Phoenix Metro Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 9

BWW Review: Hale Centre Theatre Presents A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Herbert Paine - November 29, 2021

Hale Centre Theatre's production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL ~ A Play with Music is a wholesome and joyful celebration of the Christmas spirit ~ the perfect Holiday fare for the entire family. Directed by David Dietlein and featuring Tim Dietlein as Scrooge (in the Red Cast), the show runs through December...

BWW Review: ELF'D Saves Christmas Spirit at The Gaslight Theatre
by Robert Encila-Celdran - November 26, 2021

No matter the competition, Gaslight remains a thriving enterprise -- an ironclad formula that keeps the house full, taste buds sated, music playing, jokes cracking, and business humming....

BWW Review: The Phoenix Theatre Company Presents MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS
by Herbert Paine - November 21, 2021

David Appleford hails MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS as 'a genuine, rock ‘n roll musical theatre thrill ride.' Just right for the Holiday Season! Runs through January 2nd at The Phoeni Theatre Company....

BWW Review: MISS BENNET Unwraps Glad Tidings at Arizona Theatre Company
by Robert Encila-Celdran - November 17, 2021

In MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY, Gunderson partners with her friend Margot Melcon and lends a righteous voice to Mary Bennet, the third child of the Bennet household in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In the duo's amusing account, Mary comes of age in a way Austen enthusiasts ought to appr...

BWW Review: Arizona Broadway Theatre Presents URINETOWN ~ Wicked Pissah!!
by Herbert Paine - November 09, 2021

“Funny” is what’s on tap in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s wicked pissah production of URINETOWN THE MUSICAL, directed by Renée Kathleen Koher and accentuated by Stephen Hohendorf’s energetic choreography. The show runs through November 14th at ABT's Mainstage....

BWW Review: Stray Cat Theatre Presents OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD
by Herbert Paine - November 07, 2021

A critical review of Stray Cat Theatre's production of Alexis Scheer's OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD on stage at Tempe Center for the Arts through November 13th....

BWW Review: MEAN GIRLS National Tour at Gammage Auditorium
by Timothy Shawver - November 07, 2021

A tribute to adolescent angst and nerd revenge fantasies, MEAN GIRLS is a satisfying, hilarious musical adaptation of Tina Fey's 2004 comedy. It's an entertaining (if guilty) pleasure propelled by superb video design, skilled comedians all over the stage, and its fun (if disposable) score. The hit m...

BWW Review: SUNSET BABY at Black Theatre Troupe
by Angela Kabasan - November 07, 2021

A lot is written about the effect of an absent father on sons. The phrase 'A boy needs his father' is often bandied about in conversation but not really heard concerning daughters. Scores of scholarly papers about this have been written with experiments and scientific data that reinforce the importa...

BWW Review: ALONE/TOGETHER - A Film on Life in the Time of COVID
by Herbert Paine - November 04, 2021

In ALONE/TOGETHER, filmmaker Hsuan-Yu Pan builds on her body of work with an eye-opening account of the human experience in the time of COVID. The film will be available to stream from December 8th at 10:00 p.m. MST through December 14th MST. Link to https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/at2021....

BWW Review: Theatre Artists Studio Presents THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
by Herbert Paine - November 02, 2021

Theatre Artists Studio is premiering Kirt Shineman's crisp and riveting new play, THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE, directed by Janis Webb and featuring a commanding performance by Pamela Fields as Dame Christie. The show runs through November 21st....

BWW Review: AZ OPERA'S FILM, THE COPPER QUEEN at Home Computer Screens
by Maria Nockin - October 31, 2021

The Copper Queen is a modern opera by Clint Borzoni and John de los Santos that tells of times past in Bisbee, Arizona. It won an Arizona Opera competition that insured its place onstage. Because of the pandemic and the fact that currently audience size is quite limited, The Copper Queen became a f...

BWW Review: Wall Street Takes Center Stage at Live Theatre Workshop
by Robert Encila-Celdran - October 25, 2021

In DRY POWDER (uninvested capital), Ms. Burgess acknowledges income inequality from the vantage point of elite power brokers, the oft-maligned “one percenters” driving the nation's economic bus to a cliff’s edge. As stagnant wages and unemployment take front and center in our political discourse, th...

