Herbert Paine - Page 29

Smartly directed by Ron May, Seminar is one tightly knit, fast-paced, engaging, and provocative comedy of mixed manners and artistic insights. A solid ensemble delivers Rebeck's rapid fire dialogue with bristling conviction and energy. It is a well-crafted production that will have you reflecting on its themes long after you've left the theatre and likely wanting to see it one more time.

It is the Throne that takes center stage in Jared Sakren's searing production of William Shakespeare's King John ~ and all the men and women in it merely players to its seductions and channels for the issues that try the souls of their time. It is Maren Maclean who supercharges the play with an electrifying performance as Constance, the aggrieved mother who demands that her son Arthur be given that which is rightfully his ~ that Throne. Southwest Shakespeare Company's production is blessed with a rich ensemble on a simple stage dramatically enhanced by Daniel Davisson's moody lighting.

Hale Centre Theatre hits the high notes and delivers an uplifting production of The Sound of Music, featuring Brandi Bigley as Maria. A must-see for families!

Arizona Opera goes pop with its presentation of the soi-disant mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna.

The Producers is Mel Brooks' irreverent and satirical but ever-loving homage to Broadway show biz and has etched into the minds of theatregoers some of the most memorable if not outlandish concepts, characters and lines ever. It is nearly impossible not to measure later performances of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom against Mostel and Wilder or Lane and Broderick…BUT, not so impossible when Michael McAssey and Jared Mancuso take the stage in Arizona Broadway Theatre's production of this theatrical gem and lead a cast of performers any one of whom can steal the show.

Nothing is as it seems in the mildly amusing and riddlesome mystery, Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher, now on stage at Fountain Hills Theater. Director Peter J. Hill knows what his audiences like and has served up a nifty and suspenseful brain-teaser for them to mull over. Amy Serafin, riveting in her intensity as a frantic witness to an apparent crime, leads a cast of colorful characters in this gripping whodunit.

Copperstar Rep's THE ADDAMS FAMILY is an enjoyable show with standout performances by Janna Hanson as Morticia and Geoffrey Goorin as Fester and splashy staging by MaryJo Okawa…but with significant performance elements that need to be fixed for it to get a top grade.

David Hemphill's production of August Wilson's Radio Golf needs some work on a script that may be the least impressive of August Wilson's epic decalogy of black life in America, the Pittsburgh Cycle. If there are bright spots in the show, they are in the performances of T.A. Burrows and Roosevelt Watts. Both have infectious comic sensibilities and a firm command of their place on the stage.

Ron May once again distinguishes himself as a creative force in his brilliant and sensitive direction of Tarell McCraney's 'The Brothers Size.' Damon J. Bolling, Michael Thompson, and DeJean Brown deliver riveting, muscular, and breathtaking performances as the play's protagonists (Ogun, Oshoosi, and Elegba).

Hockadoo! Phoenix Theatre's production of Memphis is exhilarating! CJ Pawlikowski is electrifying as Huey Calhoun, the department store stockboy who finds the music of his soul in rock and roll and propels himself to local fame as a DJ, but not without stirring up the animosity of the local bigots. Michael Barnard's staging and direction of the Tony award-winning musical by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro is impeccable.

On the occasion of his debut as Phoenix Symphony's new Music Director, Tito Muñoz regaled his audience with a rich and robust performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Among the coterie of young conductors seizing the baton of major metropolitan orchestras, Muñoz will certainly be among the luminaries.

Kinky Boots has ushered in the 50th Anniversary of ASU Gammage in Tempe AZ with a righteous and literally uplifting kick in the pants of intolerance and stereotyping, featuring a star-spangled cast of characters and theatrical elements.

Hats off to Childsplay for mastering the transfer from page to stage of E.B. White's classic Charlotte's Web and for casting an ensemble that renders authenticity and depth to this joyous and heartwarming paean to love, friendship, loyalty, and, yes, mortality. Anthony Runfola has directed a seamless production in which cast, set, lights, sound, and costume conspire to create a world that is evocative of innocence and possibility.

Bravi! Bravi! Bravi! To the five women ~ Kathleen Berger, Brenda Goodenberger, Marie Gouba, Alanna Kalbfleisch, Alexandra Utpadel ~ and four men ~ Tony Blosser, Ken Goodenberger, Roger Nelson, Dominik Rebilas ~ who grace the Theater Works stage in the 29th Season opening production of I Get a Kick Out of Cole.

When it comes to consistency and quality in musical performance, Arizona Broadway Theatre stands among the top of the Valley of the Sun's list. Its current production of The Angry Housewives closes its Ninth Season with a rollicking and rolling blast from the past ~ the '80's, that is ~ featuring an outstanding cast of eight accomplished and highly talented actors. The show's tempo goes upbeat when the fab four transform from models of civic virtue to heavy metal. It's a sight to behold, particularly when Molly Lajoie, in a sparkling and energetic turn of song and dance, morphs from meek wife to raging rocker, takes to the mike, and hammers out an unforgettable rendition of Corn Flakes.

Censorship, psychoanalysis, and dysfunctional families all have been at the biting pen's end of Christopher Durang's satirical works. His genius lies in his ability to make us squirm, feel the pain, and yet laugh at the kooky protagonists of his plays ~ or, in his own words, to marry absurdist comedy to real feelings. Would that Theatre Artists Studio's production of Baby with the Bathwater measured up to the challenge!

Among the stars of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, currently showing at Grand Canyon University's Ethington Theatre, are the crews responsible for set, lights, and wardrobe who have created atmospherics befitting a Sherlockian mystery. Costume designer Nola Yergen, hair and make-up designer Kay Gray, and scenic designer, William Symington, each merit a round of applause. The ensemble of talented young actors in this production of the play by Steven Dietz and directed by Claude Pensis, makes for a highly entertaining account of the (allegedly) final days of the legendary supersleuth as he confronts the double-barreled threats of Irene Adler and his ultimate nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

It's kind of gutsy to feature an alternative musical treatment of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera when its iconic award-winning Andrew Lloyd Weber namesake is liable to overshadow any such effort, but that's what Hale Centre Theatre has done, and with great success, in its season opener, Phantom.

I'm a great fan of Golden Girls, the legendary and hilarious TV sitcom for which Jamie Wooten was a producer and writer ~ the same Jamie Wooten of the equally prolific comedic trio of Jones Hope Wooten that penned Always A Bridesmaid. I therefore expected a comedy imbued with similar sparkles of wit and sophistication, only to be left at the altar, disappointed by trite, forced, and flat stabs at humor. A bright and shining light of this show is Carli Weekley, as newlywed Kari, whose entr'acte conversations with the guests at her wedding reveal a marvelous comic sensibility. She is joyous in tossing pearls of humor to an audience-in-waiting.

In By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, acclaimed dramatist Lynn Nottage (winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Ruined), has illuminated the irony and hurtful absurdity of the Black struggle in Depression-era Hollywood to break the chains of racial stereotyping and to land good roles with good lines. iTheatre Collaborative, a gem of a company in the heart of Phoenix boldly stages this play under the direction of Charles St. Clair and with a cast that artfully commands the stage. Nicole Belit is exquisite, endowing Vera with elegance, grace, and the self-assurance that was required to leap from handmaiden to film star.