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.

It’s nice to report that Arizona Theatre Company has mounted a winner world premiere play in “Somebody/Nobody,” a whacked out but very humorous look at the inanities of America’s celebrity fascination.

Playwright Jane Martin’s play is loaded with slapstick physical clowning and a host of witty dialogue. Laughter is continuous in “Somebody/Nobody.” But hidden under the laughs is a valid message about how silly celebrity obsession has become in this country. It also paints a bleak picture of bring a celebrity.

For those around during and after Richard Nixon’s troubled presidency, “Frost/Nixon” probes the historic situation. So much was happening during the David Frost/Richard Nixon television interviews, when Nixon admitted some of his wrongdoings publicly, that the play refreshes now vague details. Nixon’s machinations and Frost’s clever way of digging out the truth reveals just how historically important these interviews were. The stage version, starring Stacey Keach as Nixon and Alan Cox as Frost, plays ASU Gammage through April 5. It’s a shame this production arrived after the brilliant film version because it’s impossible not to compare them. The movie comes out on top.

In the film, the historic situations and characters surrounding the interviews were more clearly drawn so that each person’s importance and the revelations were easier to follow. The film had more impact and fascination than the competent but uninspiring stage version.

Arizona Opera ended a smashing season last week with a traditional but brilliantly sung “Tosca.” The amazing thing about the familiar opera was the wonderful company debut of soprano Lisa Daltirus in the title role and the remarkably sung Cavaradossi of Andrew Richards.

If you’ve never seen the hit Broadway musical “Rent,” it’s back this week at ASU Gammage. Cheering and shouting show groupies were heavily represented in the capacity opening night crowd.  

“Rent” is Jonathan Larson’s contemporary musical that uses the “La Bohème” opera plot but adds contemporary twists and turns along with an upbeat rock score. Set in an impoverished part of New York City, Michael Greif’s original busy staging, re-created perfectly here, is starkly simplistic. Recent newsy items like poverty, AIDS, and living hand-to-mouth bring the plot to the present, and like the opera, “Rent” also explores acceptance and a variety of acceptable lifestyles.

Nearly Naked Theatre labels “Killer Joe,” its current show, as “the blackest of black comedies.”  It’s a perfect description. Tracy Letts’ play is about the weirdest Texas family. This motley group is so bizarre that you’ll laugh at foul things and ridiculous actions.  

After the inane stupidity and humorless silliness of “Triple Espresso,” Actors Theatre is back with what it does best, “thought-provoking theater,” with “Rabbit Hole,” the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winning best play.

Things may be bleak on Broadway as the economic slowdown curtails the number of shows but the excitement surrounding the diversity of two new shows sets thrilling new directions for musicals. Also, a rare revival of Rodgers and Hart’s 1940 masterpiece, “Pal Joey,” was a welcome addition to the current Broadway season.

“In the Heights” is an upbeat musical that introduces Hispanic ethnicity to mainstream Broadway, while “Billy Elliot” is less dramatic than the film, but it’s still a winning new musical.