David Mamet’s love of the rhythms of American speech is the hallmark of his work. His people speak in a repetitive, rat-a-tat cadence, always overlapping and usually taking two conversational steps backward for each step forward. Mamet’s is a language filled with expletives — there are reportedly more than a…
Summer is almost here, and theater companies are winding down their seasons, mostly with fluffy nonsense meant to lure us out of our air-conditioned caves. As ever, Nearly Naked Theatre is giving the finger to the notion that it’s too hot to think; thus, its production of Gilgamesh, an ancient…
You can dress a bunch of actors in grease-stained coveralls and make them sing a lot of songs about women they’d like to bed, but give them synchronized dance moves to do and they’ll always look like a line of chorus girls. Proof of this is expertly and rather loudly…
Hold tight during Act One of Alternative Theatre’s A Night in Vegas — or plan to arrive at intermission and miss it altogether. Either way, you’ll want to see “Helen and Jack,” the Act Two opener featuring Teresa Ybarra’s delightful performance as the anxious mother of a man who’s about…
The King has seen Louise’s panties, and her husband is unhappy about it. Strange men begin turning up at Louise’s door, hoping her drawers are still around her ankles. Hilarity ensues. Sound familiar? If so, you’re up on your obscure German playwrights of the early 20th century. But even those…
All season long, Actors Theatre has been threatening us with its production of Tapestry: A Musical Revue Based on the Music of Carole King. Earlier this month, this usually clever troupe delivered on that threat. The good news is that the horror will end shortly — Tapestry closes on Sunday…
There was a time, not so long ago, when “edgy” theater produced by young thespians in tiny black boxes was a hit-or-miss proposition, often involving tunics and more than a little angry posturing. Today, local companies keen on selling oddball stories are riding high, and Stray Cat Theatre is ahead…
What a shame that most stage fans will probably miss Hale Center Theatre’s Over the River and Through the Woods rather than drive the dozens of miles to this shiny new playhouse in (gasp!) far-off Gilbert. Joe DiPietro’s bittersweet, sometimes witty comedy is enlivened by a topnotch cast that reads…
Nestled onto Gregory Jaye’s magnificent set for Morning’s at Seven is a relatively quiet, old-fashioned play that shines like a bright beacon. Set in the joined yard of two massive bungalows, this is a comic, almost musical tale of forbidden love among the neurotic and the infirm. Its more-than-slightly fusty…
In an era where film studios make movies based on old TV series and broadcast networks make TV movies about the making of ’70s sitcoms, it’s only natural that three of Broadway’s most recent successes — Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers and Hairspray — are based on big-screen favorites. Theater…
It’s been a little while — several months, at least — since I’ve seen a play performed as gracefully as Black Theatre Troupe’s production of The Sty of the Blind Pig. The four actors assembled to bring this dramedy to life are the only real reason to consider seeing Phillip…
Aside from a single, tatty staircase that could use a good coat of paint, David Weiss has created a plush, gorgeous set for his directorial bow with Nearly Naked Theater. Unfortunately, he’s filled this resplendent stage with an unremarkable performance of The House of Yes, playwright Wendy MacLeod’s spectacularly vulgar…
Arizona State University’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard is director Marshall Mason’s 180th theater production and, unfortunately, his last for the university. Mason will retire his post as ASU theater professor at the end of this semester and will leave the Valley, thus turning us back into what…
In a better world, Alicia Sutton would appear on stage constantly. She’d be handed her Actors’ Equity card, given her choice of roles, and would perform in a different production each month for one of our 70-odd local theater companies. She’d do Hedvig in The Wild Duck, and Nickie in…
Actors Theatre’s Stones in His Pockets is something of a conundrum: It’s a better-than-capably acted, expertly directed comedy that’s never more than amusing. It’s filled with goofy antics performed by silly characters (normally a winning combination in a comedy) who are often less than lovable. On opening night, this neatly…
There’s a moment in TheatreScape’s Eleemosynary that’s so moving, so perfectly theatrical, it nearly trumps all that came before it. Following her curtain call, tiny Michelle Chin, her eyes filled with tears, crosses the stage to retrieve the paper wings that are her character’s prized possession. The play is over;…
Regional and community theaters have an annoying habit of promoting their productions as “Tony Award-winning,” and of quoting reviews of the original New York cast, as if the quality of the original had anything at all to do with the local version. But early raves for Arizona Theatre Company’s It…
The theater year kicked off from the impossible heights of an excellent road company of The Producers and wound up, as ever, with a lot of cheesy Christmas shows. This was the year that Chicago’s eccentric Theatre Eclectic relocated to Phoenix, and Awake and Sing Productions bowed with an exquisite…
November 17: It must be Christmastime — I’m averaging three calls a day from publicists trying to persuade me to review their upcoming holiday shows. The woman from the Rockettes’ Radio City Christmas Spectacular called twice today. She didn’t laugh when I asked what’s Christmassy about a bunch of girls…
While the inanities of the Phoenix Festival of Lights schlepped noisily past last Saturday night, Nearly Naked Theatre wowed an almost full house with yet another fine piece of complex, compelling theater. This tireless troupe’s take on Joe Calarco’s smart, sexy Shakespeare’s R & J drowned out the idiotic honking…
Normally I cower under furniture when a Neil Simon play takes any local stage, but I’d heard that Shawna Quain was doing a bang-up job in the title role of Theater Works’ Sweet Charity, so I tucked away my fear of Simon and headed to Sun City. My source was…
Playwright Charlotte Mann has, according to her playbill bio, an outstanding handbag collection. What she doesn’t have, unfortunately, is a particularly engaging story to tell in Hysteric Studs, which is currently floundering on a late-night stage near you. I was surprised and sorry to see a mediocre production from Stray…
