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 in order to fully understand any artist’s creation, you must comprehend life’s complexities and recognize life’s parallels to art.

The beautifully written play intellectualizes the creative process in a variety of thoughtful ways as Rothko puts his initially fawning assistant through torturous discoveries that challenge his every idea and belief.  You can’t have valid understandings of anything without being able to dissect and interpret every nuance of any idea.  Staged in Rothko’s New York City studio, the artist is respected with a following.  He’s developed a deep understanding of the human condition that he translates into his art.  Young Ken is initially challenged by Rothko’s maturity and his carefully developed ideas.  Rothko makes Ken think about life and why he believes what he understands.  Ken grows over the year the play represents so, by the end, Ken strikes back at Rothko in a long monologue that leaves the artist in awe-struck silence as Ken reveals the depth of his understanding and how he’s used what Rothko has taught him.

Director Richard E. T. White lets his two marvelous actors deliver the dissertation with straight-forward directness as the two have insightful chats as Ken prepares canvases for Rothko.  Creating a canvas allows the men to explore life’s complexities and challenges.

Denis Arndt gives a dynamic interpretation of the opinionated Rothko as he delivers the artist’s ideas and knowledge with forceful confidence to Ken.  Connor Toms’ Ken evolves from a meek assistant into a thinking and knowledgeable artist himself who leaves Rothko mesmerized at the play’s end by his growth, development, and the complexities of his ideas.  The two play off each other luminously.

Kent Dorsey’s set looks like a typical artist’s enclave – messy but with a reason Rothko understands and thrives upon.  The two actors have been meticulously schooled in the routines of artists and they navigate the studio and work with the many artist supplies realistically.

“Red” provides a fascinating glimpse into an artist’s creative process and brilliantly parlays that process into an understanding of life and living.  ATC’s “Red” continues to May 20.  For tickets, call the Arizona Theatre Company box office at 602-256-6995 or order tickets online at www.arizonatheatre.org.

Grade: A

***** (5/5)

“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 fights in the War and his mother builds ships.  His grandparents allow a government worker, Felix, to live with them while he inventories trees in the town that the government hopes to use to build mine sweepers.  A fire destroys the family’s trees and the suspicious family point fingers wrongly at Felix.  After much consternation, Eddie admits to setting the fire and the family are embarrassed at the accusations they made against Felix.  The show demonstrates the War’s impact on each character and why trust and honesty is critical.

The play is enormously touching and will paw at audience emotions.  Part of the play’s success is attributable to the exemplary Childsplay production and the fine acting of each performer.  Jon Gentry is a thoughtful and supportive Luke, the grandfather; Debra K. Stevens is the smarter Mabel, the trusting grandmother whose good thoughts about people keep her doubting that Felix could have set the fire.  The opinionated and biased uncle, Alfred, is played with forceful avarice by D. Scott Withers, while Katie McFadzen is the hard nosed aunt, Isabel.  Andres Alcala is quite moving as Felix and his closeness to young Eddie and his interest in the little boy is honest and genuine.  At the performance I attended, Sam Primack played Eddie with boisterous bravado but thoughtful introspection although he doesn’t disguise the fact that his interest in fire is bound to get him in trouble.  He alternates in the role with Aaron Zweiback.

The unit set showing the small farm’s common room, an eat-in kitchen and the areas around the property is perfect as are the historically accurate period costumes right down to the shoes.

“The Color of Stars” is an insightful, touching, introspective look at the evils of war, the closeness of families, and the need to approach every day with honesty and candor.  What a wonderful play both for young kids and for their chaperones.  It continues through May 20 with public performances on weekends at the Tempe Center for the Arts Theater and weekday school matinees.  For tickets, call the Childsplay box office at 480-350-3822 or order tickets online at www.childsplayaz.org.

Grade: A

***** (5/5)

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 musical revue, “Dream a Little Dream,” featuring 30 of their songs.  The theater’s revived it without fixing it resulting in the same bland and uninteresting show.  The current cast, with some repeat performances from the previous production and some new performances, executes it without much pizzazz. 