BWW Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at The Phoenix Theatre Company
by Nathaniel Jones - October 22, 2021

As I sit here with my fingers resting on the keys of my laptop, I find myself struggling to put words on the page. A feeling very similar to when asked by fellow patrons what I thought about the show. My speechlessness should be a testament to the magnificence I witnessed on The Phoenix Theatre Comp...

BWW Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at Toro Theatre Company
by Emily Noxon - October 17, 2021

How much deceit is allowed in the pursuit of love? A rose by another name would smell as sweet, so Earnest would were he not Earnest called....

BWW Review: BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE at Don Bluth Front Row Theatre
by Tim Shawver - October 13, 2021

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BWW Review: LEGENDS OF: THE WEREWOLF at Southwest Shakespeare Company
by Emily Noxon - October 09, 2021

Legends of: the Werewolf is a new play written by Beau Heckman. This world premiere gives you all the information you need to avoid becoming a werewolf and what to do if you ever cross one....

BWW Review: CAMELOT at The Phoenix Theatre Company
by Herbert Paine - October 05, 2021

You don’t need Merlin to make magic out of CAMELOT…not if Michael Barnard, a master of musical entertainment, is casting his spell on the stage of The Phoenix Theatre Company. Running through October 24th, the production features a trio of triple-threat actors ~ James D. Gish, Kate Cook, and Toby Ya...

BWW Review: ATC RETURNS WITH TRIUMPHANT NEW MUSICAL
by Robert Encila-Celdran - October 04, 2021

The production, stripped of inessential razzle-dazzle, is a poignant piece of minimalist theatre rarely seen in mainstream venues. Chalk it up, by and large, to the small-scale nature of one-person experiments, not to mention the modest locales that draw your conventional cabaret audiences. Ms. Bert...

BWW Review: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at ASU Musical Theatre And Opera
by Emily Noxon - October 02, 2021

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is pandemonium, P A N D E M O N I U M, pandemonium....

BWW Review: Theatre Artists Studio Presents POUND
by Herbert Paine - September 28, 2021

Steve Mastroieni delivers a commanding and stirring performance as Ezra Pound in Theatre Artists Studio's compelling Season opener, POUND, directed by Carol MacLeod and co-starring Maureen Dias Watson. Runs though October 10th....

BWW Review: Arizona Broadway Theatre Presents CHICAGO ~ A Class Act!
by Herbert Paine - September 27, 2021

The power and appeal of CHICAGO is on display at Arizona Broadway Theatre in a production, directed by Kurtis Overby, that sizzles with pizzazz and features vibrant and scintillating performances by Tiffany Sparks, Liz Fallon, and Kiel Klaphake. The show runs through October 30th....

BWW Review: BABEL: A Challenging Work in Progress at Scoundrel And Scamp
by Robert Encila-Celdran - September 20, 2021

You only have to scan the lineup in Scoundrel and Scamp's 5th season to acknowledge the company's commitment to serious and enlightened theatre work. Given its efforts to expose the community to an array of new, inventive works, S&S situates itself in the rare company of local vanguards shaping the ...

BWW Review: HAMILTON Sparks a New Era of Theatre at ASU Gammage
by Seth Tucker - September 14, 2021

See what our critic thought of the touring production of HAMILTON. The best musical of the century runs in Tempe, AZ until October 10th....

BWW Review: FRANKENSTEIN Provides Timely Boost of Good Cheer at The Gaslight Theatre
by Robert Encila-Celdran - September 09, 2021

FRANKENSTEIN is the latest to emerge from Gaslight's well-preserved crypt of spoofs and running gags, a brief but optimal antidote to the real horrors of the outside world. That's not an exaggeration; from a formulaic sense, reviewing Peter Van Slyke's mastery of the genre is simply gilding the lily...

BWW Review: Fountain Hills Theater Presents SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE
by Herbert Paine - August 25, 2021

Peter J. Hill delivers a skillfully crafted and heavenly smooth turn as George Burns in SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE, Fountain Hills Theater's Season opener, running through September 5th....