Herbert Paine - Page 18

The gifted young talents of Grand Canyon University's College of Fine Arts and Production, directed by Michael Kary, deliver solid performances in George Bernard Shaw's MAJOR BARBARA, on the stage of Ethington Theatre in Phoenix through February 18th.

After seeing HAND TO GOD, you may wish you'd brought your spiritual advisor or psychotherapist with you, either for consolation, confession, or calming your endorphins. In co-production with Phoenix Theatre, Stray Cat Theatre's Ron May has directed (in his inimitable and wizardly way) a loony and engaging descent through the gates of humor into the abyss of merciless satire, featuring awesome performances by Eric Zaklukiewicz and Elyse Wolf.

Arizona Opera's CANDIDE is a work of mastery, a fitting tribute to Leonard Bernstein. Bravura performances by Miles Mykkanen, Curt Olds, and Katrina Galka. Jerome Sirlin's innovative digital projections. The seamless fusion of artistic and technical elements. All together have raised the bar for any future production of this classic.

The National Tour of HAMILTON is now at ASU Gammage in Tempe through February 25th. What more can be said about a production that, since its opening three years ago, has already received the ultimate in honors and plaudits and for which the best adjectives have already been used? Yes, awesome, glorious, uplifting! All of that and more! Outstanding performances all around. In its unique form as a history lesson, HAMILTON is a hymn to the revolutionary spirit and the insatiable desire to fulfill possibility.

MANKILLER, one of the featured films in this year's Sedona International Film Festival, is a compelling and inspiring tribute to the Cherokee Nation's first woman Chief, Wilma Mankiller. Gale Anne Hurd and Valerie Red-Horse have skillfully weaved together footage of the turbulent times that tried Wilma's and her people's souls and the testimonials of those who witnessed her achievements. In due course, the history of Wilma Mankiller is the history of the Cherokee Nation and inevitably a verdict on the history of the United States.

Theatre Artists Studio's production of Joanna McClelland Glass's TRYING is a triumph of direction by Judy Rollings and performances by Alan Austin and Vanessa Benjamin. The show runs through February 4th.

Neither Douglas Clarke's lavish set nor Marie Quinn's Broadway-bright lights, neither Connie Furr Soloman's classy and colorful costume design nor a cast comprised of some of the Valley's thespian luminaries can save Terrence McNally's snarky snipe at Broadway, IT'S ONLY A PLAY, from its weak legs ~ currently Phoenix Theatre's featured production, running through February 11th.

Virginia Olivieri is putting another notch in her directorial and acting belt with a riveting production of Agatha Christie's VERDICT, running through March 4th at Desert Stages Theatre's new digs in Scottsdale. Dame Christie's VERDICT is a thinking person's drama, a morality play loaded with irony that puts a learned man and his unwavering adherence to principle in the dock. VERDICT is a smartly crafted and provocative script, intelligently directed, and skillfully performed.

The Chase is on at Don Bluth Front Row Theatre. That is, Mary Chase's comedy, HARVEY, that (beyond her other plays and children's stories) made her famous (a Pulitzer Prize) and gave James Stewart one of his truly classic roles. Lee Cooley, with an impeccable sense of character and comic timing, endows Elwood P. Dowd with an irresistible likability. He captures the mannerisms, even the tongue in cheek, of a gentleman drinker who knows more than he may let on and plays his counterparts to the hilt. The show runs through February 24th.

Compass Players, in an act of remarkable prescience, has resurrected Gore Vidal's THE BEST MAN, revealing that the more things political change, the more they remain the same. Directed by Jeanna Michaels, Steve Murphy and Matthew Cary deliver solid performances as two candidates in the political dogfight of their lives. Running through January 28th in the McMillin Theater at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts.

Every now and then, a transformational moment will occur in the theatre, transporting the audience into new realms of experience and understanding. Such a moment is at hand in David Bennett's vivid and compelling interpretation of MAN OF LA MANCHA. (Arizona Theatre Company's third production of the season, running through January 28th at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.) Bennett's work is a grand and inspired achievement. It touches the soul and ignites the emotions.

HARVEY, Mary Chase's 1945 Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, is slated to hop into the Don Bluth Front Row Theatre in Scottsdale from January 12th through February 24th. In its multiple adaptations, most notably the 1950 film with Jimmy Stewart, the tale of Elwood P. Dowd and his imaginary pooka has always been a source of amusement and inspiration. In advance of the opening, Herb Paine sat down with Lee Cooley, who plays the role of Elwood, to get a rabbit's-eye view of the show and some perspective on the actor himself.

David Hock, Scottsdale Musical Theater Company's founder and executive producer, struck it rich when he snagged two prominent theatre veterans, Bronson Pinchot and Kaitlin Hopkins, to co-star in ANNIE THE MUSICAL (on stage now at the Tempe Center for the Arts through January 7th.) He appears as well to have made a novel if not daring choice in the interpretation of their characters. The result is a light-hearted, easygoing and amusing production but one without the essential shadows, tensions, and chemistry that commonly stir one's emotions, seize the heart, and make for a memorable experience.

Leave the kids at home! Abandon all sense of propriety! Embrace the risqu ! Because the Calamari Sisters, Delphine and Carmella, are at the beach, dishing out hot plates of irreverent, edgy, and bawdy humor, all seasoned with equally hot saucy quips. As they note, without equivocation, this is nothing like a New England clambake far from it. (They're kicking up a storm at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix through January 21st.) Jay Falzone and Stephen Smith are a great team!

David Dietlein's production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Hale Centre Theatre through December 23 gift wraps the celebrated tale of Ebenezer Scrooge's redemption with all the sparkle, festivity, and messaging that befits the Holiday Season. Cory McCloskey delivers an outstanding performance as Scrooge in this must-see family fare.

Solid performances by Jeanna Michaels, Megan Holcomb, and Frances Murphy make for a riveting and provocative production of John Pielmeier's AGNES OF GOD, now through December 17th at Peoria Center for the Performing Arts.

In Arizona Theatre Company's reprise of the work that it first honored four years ago with its National Latino Playwriting Award, director Kinan Valdez conveys Marisela Trevi o Orta's THE RIVER BRIDE into a vivid sensory experience, moving her characters through a dreamlike voyage to a destination that has its own bank of ironies.

Under the direction and choreography of Robert Kolby Harper, a cast of sparkling talents brings scads of oxygen and energy to William Finn's A NEW BRAIN the second featured production of ASU Lyric Opera Theatre's current season.

B3 Productions presents a double bill of one-acters that feature riveting performances by Kim Lavelle in TRUE BELIEVER and Franc Gaxiola (THE LAST CASTRATO). Nailing down B3's distinctive niche as experimental provocative theatre. Gaxiola is masterful!

SOMETHING ROTTEN! is spectacular! Pure platinum! The tour is now rocking the house at ASU Gammage through November 5th. From the moment that Nick Rashad Burroughs ignites the house with an electrifying Welcome to the Renaissance, the show is a splendid nonstop concatenation of music (Brian P. Kennedy), choreography (Casey Nicholaw), sets (Scott Pask), and wardrobe (Gregg Barnes). Nicholaw's flawless direction leaves no theatrical stone unturned. At the center of this whirlwind are the sterling performances of Rob McClure, Josh Grisetti, and Adam Pascal, supported by a terrific ensemble.