there are ample opportunities for Phoenicians to…
Comedian B.T. describes himself as “your everyday kind of man.” Born and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, this “Okie from Muskogee” has an interesting take on his home state. “Our license plates say, ‘Oklahoma is OK,'” B.T. says. “We’re not great, we’re just okay. We’re a state with low self-esteem.” B.T…
I’ve seen two separate companies’ productions of Forever Plaid (2.007, if you count the time someone accidentally played Plaid’s audio intro at the beginning of The Taffetas). So although I am too young to remember swooning at those late ’50s/early ’60s guy-group close harmonies, I’ve heard them sung live in…
Barry Manilow, for the love of God, please make sure that you’ve placed a wise, discerning person in charge of approving shows based on your songwriting catalogue in the event of your death. Of course this is an event I hope happens far, far in the future. (I am, by…
Reyes will step aside from his duties for the season on July 1. His new gig — Interim Director of the School of Theatre and Film at Arizona State University. There he wil oversee the entire program as well as supervise this year’s slew of student productions. Replacing him will…
Unicorn Warpath: Violette Szabo & Jeff Cardello, demonstrating why you don’t bring Mom to college. I know that we all have cultural blind-spots and people resent having those spots pointed out, but I’m going to point anyway. If you think you’ve got your finger crazy-glued onto the pulse of Phoenix,…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the state of camp. I recently reviewed Evil Dead: The Musical, a satirical musical based on a series of movies that parody the horror film genre. In other words, I was watching a spoof of a spoof. And while I was entertained, I…
I had a lot of great nights out on the town last year, but for me the highlight of 2009 was being able to experience the first part of Theater In My Basement’s “o++o cycle” at Teatro Caliente. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this town: sitting shoulder to…
So you think you can act? Beginning in September, you can be in the to-be-determined group of funnymen and women performing in Friday Night Live, a live-action variety show in the vein of Saturday Night Live. Unlike loose-running open-mic events, this locally-produced performance-art shindig will be a choreographed event, complete…
You are an audience member sitting in a theater, and the characters on stage are staring at a real, running wall clock. It shows the current time in the city where the theater venue is located. Another character is late for dinner — two or three hours late, the dialogue…
How funny is comedian Jo Koy? The Filipino-American comic’s hilarious jabs at himself and stereotypes of Asian culture (he “love you long time”) cracked up enough people to land him his own Comedy Central special, Don’t Make Him Angry, and spots on several shows, including two seasons of Showtime at…
The bummer of civilization, in general, is that the human craving for novelty leads people to cross mountains, rivers, and seas to see what’s there and, often, rob, rape, and oppress those they encounter at their destination. However, we have a choice to do otherwise — to listen to our…
