Theater Review – January 30, 2017

PHOENIX THEATRE’S SOLID “BASKERVILLE” STAGING IS A THRILLER GONE AWRY

“BASKERVILLE – SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY”
Phoenix Theatre, Mainstage Theatre
Phoenix, AZ

“Baskerville – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” is playwright Ken Ludwig’s 2015 murder mystery adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” but Ludwig’s play, acclaimed in earlier productions at Washington’s Arena Stage and New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center, is a thriller gone awry.

It isn’t Phoenix Theatre’s production that’s at fault.  It seems to be the bland, boring, and totally uninteresting plot that plods along tediously.  Primarily the fault of the playwright’s amazingly dull-witted adaptation, “Baskerville” … Continue Reading

Theater Review – January 23, 2017

MAGIC AND VIVID “THE CAT IN THE HAT” IS REVIVED BY CHILDSPLAY

“THE CAT IN THE HAT”
Childsplay, Tempe Center for the Arts
Tempe, AZ

Unlike many Childsplay productions, the company’s third revival of Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” is aimed almost exclusively for the youngest theatergoers as it traces the familiar story in a vivid production.  At Saturday afternoon’s press opening, kids were focused rapturously on the stage as the 45 minute show unfolded with a touch of magic and vivid imagination in the staging and in stimulating the young audience’s minds.

Sitting next to me was … Continue Reading

Theater Review – January 16, 2017

WORLD PREMIERE LOCAL PLAY IS AN INNOCUOUS COMEDY ABOUT BRIDGE PLAYERS

“3 NO TRUMP”
Theater Works, Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
Peoria, AZ

Cathy Dresbach’s world premiere comedy at Theater Works, “3 No Trump,” is not about our President-elect.  The show has a few disguised and indirect political remarks but actually relieves audiences of the constantly discussed subject for a few amusing hours.

Set in Phoenix, “3 No Trump” is an innocuous comedy about five women who play bridge every two weeks from 1984 to 2003.  It is based on a group that included the playwright’s mother.  It isn’t … Continue Reading

Theater Review – January 9, 2017

SUPERB “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF ” AT ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY

“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”

Arizona Theatre Company, Herberger Theater Center

Phoenix, AZ

As the curtain rises on Arizona Theatre Company’s superb “Fiddler on the Roof,” the residents of Anatevka, a small 1905 Russian community, chant “Tradition,” proclaiming something critical to these people as the Jewish settlement is stripped of familiar things that make this their home.  Displacing religious mainstays, the imposed choices aren’t things the town believes.  So the staid community, never full of adventurers, decides to move around the world hoping to retain the things they cherish.

The 1964 … Continue Reading