This review aired on KBAQ August 30, 2010

PHOENIX THEATRE’S “NOISES OFF” GREAT MADCAP SLAPSTICK FARCE

“NOISES OFF”
Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

If madcap, slapstick farce performed at rapid-fire pace by superb comedians tickles your funny bone, you’ll howl in delight at the wildly hysterical zany antics in Phoenix Theatre’s season opener, “Noises Off.” Matthew Wiener, on loan from Actors Theatre, stages Michael Frayn’s 1982 backstage joke-fest with delicious comic relish.

The playwright’s farcical expose explores a third-rate British traveling theater company’s staging of “Nothing On,” a comedy. The motley troupe performing it attaches lusty and bawdy silliness to the already inane plot with a maniacal … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ August 16, 2010

NEARLY NAKED’S “SAUCY JACK…” NOT THEATER BUT CABARET AND NOT A MARVELOUS ROMP

“SAUCY JACK AND THE SPACE VIXENS”
Nearly Naked Theatre, The Little Theatre at Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

Forget everything you’ve ever come to expect from a theater performance if you see Nearly Naked Theatre’s bizarrely wacky new musical, “Saucy Jack and The Space Vixens.” It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen that labels itself theater.

Nearly Naked’s artistic director Damon Dering has transformed the tiny Little Theatre at Phoenix Theatre into Saucy Jack’s cabaret. The regular tiered seats are gone and the remaining flat floor has … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ August 9, 2010

“LAUGHING STOCK” IS AN AMUSING VIEW OF HOW THEATER IS PRODUCED

“LAUGHING STOCK”
Theatrikos
Flagstaff, AZ

Theater is a time-consuming passion. Most theatergoers haven’t a clue how much effort and skill go into a production. Flagstaff’s Theatrikos mounts a funny “Laughing Stock,” Charles Morey’s comedy that explores an errant and tacky New Hampshire summer stock theater, The Playhouse, which mounts lame productions in a 200-year-old converted barn. The play provides an amusing insider’s view of theater and just how awful summer stock can be.

The company performs a three-play summer season on a limited budget employing largely talentless … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ July 12, 2010

SIZZINGLY SPLASHY “JOSEPH” AT BROADWAY PALM DINNER THEATRE

“JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT”
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
Mesa, AZ

Prior to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita” and “The Phantom of the Opera” successes, he introduced his rockin’ and rollin’ musical sound in 1973s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Mesa’s Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is reviving the popular show using the re-orchestrated 1991 version that makes the score zestier.

The new version further intensified the show’s popularity. The Biblical story traces Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his opportunistic brothers. The … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ June 21, 2010

HALE CENTRE PRESENTS ENTERTAINING & POLISHED “FOREVER PLAID”

“FOREVER PLAID”
Hale Centre Theatre
Gilbert, AZ

Gilbert’s ambitious community theater, the Hale Centre, continues to do remarkably professional productions. Their current musical, “Forever Plaid,” is a remount of a production done several seasons ago that was great. With a new cast and director, the latest version is just as entertaining and polished.

The musical revue focuses on a four-part guy quartet, a 1950s entertainment staple, who patterned themselves after The Four Aces, The Four Lads, and The Four Freshmen. The group rehearsed until 1964 when they got their first … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ June 17, 2010

“IN THE HEIGHTS” EXPLORES PULSATING MANHATTAN NEIGHBORHOOD

“IN THE HEIGHTS”
Broadway Across America – Arizona, ASU Gammage
Tempe, AZ

“In the Heights,” the throbbing 2008 Tony Award winning musical, explodes all over the huge ASU Gammage stage as it explores with a vibrant rhythmic beat the Manhattan Washington Heights Puerto Rican neighborhood. This pulsating immigrant area has housed most of New York City’s ethnicities. “In the Heights” is a sprightly and superbly entertaining study. It pulsates with this community’s life and, through fascinating characters and clever situations, it brings a rich cultural understanding.

The touring company duplicates effectively … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ June 14, 2010

WONDERFULLY FUN “EVIL DEAD” LOADED WITH KILLINGS AND MAYHEM

“EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL”
Nearly Naked Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

Killings, wild mayhem, and dead people who become evil zombies are the madcap ingredients that turn the zany “Evil Dead: The Musical” into a wonderfully fun show.

It’s based on the cult movie classics, a weird source for a show that took off back in 2003. In Damon Dering’s capable directorial hands, his Nearly Naked Theatre Company’s superlative Arizona premiere production is blessed with a great cast and cleverly wacky stage chicanery. The hilarious staging turns the spooky evils joyful … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ June 10, 2010

FUNNY “THE VAST DIFFERENCE” IN COMPETENT FLAGSTAFF STAGING

“THE VAST DIFFERENCE”
Theatrikos Theatre Co.
Flagstaff, AZ

Flagstaff’s stalwart and ambitious community theater, Theatrikos, is presenting the Arizona premiere of actor/playwright Jeff Daniels’ “The Vast Difference” in a competent, if undistinguished, staging.

Daniels, known primarily as a Broadway and film star, has also developed a playwrighting career. “The Vast Difference” is a fast-paced, funny, social commentary about George Noonan, a flight attendant, who struggles to find his life’s purpose. The father of five girls, George is begged by his loving wife, Rita, to get a much needed vasectomy. George … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ June 7, 2010

VIBRANT BERLIN REVUE “I LOVE A PIANO” WELL STAGED AT BROADWAY PALM

“I LOVE A PIANO”
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
Mesa, AZ

The great composer Jerome Kern said “Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.”  This truth is apparent in the vibrant Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre musical revue, “I Love A Piano,” which traces Berlin’s songs from the turn of the last century until the ‘50s.

The show, conceived by Ray Roderick and Michael Berkeley, focuses on an old upright piano that has already had a distinguished career in 1910, when the show … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ May 10, 2010

ORIGINAL “NUNSENSE” AT BROADWAY PALM REMAINS FUNNIEST

“NUNSENSE”
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
Mesa, AZ

Feature Elizabeth Loos in anything and a hit show will result.  Loos is the reigning Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre star and her latest triumph is “Nunsense.”  This is the original show about a convent who must find the financing to bury several dead nuns who died because of food poisoning.

There have been several rip-offs of “Nunsense” but the original remains the funniest.  That’s especially true with a stellar production like the Broadway Palm has mounted.  Not only is Loos a great comedienne, but … Continue Reading