There’s a lot of cinematic shorthand, both literal and figurative, in Zach Braff’s All New People, now on stage at Stray Cat Theatre. That’s to be expected from Braff, a TV star whose first indie film, Garden State, was a huge critical and commercial success. Braff employs quippy dialogue and…
A Christmas Carol is a moving, witty, smoothly written piece of 19th-century propaganda about being a nice person all the time — and maybe just being extra-nice at Christmastime — and removing that stick from up your butt already. It works so well and is so very in the public domain…
The setup: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s third blockbuster sung-through musical collaboration, 1978’s Evita, was revived in a new production on London’s West End in 2006. That restaging, which ran 337 performances on Broadway last year, began its U.S. tour this fall and visits Gammage Auditorium through Sunday…
To call Andrew Dice Clay’s comedic career long and storied would be an understatement. Since first appearing on a Rodney Dangerfield special in the late 1980s, Clay’s leather-jacket-wearing, chain-smoking mug has become synonymous with the kind of raunchy comedy that dominated the scene in the 1990s. He became the first…
The setup: Though Childsplay first presented The Velveteen Rabbit 25 years ago and it was the company’s go-to holiday offering for many years, the past several seasons have featured alternates such as Seussical, Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! and, one memorable year, Lyle the Crocodile, who I hope…
BIG OL’ HOLIDAY THEATER UPDATE: Because of you people and how much you love to go to good plays, White Christmas has added two performances, one this Sunday evening, December 15, and one on Christmas freakin’ Eve! The setup: Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” isn’t just the best-selling song ever –…
“Arrested 48 times . . . Future don’t exist . . .Don’t ask me about my personal stories, because they all have the same ending . . . One soul lost, two weeks ago this Friday, last seen hitchhiking to Flagstaff. If found, please return to this school of schools…
Though Jim Breuer has been performing stand-up comedy for over 20 years, he’s had success in other creative areas as well. Breuer showed his talent for portraying a pothead in his role as Brian, Dave Chappelle’s lovably high best friend in the stoner cult comedy Half Baked. He showcased his…
THRILLING UPDATE: Fifty Shades of Felt has been extended! See the end of this post to order tickets for added shows on December 5, 6, and 7. The setup: Nearly Naked Theatre and All Puppet Players aren’t saying what bestselling books Fifty Shades of Felt is inspired by, but we…
The setup: The 2009 London première of American playwright Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop made her the first black woman to receive the Olivier Award for Best New Play. The show moved to Broadway in 2011 and is now the second production in Arizona Theatre Company’s 2013-14 season. Like the works…
In January the seventh annual contemporary dance festival Breaking Ground will take place at Tempe Center for the Arts. The two-day event will include performances, films, and more. Tickets for the event are already on sale now — and we’ve got the list of Main Stage Artists who will be…
An old friend who knows theater phoned me last week. “I’ve just seen the most perfect production of Ragtime,” she said. “At Theater Works. You should go!” Oh, dear, I thought. A community theater production of Ragtime. No. But I went — fortunately. This well-crafted production of Terrence McNally’s musical…
The setup: In theater, maybe even more than in the other performing arts, getting work or being successful (by whatever one’s standard for that is) often seems to be a matter of luck and the accumulation of years of chance meetings. Brelby Theatre Company is currently presenting Ben Abbott’s play…
An old friend who knows theater phoned me last week. “I’ve just seen the most perfect production of Ragtime,” she said. “At Theater Works. You should go!” Oh dear, I thought. A community theater production of Ragtime. No…
Whether you know him as Frank Rossitano from 30 Rock, Toby Radloff from American Splendor, or as his guest characters on Flight of the Conchords or Curb Your Enthusiasm, Judah Friedlander is one thing and one thing only: The World Champion. The 44-year-old comedian has been performing stand-up for more…
“Most comics are pretty dark people,” Doug Stanhope says. Few comics are quite as dark — or willing to get as pitch black — as Stanhope. Our conversation with him, following the terrible news that his best friends and Bisbee neighbors Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl, had passed away,…
The setup: Melanie Klein (1882-1960) was a psychiatric pioneer whose insights into the development of children’s personalities, including the introduction of play therapy, supplemented the work of Sigmund Freud, changed analysis forever, and caused the British Psycho-Analytical Society to quarrel internally for decades like a bunch of babies in poopy…
Chances are you’ve never heard of Colin Jost. There’s a good chance you’ve never seen him, either, but if you’ve tuned into Saturday Night Live anytime since 2005 you’ve certainly laughed at his jokes and probably find him funny — even if you have no idea who he is…
The biennial Celebración Artística de las Américas (CALA Festival) first celebrated the contributions of Latino heritage to our vibrant life in these Americas in the fall of 2011. A kind of rolling, virtual festival in spirit, it presented and helped sponsor plays, musical and dance events, art exhibits, food, food,…
Actors Theatre returned last week from a self-imposed sabbatical with a reminder of why we might have missed them if they’d gone altogether. Keith Huff’s stagey police drama, A Steady Rain, is the sort of tightly wound, finely crafted morals tale that this troupe has long done so well. Rain,…
Actors Theatre returned last week from a self-imposed sabbatical with a reminder of why we might have missed them if they’d gone altogether. Keith Huff’s stagey police drama, A Steady Rain, is the sort of tightly wound, finely crafted morals tale that this troupe has long done so well. Rain,…
The setup: For five years now, Arizona Curriculum Theater has been sharing with public audiences some damn frightening stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, thereby raising the company’s profile and funds for their great work introducing literature and the arts to students. The individual selections rotate, new ones are…
