Catagories
"Secret Order" - Actors Theatre

Cancer’s cure has eluded scientists for years. Discovering that cure is at the heart of “Secret Order,” a fascinating new play by Bob Clyman now at Actors Theatre in a supercharged production that is fantastically engaging and thought provoking.

 

Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Chris Curcio
"George M" - Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre

The 1968 musical “George M” is rarely performed today and there are good reasons.  

 

The biography of early Broadway star George M. Cohan uses “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and other familiar Cohan tunes to trace the entertainer’s rise from small-town vaudeville acts with his parents and sister to becoming Broadway’s king until 1919. It then looks at his pitiful demise as a popular star when recreating his then passé routines and songs lost favor.

 

Unfortunately, book writers Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal didn’t find much interesting or dynamic about Cohan’s life. Instead they turn him negative picturing him as a pushy performer with some good ideas who shoved his way to the top. The show never answers why this talented hoofer and singer who created several popular shows became a star since it’s not hard to imagine that other entertainers during this era were just as good.

 

 

Posted on 01 Mar 2010 by Chris Curcio
"The Light in the Piazza" - Phoenix Theatre

“The Light in the Piazza” is a delicate romantic musical that deals sensitively with an emotionally and developmentally challenged young woman who discovers love for the first time. The lovely Phoenix Theatre production, like many of their recent musicals, equals and occasionally betters the stunning Broadway original.

 

Posted on 26 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
"[title of show]" - Arizona Theatre Company

As a musical theater lover, I wondered if Arizona Theatre Company’s regional debut of “[title of show],” a piece about two New York writers creating their first musical, would appeal to Valley theatergoers. It’s crammed with obscure musical theater references including titles of long forgotten musical failures. It’s loaded with insider tricks used to write musicals, and it’s full of jokes best understood by Broadway musical denizens.

 

I shouldn’t have worried. A large and appreciative opening night audience guffawed lustily throughout this marvelously entertaining show. The show’s success is also attributable to David Ira Goldstein’s clever and energized staging and a cast who delivers the show’s delicious comedy with irreverent mockery while adding subtle jabs and hysterical jests to the already funny affair.

Posted on 22 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
"The Play About the Naked Guy" - Stray Cat Theatre

I haven’t laughed as hard as I did at Stray Cat Theatre’s “The Play About the Naked Guy” in a long time. But, let me start this review with a warning. This very funny play will appeal to a select audience that enjoys sexual innuendo jokes and slurs.

Posted on 18 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
"Mary Poppins" - ASU Gammage

The stage adaptation of Disney’s magical “Mary Poppins” arrived last week at ASU Gammage, and the scaled down but still elaborate touring version flows better than the clunky Broadway one.

Posted on 15 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
Broadway Musicals

There were surprises in the five Broadway musicals I saw last month.

Posted on 08 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
Three Broadway Plays and "Stiffelio" at the Met

The economic downturn is impacting Broadway. Last October, things on Broadway were still robust. Now, most Broadway shows have good crowds but discount tickets are readily available and restaurants around Broadway that recently required reservations now take walk-ins. And several Broadway shows closed while I was in town.

 

Posted on 01 Feb 2010 by Chris Curcio
"Fuddy Meers" - Nearly Naked Theatre

Where to start with David Lindsay-Abaire’s far fetched but telling “Fuddy Meers”? Let’s start with the title. It comes from the carnival fun house and the mirrors that distort reality. That’s exactly what the play is about. Claire, the central character, has a weird form of amnesia that makes her mind blank each morning when she wakes up. She remembers nothing about her life. Her husband, Richard, has prepared a book that reminds her of significant things and people.

 

After he leaves, Phillip arrives claiming to be her brother but is he? In our lives what is real and what is fiction?  During “Fuddy Meers” we veer every which way because almost every person Claire encounters has another identity as they hide things from her and each other. Phillip takes Claire to her mother, Gertie. Gertie’s a stroke victim so she struggles to communicate. In her gibberish, she warns Claire that Phillip is not whom he seems.

 

Posted on 28 Jan 2010 by Chris Curcio
"Shipwrecked!" - Actors Theatre

Actors Theatre’s “Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As Told by Himself)” has quite a title and the show is a marvelously creative fanciful adventure that is fascinating to watch and is wonderfully entertaining. It’s the first show, other than its annual “A Christmas Carol,” that Actors Theatre has mounted that will prove a richly dazzling entertainment for young audiences as well as adults. Actors Theatre’s usual cutting edge off-Broadway style plays usually don’t work for the kids. The company mounts this brilliant Donald Margulies play in a riotous production crafted eloquently by director Matthew Wiener and played with comic gusto by three inventive actors.

Posted on 25 Jan 2010 by Chris Curcio

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