This review aired on KBAQ May 7, 2012

SUPERB ATC “RED” LOOKS AT ART’S CREATION AND COMPARES IT TO LIFE

“RED”
Arizona Theatre Company, Center Stage, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

“Red,” Arizona Theatre Company’s superb season ending production, is a fascinating look at art’s creation, a process playwright John Logan brilliantly compares to the multifaceted routines of life.  “Red” won last year’s Tony Award as the Best Broadway Play.  It follows artist Mark Rothko’s creative process in 1958 as he crafted thirty canvases for the Four Seasons Manhattan restaurant.  As Rothko creates the canvases, with help from his assistant Ken, the artist teaches that … Continue Reading

WARM AND TOUCHING “THE COLOR OF STARS” AT CHILDSPLAY

“THE COLOR OF STARS”
Childsplay, Tempe Center for the Arts

Tempe, AZ

What a wonderfully warm and touching play Dwayne Hartford has created for Childsplay in “The Color of Stars.”  It looks at World War II’s impact on a family in rural Maine.  In Graham Whitehead’s marvelously tender production acted with the usual aplomb of the fine Childsplay ensemble, this production is guaranteed to have young audiences and their chaperones in tears by the end.

“The Color of Stars” tells young Eddie’s story.  He’s moved in with his grandparents on the family farm while his father … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 30, 2012

PHOENIX THEATRE’S “DREAM A LITTLE DREAM” DOESN’T HAVE MUCH PIZZAZZ

“DREAM A LITTLE DREAM”
Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

The Mamas & Papas vocal group had success during their initial three years and later short reunion with five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles.  Group member John Phillips wrote their many hit tunes including their two biggest, “California Dreamin’” and “Monday, Monday.”  As a singing quartet, the Mamas & Papas struggled with drugs, breakups, plus personal and professional challenges.  Since they disbanded, their songs continue to have appeal so in 2007 Phoenix Theatre premiered a weakly written … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 26, 2012

GREEN DAY’S “AMERICAN IDIOT” IS NOT A CONVENTIONAL MUSICAL

“AMERICAN IDIOT”
Broadway Across America – Arizona, ASU Gammage
Tempe, AZ

If you like conventional Broadway musicals, stay away from Green Day’s “American Idiot” at ASU Gammage this week.  It hollers and shouts its rock sounds and twisted look at contemporary society.  The short show becomes an amazingly draggy 95 minutes as the Green Day songs tell a contrived story.  Focusing on dozens of televisions, all spewing news, the chorus explodes in anger at the state of America.  Johnny, nearly 30, has wasted his life with friends Will … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 23, 2012

“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT” PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO LIVING IN NAZI GERMANY

“ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT”
Theatre Works, McMillin Theater, Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
Peoria, AZ

We all know the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazi regime but seeing how this dreadful period impacted five ordinary women provides personalized insight in Theater Works nicely staged Arizona premiere production of Shirley Lauro’s “All Through the Night.”  The play takes place in the women’s memories as they look back on the challenges they faced and the resourceful ways they found to survive during this terrible period in German … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 16, 2012

IF YOU LOVE THE BLUES, VISIT BTT’S “BLUES IN THE NIGHT”

“BLUES IN THE NIGHT”
Black Theatre Troupe, Playhouse on the Park
Phoenix, AZ

If you love the soulful and sorrowful sound of the famous blues and torch songs popularized in the ‘20s and ‘30s during the height of this tellingly insightful music, you need to visit the seedy Chicago hotel and bar onstage for the Black Theatre Troupe’s “Blues in the Night.”  A quartet of singers gives their all to recreating the music’s ambience and feeling.

The plaintive blues sound was born in the slave spirituals of … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 9, 2012

EXCELLENT “TOMAS” AT CHILDSPLAY AND DISAPPOINTING “HARVEY” AT HALE CENTRE

“TOMAS AND THE LIBRARY LADY”
Tempe Center for the Arts Studio
Tempe, AZ

And

“HARVEY”
Hale Centre Theatre
Gilbert, AZ

Two diverse theater productions opened this weekend.  Gilbert’s Hale Centre mounts a competent but unexciting staging of the badly dated 1943 Mary Chase comedy “Harvey,” while Childsplay stops touring the insightful “Tomas and the Library Lady” for a local run.

The heart-warming “Tomas and the Library Lady” tells of a young Hispanic boy who is introduced to books by a perceptive Librarian who opens the world to Tomas’ that his migrant worker … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ April 2, 2012

ACTORS THEATRE “BODY AWARENESS” A JUMBLE OF SERIOUS ISSUES

“BODY AWARENESS”
Actors Theatre, Stage West, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

Actors Theatre’s often picks shows not known to local audiences and then surprises with appealing hits.  Occasionally, it picks shows that sound interesting but prove disappointing.  Such is the case with playwright Annie Baker’s “Body Awareness” even though Baker wrote last season’s much stronger “Circle Mirror Transformation.”  “Body Awareness” jumbles several serious issues and never resolves anything in a short, superficial one-act piece.

The multi-layered play tries to tackle too many serious issues with no real depth or … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ March 26, 2012

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY OPENS MARVELOUSLY WRY “GATSBY”

“THE GREAT GATSBY”
Arizona Theatre Company, Center Stage, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

A marvelously wry but one sided look at America during the opulent Roaring ‘20s emerges in Arizona Theatre Company’s “The Great Gatsby,” an interesting stage version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece novel that captures this wild and transitioning period.  The American Dream was dying as the wealthy, some born and some made, use their money to destroy people.  The novel’s story is outlined in a tight two hours in this Simon Levy stage adaptation.  ATCs small set … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ March 19, 2012

TWO THEATER STAGINGS REVEAL LOCAL THEATER’S DIVERSITY

“A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC”
Theater Works, Mary Jane Gyder Theater, Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
Peoria, AZ

and

“DON JUAN IN CHICAGO”
The Little Theatre at Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

Two very different theater productions are reviewed tonight revealing local theater’s diversity.  Peoria’s Theater Works tackles Stephen Sondheim’s beautiful “A Little Night Music” successfully while Nearly Naked Theatre mounts a disappointing staging of the weird “Don Juan in Chicago.”

Presenting a Sondheim musical challenges, but Theater Works’ exemplary “A Little Night Music” boasts artful singing in the David Vining directed production that keeps the … Continue Reading