Herbert Paine - Page 10

In creatively adapting to the current COVID-19 crisis, Southwest Shakespeare Company has announced an initiative featuring alternative online productions in its STANDING O SERIES and VIRTUAL CLASSICS LIVE!a??

Keeping the spirit of the theatre arts community alive and vibrant requires not only the innovative initiatives of regional artists but also the good and generous graces of individual and corporate philanthropy. Now, nearly a hundred arts and cultural organizations are joining scores of other Arizona nonprofit organizations in ARIZONA GIVES DAY, this year's 24-hour online fundraiser on April 7th.

Phoenix area artists, driven by an innate determination to withstand all forms of trial and tribulation, are taking to the cyberwaves to create a virtual extension of theater life.

Local companies ~ ALL PUPPET PLAYERS and BRELBY THEATRE COMPANY ~ rise to the occasion to keep the spirit of theatre alive during the COVID-19 virus crisis.

In FOSTER BOY, based on his own experience as a children's rights attorney, screenwriter and producer Jay Paul Deratany and director Youssef Delara have delivered a profoundly moving and superbly acted drama about a young man victimized by the privatized foster care system and a high-powered corporate attorney begrudgingly assigned to be his advocate. One of the featured films at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Based on a true story, with a superb cast brilliantly directed by Michael Herbig, BALLOON is heart-wrenching, taut and suspenseful, an outstanding edge-of-your seat thriller with heart. BALLOON is one of the featured films at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Pietro Marcello's 2019 eponymous adaptation of London's 1909 novel (with screenplay by Marcello and Maurizio Braucci) is a deep, stirring, beautifully composed, and, yes, intellectually provocative exploration of one man's search for meaning in a society that he could not countenance and that could not abide him. Luca Marinelli delivers a breathtaking performance (for which he received the prestigious Volpi Cup at the 2019 Venice Film Festival) as Martin, a man whose quest for fulfillment and resistance to the norms of society created an inner turmoil he struggled ferociously to weather. One of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.

Marcus H. Rosenmüller's THE KEEPER is an absorbing and moving reflection on reconciliation as portrayed thru the life of an ex-POW turned legendary goalkeeper. Featured at this year's Sedona International Film Festival, THE KEEPER takes the viewer to unexpected places of reflection and emotion and, in the end, is a deeply sensitive and illuminating film to be kept in one's portfolio of favorite flicks.

Unequivocal thumbs up for Stray Cat Theatre's production of Sarah DeLappe's THE WOLVES, directed by Heather Lee Harper. Runs through February 22nd. The playwright has composed dialogue that flows like notes on a music sheet and the director has excelled in guiding the players ~ nine remarkable actresses ~ to move and talk to the beats of the script with near synchronization.

THE SILENT REVOLUTION is a must-see ~ one of the featured films at this year's Sedona International Film Festival. The film, based on actual events recounted in Dietrich Garstka's eponymous novel, is a sobering and poignant testament to the power of conscience and the ethical imperative of speaking truth to power, no matter the repercussions.

In STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN, a film that is deceptively insightful and unsparingly poignant, Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz team up to deliver stellar and compelling portrayals of two men at their wit's ends who forge an unlikely but revelatory friendship. It is one of the featured films at this year's Sedona International Film Festival (Saturday, February 22nd through Sunday, March 1st.)

AMERICANO! is an inspired act of conscience, directed by Michael Barnard, featuring a magnificent score by Carrie Rodriguez and superb performances led by Sean Ewing . a?oeWorld Premierea?? runs through February 23rd at The Phoenix Theatre Company.

Sedona International Film Festival features HOW ABOUT ADOLF? ~ Sönke Wortmann's illuminating masterpiece of satire. A brilliant and provocative work, featuring superb performances by Christoph Maria Herbst, Caroline Peters, Florian David Fitz, Justus von Dohnányi, and Iris Berben. .

In all the times that I have seen FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (and they have been many ~ whether on stage or film), I have never seen a production as inspired, imaginative, and moving in its staging as Bartlett Sher's. The vision of this Tony Award-winning director imbues this musical classic with a singular vitality and soulfulness that distinguishes it from its antecedents. Now appearing at ASU Gammage through February 2nd, the show is a stunning and magical mix of superb performances, Christopher Evans's dazzling and muscular choreography, and Michael Yeargan's vivid and ethereal set designs.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES owns a well-deserved place in theatre history. In its current run at Arizona Broadway Theatre, featuring Jamie Parnell as Georges and Michael Ursua as Albin, while the story has a fair share of charm, wit, pathos, and flesh, for a show famous for its flash and flamboyance, this production is pretty toned down ~ save for a statue of David with a boastful appendage and an over-the-top performance by Seth Tucker as Albin's a?oemaid!a?? Runs through February 28th at ABT's location in Peoria after which it takes the stage at the Herberger Theatre Center in Phoenix from March 6th through March 22nd.

In KUNSTLER, Jeffrey Sweet's powerful homage to a seminal figure of the '60's and '70's, the famed civil rights defense attorney, William Kunstler, is revealed in his more human dimension, and the history of the times is dramatically chronicled. The play is, at once, both intellectual and emotional ~and, in its current delivery, directed by Charles St. Clair at iTheatre Collaborative, exceptionally well-acted. Duane Daniels stars. Runs through February 1st.

Theatre Artists Studio presents THE CHRISTIANS ~ Truth meets consequences in the church of the holy double-cross in this outstanding production, directed by Richard Powers Hardt and featuring Tom Koelbel. Runs through February 9th.

The Phoenix Theatre Company's production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, directed by Scott Weinstein, is a high-fidelity juke box tribute to the four icons who history records assembled for an impromptu jam session on December 4th, 1956. Dynamic vocal and instrumental performances by Kavan Hashemian (Elvis Presley), Chris Lash (Jerry Lee Lewis), Skye Scott (Carl Perkins), and Gregg Hammer (Johnny Cash) of that session's songs provoke an irrepressible audience outburst of finger-snapping, toe-tapping elation. Runs through February 16, 2020.

Carlotta Summers's short film, TRUTH INCORPORATED, is necessary viewing ~ a poignant and compelling tribute to freedom of the press and to resistance in the face of efforts to undermine and suppress that freedom. Directed by Gabriel Barreto and produced by Ms. Summers, this powerful and compelling 8-minute film is an invitation into imagining the frighteningly possible and an implicit warning to beware of those who peddle distrust of a free press.

Michael Whitney's direction of ELF THE MUSICAL, now at Arizona Broadway Theatre through December 29th, is a merry tale told with smart stagecraft, glitzy well-choreographed numbers, and an energetic cast, led by Adam Vargas as Buddy.