The Mamas & Papas were a success primarily because of their vocal harmonies.  Unfortunately their lives both inside and outside of show business weren’t fascinating and their squabbles and petty rivalries were pretty dull, predictable, and ordinary.  As pictured in the show written by group member Denny Doherty and Paul Ledoux their lives play out insipidly.  If you like their songs, the music is fine but the mediocre production doesn’t give the songs their due.  The quartet sings the few solos acceptably but the group numbers lack the signature smooth harmonies and the performers never coalesce into the Mamas & Papas.

Director Michael Barnard, known for his innovative and clever stage direction of musicals, doesn’t do much with “Dream a Little Dream.”  Most of the show features the four impersonators standing stage center at four microphones crooning the tunes with no sparkle or spirit.  The dramatic scenes are played in a simulated living room from the house the group shared until the mindless bickering led to their break up.  Multi-media effects don’t zing nor do the period costumes so there’s nothing to hold audience interest in “Dream a Little Dream.”

Without exception, the cast brings nothing special to their roles.  Alisa Schiff Warner’s Mama Cass looks the part but she doesn’t make the character stand out as the group’s most celebrated singer.  Tori Anderson contributes a lame Michelle Phillips and she gives the show’s weakest song renditions.  Michael Sample struts and swaggers as the arrogant John Phillips making the character as unpleasant as he really was, while Evan Siegel’s Denny is the quartet’s most likeable and Siegel sounds the best vocally.

“Dream a Little Dream” doesn’t present a fair tribute to Mamas & Papas song hits.  It continues through May 27 at Phoenix Theatre.  For tickets, call the Phoenix Theatre box office at 602-254-2151 or order tickets online at www.phoenixtheatre.com.

Grade: D

**~~~ (2/5)

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 and Tunny.  Pregnant Heather appears to announce Will as her child’s father.  The announcement keeps Will from joining the other two who head to The City and a new life.

As Johnny and Tunny travel, they find a depressing and sickening America.  Tunny decides to join the military and things go meandering until they decide to come home and accept life and, with it, the possibility of hope.  Of course, the language is salty, drugs are part of everyone’s routine, and sexually explicit movements predominate.

The music assaults the ears while the character’s messy lives reveal what some of the younger generation crave.  Like many rock musicals, comprehension of song lyrics and, therefore, the story is a challenge.

Director Michael Mayer is hampered by the cluttered stage and Steven Hoggett’s dances are repetitious as the small cast runs on and off from the few entrances and swirl and twirl in a repetitious sameness that is boringly dull as it repeats over and over.  The orchestra is integrated on stage with the cast and the set has a variety of moveable objects that get used to death.  The cast is fine including lead Van Hughes’ rough tinged Johnny, Jake Epstein’s smoother Will, and Scott J. Campbell’s scruffy but poised Tunny.

“American Idiot’s” tough look at modern youth raises a serious question.  Next season, America’s most popular new musical, “The Book of Mormon,” bypasses the Valley because ASU Gammage management fears it will offend.  We are told we will see that show later after its honesty is worn down on the first year’s tour.  But why is “American Idiot” acceptable while management is afraid to bring a much funnier, much better, and much sharper but more pointed show as “The Book of Mormon”?  “American Idiot” offends more blatantly than “The Book of Mormon’s” more subtle laughs ever will.

“American Idiot” gives the older generation a view into the youthful culture but the show will not be liked by many.  “American Idiot” plays through Sunday, April 29 at ASU Gammage but stay away if modern music and the drug culture offend.  For tickets, call the Ticketmaster box office at 800-982-2787 or order tickets online at www.asugammage.com.

Grade: C

***~~ (3/5)

“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 history.

The play begins as the Nazi’s were born.  As rules tightened, freedoms disappeared, and the hideous killings continued, these women hide babies, develop clandestine relationships with men, and figure out fascinating ways to alter truths so they can get jobs and live.  The play ends with the German defeat and the challenges faced as normal lives returned.

