Theater Review – February 27, 2017

SUPERLATIVE “SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE” AT THEATER WORKS

“SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE”
Theater Works, Gyder Theater, Peoria Center for the Performing Arts
Peoria, AZ

If one person pushed the American musical theater to abandon cutesy, romantic tales with hummable tunes, it’s Stephen Sondheim.  His diverse shows deal with real life situations peopled with complex characters surrounded by masterfully complex music.

The loveliest Sondheim show is his 1984 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, and New York Drama Critics Award winner “Sunday in the Park With George” currently playing at Peoria’s Theater Works in a superlative production.  The show … Continue Reading

Theater Review – February 20, 2017

DISAPPOINTING STAGING AND WEAK ACTING MAR “BROKE-OLOGY”

“BROKE-OLOGY”
Black Theatre Troupe, Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center
Phoenix, AZ

After years of mediocre theater, a new home stimulated Black Theatre Troupe to improve some of its productions.  But not everything BTT does is artfully produced as is the case with “Broke-ology,” the current play.

On the surface, “Broke-ology,” defined in the show’s press release as “being broke and staying alive despite your brokenness,” sounds fascinating.  The probing 2009 Nathan Louis Jackson play debuted at Lincoln Center but Anthony Runfola’s meandering local staging never catches fire.  The ploddingly directed production drags … Continue Reading

Theater Review – February 13, 2017

ATC’S “LA ESQUINITA, USA” IS TIMELY PLAY ABOUT CONTEMPORARY GHETTO LIFE

“LA ESQUINITA, USA”
Arizona Theatre Company, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

Ruben C. Gonzalez’ “La Esquinita, USA,” produced locally by Arizona Theatre Company, is an amazingly timely play considering the pronouncements we hear daily from our commander-in-chief.  The play deals with ten distinctive ghetto characters as they grapple daily with the often unfair world they live in.  It’s powerful theater.

A single actor portrays everyone in a tour-de-force performance that demands every bit of Ruben C. Gonzalez’ marvelous creative skills as he crafts these people who feel the existence they … Continue Reading

Theater Review – February 9, 2017

IS LONDON MUSICAL “MATILDA” REALLY A SUCCESS?

“MATILDA”
Broadway Across America – Arizona, ASU Gammage
Tempe, AZ

“Matilda,” a London and Broadway family musical, is based on the well-known British children’s story about the brilliant girl ignored and mistreated by her parents.  With her vivid imagination, Matilda creates her own idolized world to live in.  The show premiered at Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010 followed the next year by the still running West End production.  I saw it in London with a theater full of kids.  Most of the audience loved the show while adults without children wondered why “Matilda” was … Continue Reading

Theater Review – February 6, 2017

ARIZONA OPERA STAGES AN INSPIRED “MADAMA BUTTERFLY”

“MADAMA BUTTERFLY”
Arizona Opera, Symphony Hall
Phoenix, AZ

Years ago in San Francisco, I attended my first professional opera featuring the brilliant soprano Leontyne Price in a beautiful staging of Puccini’s popular masterpiece “Madama Butterfly.”  What a wonderful opera to open a child to the genre.  When I arrived in Phoenix in 1979, my first exposure to Arizona Opera was a dreadful production of the same masterpiece in a shoddy looking and very tired staging that featured a fading opera diva.  I got the giggles early on and couldn’t stop snickering through … Continue Reading