This review aired on KBAQ September 30, 2013

THOUGHT-PROVOKING “THE EXONERATED” SHOWS INNOCENT PEOPLE WRONGLY ACCUSED

“THE EXONERATED”
iTheatre Collaborative, Kax Stage, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

iTheatre Collaborative brings us Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s thought-provoking new play, “The Exonerated” that is about six people wrongly incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit.  Eventually freed, the play paints a depressing view of the American criminal justice system as it shows how innocent people are mistakenly accused.

The people in “The Exonerated” are without the resources to prove their innocence and these characters should create two audience responses.  One is an intellectual reaction to the … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ September 23, 2013

INTERESTING “THE FLICK” TAKES TOO LONG TO PRESENT ITS MESSAGE

“THE FLICK”
Stray Cat Theatre, Tempe Performing Arts Center
Tempe, AZ

Stray Cat Theatre is staging the first production of playwright Annie Baker’s newest work, “The Flick,” right after its successful off-Broadway run.  The three-hour play is a dialogue among three employees of a small, single screen Massachusetts movie theater.  The play explores how easily people can mess up their lives by making things too complicated.  But the play’s intolerable length causes huge downtime stretches when the characters jabber adnauseam as they reflect on their miserable lives. 

There’s … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ September 19, 2013

ENJOYABLE CONFECTION “PRISCILLA” EXPLODES ALL OVER GAMMAGE STAGE

“PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT”
Broadway Across America – Arizona, ASU Gammage
Tempe, AZ

“Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” based on the 1994 award-winning film, explodes all over the huge ASU Gammage stage filling it with bubbly entertainment.  The touring production of the London and Broadway musical hit is delivered by a talented troupe of dynamic performers who squeeze every bit of delightful diversion out of this enjoyable confection.

“Priscilla” is not a great musical; it is mostly about entertainment.  Three drag queens, Mitzi, Felicia, and Bernadette, who is really … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ September 16, 2013

COMIC MOCKERY WILD IN PHOENIX THEATRE’S “RUTHLESS”

“RUTHLESS”
Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

The 1993 musical “Ruthless” by Joel Paley and Marvin Laird, uses hysterical mockery and winsome spoofing to slam the musical theater many of us adore as it also satirizes the hypocrisy that too many theater critics bring to their reviews.  The show, now at Phoenix Theatre, is filled with hilarious songs like “Talent,” “Born to Entertain,” “I Hate Musicals,” and the title tune that smash and dice while bringing perfectly delightful and pointed comic mockery to theater critics and the musical theater.

Phoenix Theatre’s artistic director Michael … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ September 9, 2013

PROBLEMATIC “BIG” ISN’T BAD BUT DOESN’T SPARKLE AT THEATER WORKS

“BIG”
Theater Works, Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
Peoria, AZ

The musical “Big” is a problematic show.  It debuted on Broadway in 1996 based on the 1988 Tom Hanks comedy film.  The predictable story is clear from the opening so the show goes nowhere and the frail little story about 12-year-old Josh who wishes himself big and then doesn’t like being an adult is listlessly dull.  The David Shire/Richard Maltby songs are pleasant but you won’t remember any after the show.

So there’s not much musical theater … Continue Reading

This review aired on KBAQ September 2, 2013

NNT’S BIZARRE AND WACKY “A DEVIL INSIDE” IS HYSTERICAL

“A DEVIL INSIDE”
Nearly Naked Theatre, The Little Theatre at Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

Every character, situation, and plot twist is bizarre, wacky, crazy, and hysterically amusing in Nearly Naked Theatre’s season opener, the Arizona premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s “A Devil Inside.”  As always, NNT delivers a show we’ve never seen where its approach to everyday life challenges is off-center but clever and under Damon Dering’s accomplished staging, the result is an outstandingly amusing production.

The play opens in a conventional laundromat managed by Mrs. Slater, Gene’s crazy mother.  … Continue Reading