As directed by Richard Powers Hardt, the play is performed in the small McMillin Theatre where the audience becomes immersed in and part of the action.  The unit set serves as a variety of locations in and around Berlin where the action occurs.  Hardt’s simple staging focuses attention on the play and the mayhem thrown at the women.

To work, a production of “All Through the Night” must have superb acting and the five performers, two professional and three community actresses, are all tops.  As the narrator, Colette D’Antona plays Ludmilla with a laid back but forceful style.  She won’t let the Nazi’s stifle her but she never looses her resourcefulness to figure clever ways around life-altering rules.  Lesley Ariel Tutnick’s Angelika is a quick witted survivor who handles herself smartly as she forces her way into running a clinic where she harbors and employs the fugitive Friederike, played smartly by Carrie Ellen Jones, who hides her baby.  Meg Sprink plays Gretchen, the woman most impacted by the Nazis and yet the one who continues to rebel quietly.  Tall Tracy Payne has the perfect stature to play several stern, unbending German women who follow Nazi dictates to deal and survive the ridiculous mandates.

“All Through the Night” lets audiences see the impact of Nazi atrocities on everyday Germans and how they lived through the stupidities.  It’s the kind of serious play that community theaters like Theater Works often avoid but instead the viable west side theater presents it in a resourceful production that intensifies the play’s impact.  It continues through May 13.  For tickets, call the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts box office at 623-815-7930 or order tickets online at www.theaterworks.org.

Grade: B

****~ (4/5)

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 the Deep South and the music helped the slaves communicate, survive, and cope with the miserable lives they led.  From that beginning, the blues evolved into a popular musical genre that has great appeal to many.  To deliver these songs effectively and believably, you have to use the original style that captures and conveys the tribulations the music expresses.  Considering that this production’s acting ensemble is all too young to understand and know this unique musical style, they sing and act effectively as they convey the songs with gripping emotion.  It’s a tribute to musical director Brenda Hankins who no doubt spent much time and shared her impeccable sense of this music to nurture these correct performances by her singers.  Director David J. Hemphill doesn’t clutter the show with unnecessary movement or glitter allowing the songs and his cast’s talents to star.

As conceived by Sheldon Epps, the show features 25 songs written by such greats as Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter, Vernon Duke, and Gordon Jenkins although the program lists only the songs and not the original composers.

The unseen five person band, under Hankins winning leadership, also gets the musical tempos and technique perfectly as they artfully backup the capable singers.  Best of the performing ensemble is Chanel Bragg who has the central role of The Lady and sings the best of the score with voluptuous rapture.  Her sassy delivery style is perfect and her swaggering flipping of her robes and gowns adds the look and feel these songs must have.  Raven Woessner as The Woman also has a nice sultry style and Kendall L. Washington as The Man adds the necessary sexual innuendo to the proceedings.  Only Krystal Pope as The Girl lacks the requisite style to bring off all her musical delivery chores effectively although she sings well enough.

“Blues in the Night” is your show if bluesy torch songs are your thing.  The production continues through April 22.  For tickets, call the Phoenix Theatre box office at 602-254-2151 or order tickets online at www.blacktheatretroupe.org.

Grade: B

****~ (4/5)

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 parents wouldn’t know.  Adrian Hernandez and Elizabeth Polen masterfully play the main roles and others in the story as director David Saar crafts an imaginative staging that creates a magical production for young audiences.

Based on Pat Mora’s book, playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez tells the thoughtful story.  After Tomas’ family moves from Texas to Iowa so his parents can pick crops, Tomas stumbles upon the local library where he’s introduced to books.  Tomas has been raised on his grandfather’s stories but new stories expose him to a bigger world.  He learns to read and write English while teaching the Librarian Spanish.  It’s simple but it’s so genuine and touching to see what the world offers everyone.  “Tomas and the Library Lady” continues its local run through Sunday, April 15.  For tickets, order online at www.childsplayaz.org.

