Marie Quinn

The film included former child actresses Toni Ann Gisondi, best known for playing the youngest orphan Molly, and Rosanne Sorrentino, best known for playing the role of the bossy orphan Pepper.

The Phoenix Theatre Company’s production is buttressed by a solid technical crew. It’s cohesive enough to support the herculean effort of Ms. Debra K. Stevens, who wields an impressive command of a voluminous text while practically staging a tutorial on how storytelling ought to be paced. She gives us a Dr. Ruth who is warm, funny, and authentic.

Neither Douglas Clarke's lavish set nor Marie Quinn's Broadway-bright lights, neither Connie Furr Soloman's classy and colorful costume design nor a cast comprised of some of the Valley's thespian luminaries can save Terrence McNally's snarky snipe at Broadway, IT'S ONLY A PLAY, from its weak legs ~ currently Phoenix Theatre's featured production, running through February 11th.

Phoenix Theatre's Liberace! tells the story of a lonely closeted man, former child prodigy pushed by his working-class overbearing father, who somehow became the highest-paid entertainer in the 1980's, and responsible for inspiring the eccentric styles of cultural icons today. His death made a spectacle by a less-than-kind coroner, Liberace takes the stage once more to explain and defend his life decisions with compassion and grace.