It’s impossible not to fall in love with “High School Musical,” the summer attraction at Mesa’s Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre. The Disney musical is pretty standard fare about young love and the score is pleasant but not distinguished but when you put it all together it’s ingratiating. The pleasing staging is perfect.

I never saw the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” movie. My companion for the stage version, now at ASU Gammage through June 21, did. She remembers it as bloated and boring. She hoped the stage musical would be brighter and more creative. Her aspirations weren’t realized. This version doesn’t improve the movie. Every musical number drags on far too long and the fanciful but simplistic plot wears thin quickly.

It’s hard to believe that James Bond spy author Ian Fleming crafted the original story. There are only a few moments in the lengthy show with genuine appeal. A chorus of adorable dogs appears winningly several times. The other magic comes when the old car that Caractacus Potts restores actually flies. The car, a restored relic from an earlier Grand Prix race, has limited flying potential initially but, at the finale, it does some phenomenal antics.

I don’t know what Phoenix Theatre was thinking when they booked “3 Redneck Tenors” as a “bonus” summer attraction. It’s awful and is the worst show to play the venue in sometime.

After a memorable season of stellar musicals, Phoenix Theatre audiences have been carefully cultivated to respect, understand, and appreciate musicals that tell interesting stories, have complex characters, or are truly funny. All were presented in creative productions. “3 Redneck Tenors” is full of badly outdated and sadly clichéd humor that was never funny. The show bores even for its scant hour and a half running time.

Unlike many British musicals that duplicate their success here, the dark “Blood Brothers” has struggled. It has never appeared in Phoenix but that doesn’t deter the spunky Nearly Naked Theatre from presenting a smashing production.

I saw the show years ago in London where the revival has run for 22 years. While the local staging lacks some of London’s scenic dazzle, this production is far more engrossing emotionally. Director Damon Dering’s remarkable staging and impressive cast instill stirring life into the show. It traces twins separated at birth who accidentally reunite after two superstitious mothers agree to keep them apart. Initially, the pairing is touching but as life engulfs them, fate takes a tragic turn. Their death is an emotional moment that could easily turn maudlin but Dering’s moving staging and the fantastic cast leave you with heartfelt tears.

Attending the American Theatre Critics Association Annual Conference took me to Sarasota, Florida, that state’s self-proclaimed “Cultural Capital.” In five days, 50 national critics saw seven theater productions. Disappointment best summarizes many of the theater outings. Based on what the critics saw, theatrical standards are much lower than those Valley theatergoers and critics expect and get. Only a small professional theater, Florida Studio Theatre, provided interesting theater.

Hershey Felder crafts an interesting show to explain Ludwig van Beethoven. Felder stocks his “Beethoven, As I Knew Him” with insights into the composer and then he uses the facts to explain the motivations and inspirations that led to the composer’s brilliant musical compositions.

This Felder show is the final segment of a three part series that attempted similar insights into George Gershwin and Chopin. The new show is far better than the earlier pair as Felder uses his acting skill to become Gerhard von Breuning, who, when 12, met the great composer who was his father’s friend. In 1870, at the 100^th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the show becomes von Breuning’s birthday chat of remembrances about the composer.

“Stomp” has been a phenomenal success since its 1991 birth in England after 10 years of imaginative manipulation by creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. But based on the show’s current Valley stop at ASU Gammage after a multitude of previous local visits, “Stomp” may be coming to the end of its success.

The formalized show now lacks the spontaneity it had originally. After years of performances, “Stomp” now seems dated and past its prime. Popular entertainment has evolved dramatically since the original “Stomp” dazzled. The current 11-person troupe revolves so that any 8 appear for each performance.

Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” annihilates marriage with brittle cynicism. Phoenix Theatre’s artful production is brilliantly sung with the abundant comedy played hilariously. Robert Kolby Harper’s exuberant staging moves briskly, his clever dances are inventive, and the show is played on a multi-level unit set that allows visually diverse stage pictures.

If you love country singer Johnny Cash’s music, “Ring of Fire” may be for you. The musical revue uses 30 Cash songs, but little biographical story links the tunes together. If Cash songs aren’t your thing, though, there’s nothing in “Ring of Fire” for you. The latest Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre production marks the show’s local premiere but the poorly constructed piece is one of the Mesa theater’s weakest productions.

As many times as you’ve heard about the tragic 1999 Columbine High School killings, you will never see a more powerful treatment of those murders than the gut-wrenching “columbinus.”  The play brilliantly conveys the societal pressures placed on developing teenagers that was the spark responsible for the deaths.  Leave it to Stray Cat Theatre to present this play’s local premiere in a brilliant production.