Grade: B

****~ (4/5)

Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Harvey” is a silly tale about Elwood P. Dowd’s imaginary friend, the six foot rabbit of the play’s title, and the ridiculous antics of the characters in his household.  Dowd’s sister, Veta, hopes to commit him but, by the end, the machinations net a lovable character no one wants to change.

In its day, the play may have enchanted a less demanding, more easily entertained Broadway audience but as “Harvey” creaks along taking an eternity to reach its predictable and none-to-entertaining conclusion, there aren’t many genuine laughs.  On top of the ancient play, which is staging a Broadway comeback next month where it will no doubt flounder and die quickly, the Hale Centre Theatre production drags because a crisper, faster paced, and more energetic staging is mandated.  The cast misses most of the play’s physical shenanigans and delivers the cardboard characters and old fashioned comedy so blandly, it scuttles “Harvey.”  “Harvey” proves the creaky old play has little relevance and no real humor today.  It continues through May 12.  For tickets, call the Hale Centre Theatre box office at 480-497-1181 or order tickets online at www.halecentrearizona.com.

Grade:  D

**~~~ (2/5)

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 insight.  It’s about a university’s body awareness week in fictional Shirley, Vermont.  Psychologist Phyllis organizes the week and brings several guest artists to talk about body image including photographer Frank, who Phyllis and her partner, Joyce, host.  Also living with them is Jared, Joyce’s son who struggles to express himself physically because he may have Asperger’s Syndrome.  The pair’s strained relationship is complicated by a variety of pressures, inhibitions, and misconceptions.  With Frank’s arrival, things grow more complicated and since he is famous for his female nude photos, Joyce decides to pose against Phyllis’ wishes.

There are so many issues explored that the play leaves many questions but no real answers.  The plot could go in several interesting directions and it could make valid points about the issues exposed.  By the end, you feel the household jumble, including the women’s strained relationship, will continually raise its weary head providing no stability to help solve Jared’s issues or even settling the relationship.

Director Matthew Wiener does his best with the confused chatter but he never makes “Body Awareness” interesting.  His four-person cast boasts three solid performances and one characterization that further confuses the issues feeding unnecessarily into the playwright’s unwillingness to expose her own thinking or to provide even artificial solutions.

Maria Amorocho’s solid Joyce seems genuinely challenged by her son and her relationship.  Ian Christensen tackles Frank with dogged determination and expresses believable bewilderment when Jared turns to him for answers he doesn’t have.  Will Hightower’s confused Jared adds the right touch of doubt about his real medical condition as he flip-flops between logic and illogic.  Only Amanda Melby’s Phyllis fails to suggest any hint of a relationship with Joyce and she never acts like a true psychologist who should be able to grapple with the challenges her character is thrown.

“Body Awareness” tackles several valid challenges that many people face but by covering the issues so superficially, it leaves audiences searching for answers.  It’s frustrating and unsatisfying.  “Body Awareness” continues through April 15.  For tickets, call the Herberger Theater Center box office at 602-252-8497 or order tickets online at www.actorstheatrephx.org.

Grade: D

**~~~ (2/5)

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 pieces don’t capture the period’s grand luxury; only the elegant period costumes suggest the era’s lush grandeur.

The story, set in the ‘20s, pictures an ongoing American situation of hard working people who gain wealth and expect that the money entitles them to join those born wealthy.  The central character, Jay Gatsby is from a wealthy family but enhances his riches illegally through American prohibition.  The tale’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is Gatsby’s neighbor who comes to New York to make a killing in the bond market.  The story is Nick’s recollections of the people and events that cross his life during the summer of 1922.

Nick visits his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her rich husband Tom.  The typical hypocritical man, Tom has a mistress.  Nick meets Jordan Baker, a cynical woman with whom he becomes romantically involved.  These characters and the situations they tackle shows how this period broke the American work ethic as the wealthy abused life.

