Herbert Paine - Page 33

The Phoenix Theatre Company's production of JERSEY BOYS, featuring Justin Albinder as Frankie Valli and James D. Gish as Bob Gaudio, ripples with energy. From Antonio Leroy King's opening rap solo of Yannick's pop hit (Cues soirees la!) to the cast's celebratory closing (Who Loves You), the show is a joyful retrospective on the group's rise to fame.Runs through March 10th.

Stray Cat Theatre has taken up Leah Nanako Winkler's gauntlet to bring diversity to the stage and assumed the challenge of producing TWO MILE HOLLOW, with Louis Farber directing this madcap excursion into family absurdity and dysfunction. At Tempe Center for the Arts through February 2nd.

David Ivers, Arizona Theatre Company's Artistic Director, has taken Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN and transformed it into an eye-popping and hand-clapping two hours of nonstop jubilation. An unequivocally boffo production, the show continues its run at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix through January 27th.

Theatre critic Herb Paine offers up 10 Shows in the Phoenix Metro area to look forward to in 2019 ~ to warm the heart and stir the mind.

Steve Solomon's comic take on family dysfunction, MY MOTHER'S ITALIAN, MY FATHER'S JEWISH & I'M IN THERAPY, featuring Peter J. Fogel, is regaling audiences now at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix through January 20th.

All Puppet Players presents DIE HARD: A CHRISTMAS STORY, a ribald adaptation of the flick, running through December 29th at Playhouse in the Park in Phoenix.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a Broadway-smart production that fuses together the essential elements of a smash hit along with just enough superficiality and social relevance to juice up the audience and build box office. The National Tour, featuring a brilliant lead performance by Ben Levi Ross, is at ASU Gammage in Tempe through December 2nd.

Arizona Broadway Theatre presents MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, directed by James Rio. Runs through December 29th.

Tony Award-nominated actress Jeanne Paulsen (The Kentucky Cycle) is regaling audiences in a charm-laden and intimate solo as Erma Bombeck in Arizona Theatre Company's production of AT WIT'S END, directed by Casey Stangl. Runs through December 2nd at Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

Among the various programs to celebrate the centenary of Leonard Bernstein's birth, none has been more ambitious in its design and more fulfilling in its execution than ASU School of Music's production of MASS. Showed November 17 and 18.

To see INHERIT THE WIND, in its current iteration at Theatre Artists Studio, is to revisit the endless battle between open-minded reason and the intolerance of blind faith. It is, as well, a golden opportunity to witness two bears of the stage ~ Michael Fleck and Tom Koelbel ~ have at each other in their portrayals of the goliaths that put the trial of the century on the map. Runs through December 9th.

Bekah Brunstetter's THE CAKE rises to perfection in Stray Cat Theatre's current production, baked with exacting precision and balance by director Katie McFadzen, and seasoned with outstanding performances by Jodie Weiss, Megan Holcomb, Racquel McKenzie, and Christopher Haines. Runs through November 24th at Tempe Center for the Arts.

What is the color of anxiety and desperation in the life of a New York City millennial? What does it mean and feel like to be depleted under the pressures of a fast moving and highly demanding metropolis? CASHED, Serena Ryen's 15-minute firecracker of a film, fleshes out the answers to these questions, dramatically and poignantly. In doing so, she has taken a large step in fulfilling her self-described commitment 'to making art that inspires empathy and ignites questions.'

Following his inspired direction of THE ELEPHANT MAN, Zao Theatre's artistic director, Mickey Bryce, returns to themes that address the essence of humanity and expose societal hypocrisy in an equally moving and uplifting production of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. The production runs through November 17th at Centerstage Church in Apache Junction, AZ.

Four exceptional troupers are breathing fire into Yasmina Reza's incisive tragicomedy about human nature, social class, and, more specifically, personkind's proclivity to violence. GOD OF CARNAGE, winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, is a no holds barred unmasking of the subterranean impulses and suppressed tensions of what otherwise appear to be very normal, nice, and balanced folks. And, it is riotously funny. Rarely produced, this wildly physical and explosive drama, directed with precision and sensitivity by Richard Hardt, is getting the royal treatment it deserves at Ghostlight Theatre. Runs through November 4th.

Phoenix Theatre's production of FUN HOME, directed by Robert Kolby Harper, is perfect in every respect. Superb performances by Rusty Ferracane, Elyse Wolf, Becca Ayers, Olivia Fearey. Runs through December 2nd.

Desert Stages Theatre's production of Maxwell Anderson's THE BAD SEED is on stage through November 18th.

Daniel Berrigan's THE TRIAL OF THE CATONSVILLE NINE is designed to arouse contemplation and to challenge our sensibilities and sensitivities. It is a work of intellect, written by a man of the Word with a poetic talent. In service to its message, the cast of iTheatre Collaborative's production has ably and forcefully delivered the Goods. Runs through November 3rd on the Kax Stage at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

In all its technical aspects ~ Kurtis Overby's choreography, Savana Laveille's costumes, Amanda Gran's wigs and makeup, Kirk Bookman's lighting ~ Arizona Broadway Theatre's production of TITANIC THE MUSICAL, directed by Danny Gorman and featuring a superb cast, is equal to anything you'd see on the Great White Way, exemplary in its stagecraft. Runs through November 10th.

Arizona Theatre Company's Season-opening production of Karen Zacarias's NATIVE GARDENS, directed by Jane Jones, is ripe with the bloom of vibrant performances by Arlene Chico-Lugo, Bill Geisslinger, Keith Contreras, and Robynn Rodrigues. At Herberger Theater Center through October 21st.