Theater Review – March 27, 2022

ATC’S BRILLIANT “NINA SIMONE” DEFINES HOW RACIAL INEQUALITY DAMNS SOCIETY

“NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN”
Arizona Theatre Company, Center Stage, Herberger Theater Center
Phoenix, AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

Songstress Nina Simone brought much more to her original songs and classic pop renditions.  So Arizona Theatre Company’s “Nina Simone: Four Women” is not just the typical glitzy but superficial jukebox musical we’ve come to expect as Broadway struggles to find new material.  The Simone tribute intersperses her racial and political thinking between the tunes as the script reveals just how violated the singer became for her revolutionary thoughts.  This brilliant Simone … Continue Reading

Theater Review – March 16, 2022

“TOOTSIE” ANOTHER DUD IN ASU GAMMAGE BROADWAY SERIES

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

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

We all remember “The Band’s Visit,” February’s touring Broadway musical at ASU Gammage, and how awful it was even though it won a Best Musical Tony Award telling audiences just how dreadful that “winner” was.  Now audiences are treated to another Broadway loser, “Tootsie,” that is an unbelievably boring dud even though its film origins were amazingly comic.

“Tootsie” is loosely based on the hit movie that starred Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work and unpopular Broadway actor who dresses … Continue Reading

Theater Review – March 13, 2022

“SHEEPDOG” PROBES INTERRACIAL PARTNERSHIPS WITH INTENSE INSIGHT IN A SUPERB STAGING

“SHEEPDOG”

Stray Cat Theatre, Studio Theatre, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, AZ

By Chris Curcio

Theater Critic

As local theatergoers have come to expect, Stray Cat Theatre delivers a stellar and exemplary Arizona premiere production of Kevin Artigue’s, “Sheepdog,” that hits hard and revealingly at many of today’s prime relationship issues.

It focuses on Amina, a Black police officer and her budding relationship with fellow White officer, Ryan, who kills a Black man.  Is the murder accidental or even justified?  Ryan sees the man pull something from his jacket … Continue Reading

Theater/Opera Review – March 7, 2022

THE PROBLEMS WITH AN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION OF A CLASSIC MUSICAL

“A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC”
Arizona Opera, Symphony Hall
Phoenix AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater/Opera Critic

When an opera company tackles a musical theater piece, you can count on two things – great singing that is often superior to the best theater company and the score played by a large ensemble allowing the performance of nuanced orchestration rarely heard in the current small, shallow Broadway orchestras.  Both things happened glowingly in the Arizona Opera’s staging of Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant “A Little Night Music.”  Other things critical to a successful musical theater … Continue Reading

Theater Review – March 7, 2022

TPTC’S “THE COLOR PURPLE” EXPLORES THE STRUGGLES OF BLACK WOMEN IN A TOUCHING PRODUCTION

“THE COLOR PURPLE”
The Phoenix Theatre Company, Hormel Theatre
Phoenix AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

“The Color Purple” explores Black men’s exploitation of their women.  Although set in Georgia in the early-to-mid-20th century, the musical, based on the popular 1985 film, talks of the sisterhood of Black women and the struggles within the African-American community to correct treatment issues.

Marsha Norman’s book and the nuanced but towering score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray intensifies the story as it probes Celie’s struggles dealing with and … Continue Reading

Theater Review – March 7, 2022

BROADWAY STAR KRISTIN CHENOWETH MAKES SMASHING LOCAL DEBUT

KRISTIN CHENOWETH IN CONCERT: FOR THE GIRLS
Tom & Janet Ikeda Theater, Mesa Arts Center
Mesa, AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth made her local debut at the Mesa Arts Center with an enjoyable 90-minute set that showcased the artist’s amazing and unique singing voice but also allowed her much pointed chatter about Arizona’s lifestyle as she described her three days here as she explored our state for the first time.

For her appearance, she brought a Broadway conductor to play piano and to lead a small orchestral ensemble that … Continue Reading