Stage versions of this novel are a challenge but adaptor Levy streamlined events and characters so it flows naturally from event to event.  You understand the period’s decadence and how America’s excesses destroyed.

Director Stephen Wrentmore, ATCs Associate Artistic Director, mounts an interesting production that moves fluidly on Yoon Bae’s sets that are aided by a revolve that shifts locales almost cinematically and with David Kay Mickelsen’s flowingly beautiful period fashions.  Roberta Carlsen’s mood invoking original background score enhances the story.

The cast is tops from David Andrew Macdonald’s suavely sophisticated Gatsby, to Zachary Ford’s earnest Nick who remains aloof from the action as he treads the fine line between playing a character and narrating the story.  William Peden’s Tom is the stereotypical male that does as he likes with unrealistic expectations of his wife, Daisy, and Myrtle, his mistress.  Monette Magrath’s snotty Daisy is snobbish, Sofia Jean Gomez’s Jordan is the all knowing woman who tattles on her friends, while Marta Reiman is the tartish Myrtle.

If you love the novel, you won’t be disappointed by ATCs “The Great Gatsby” but if the story and situation seem to lack objectivity, this show won’t make it richer or more palatable.  It continues through April 8 at the Herberger Theater Center.  For tickets, call the Arizona Theatre Company box office at 602-256-6995 or order tickets online at www.arizonatheatre.org.

Grade: C

***~~ (3/5)

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 convoluted story understandable.  This version seems influenced by the successful Broadway revival that starred Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Although the local staging lacks the revival’s turntable that shifted the show’s myriad of locations easily, Vining’s concept moves like the revival.  The set changes glide about choreographically never allowing the production to lag.  Steve Hilderbrand’s stellar orchestra plays the waltz score stylishly as the musical explores love through Frederik, his still virginal wife, Anne, and his rekindled affair with fading actress Desiree Armfeldt.  Desiree’s now dowager mother, Madame Armfeldt, confined to a wheelchair, taught her to manipulate men.  Confrontations between Frederik and Desiree’s current paramour, Count Carl-Magnus, dot the story while Desiree’s daughter, Fredrika and Frederik’s insecure son, Henrik, complicate things.  Based on Ingmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night,” everyone ends up with the right match.

Patty Nieman’s Desiree sings with touching sincerity, especially “Send in the Clowns,” bringing the right pathos to the multi-faceted character.  No less artful is Patti Davis Suarez’s Madame Armfeldt, a worldly woman past her prime.  Her “Liaisons” sums her wickedly resourceful skills with men.  Ken Goodenberger’s Frederik conveys his silly marriage to Anne and shows his devotion to Desiree.  Short of mentioning every performance, there isn’t a weak link anywhere.  Lush costumes and the sets enhance Theater Works winsome “A Little Night Music” continues through April 7 at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts.  For tickets, call the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts box office at 623-815-7930 or order tickets online at www.theaterworks.org.

Grade: A

***** (5/5)

Nearly Naked Theatre’s “Don Juan in Chicago” mixes up the Devil, as personified in Mephistopheles, to whom Faust or Don Juan here sells his soul for all knowing power and immortality.  In exchange for the power, Don Juan must successful bed a woman daily, a task that overtakes the eternity and knowledge he’s gained.  The production starts in 1599 in Spain and shifts to present day Chicago where Don Juan is exhausted.  It’s the typical unusual theater the company is known for but it grows wearisome as it takes an eternity to resolve.  The cast struggles with the play’s wacky implausibilities so it drags.  “Don Juan in Chicago” lacks the exuberant zaniness that transforms many of the off-kilter Nearly Naked shows to entertaining extravagances.  “Don Juan in Chicago” continues through March 31.  For tickets, call the Phoenix Theatre box office at 602-254-2151 or order tickets online at www.nearlynakedtheatre.org.

Grade: D

**~~~ (2/5)