Lee Cooley News

BEAU JEST, Don Bluth Front Row Theatre's season opener, features the welcome directorial debut of Lee Cooley, aided and abetted by a solid cast ~ Hillary Low, eric Bond, Jared Kitch, Patty Stephens, Jim Coates, and Robert Jahanfar ~ in a fun and highly entertaining family comedy…with a strong heartbeat. Runs through September 29th.

The Chase is on at Don Bluth Front Row Theatre. That is, Mary Chase's comedy, HARVEY, that (beyond her other plays and children's stories) made her famous (a Pulitzer Prize) and gave James Stewart one of his truly classic roles. Lee Cooley, with an impeccable sense of character and comic timing, endows Elwood P. Dowd with an irresistible likability. He captures the mannerisms, even the tongue in cheek, of a gentleman drinker who knows more than he may let on and plays his counterparts to the hilt. The show runs through February 24th.

HARVEY, Mary Chase's 1945 Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, is slated to hop into the Don Bluth Front Row Theatre in Scottsdale from January 12th through February 24th. In its multiple adaptations, most notably the 1950 film with Jimmy Stewart, the tale of Elwood P. Dowd and his imaginary pooka has always been a source of amusement and inspiration. In advance of the opening, Herb Paine sat down with Lee Cooley, who plays the role of Elwood, to get a rabbit's-eye view of the show and some perspective on the actor himself.

An entirely delightful gem of a production of Ron Clark's A BENCH IN THE SUN has opened at Don Bluth Front Row Theatre, and the chemistry between its two leads is a sight to behold. Lee Cooley (revealing an impeccable sense of comic timing and caricature) and Jim Coates (an ideal foil to his benchmate's bon mots and taunts) are polar opposites, Harold and Burt, residents of Valley View Gardens, joined at their arthritic hips by the bonds of time ~ past, present, and the inevitable future. Donna Kaufman adds spice to the mix as a still starry-eyed veteran of filmdom who catches the boys' eyes.

Roundup: Check Out The Top Stories From Phoenix You Might Have Missed 6/2 - Urinetown and More!

Roundup: Check Out The Top Stories From Phoenix You Might Have Missed 5/26 - Vote in the BWW Awards!

Check out the top stories from Phoenix you might have missed this week and more! Roundup: Check Out The Top Stories From Phoenix You Might Have Missed 4/21 - THE SECRET GARDEN and More!

We're just a fortnight beyond the Twelve Days of Christmas, but it's never too late for an Epiphany, is it? In that spirit, Don Bluth Front Row Theatre has extended the holiday season with the worthy gift of WE'RE NO ANGELS, a light-hearted homage to the blessing of random ~ and fortuitous ~ acts of kindness.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Chicago, Madison, Sydney and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include HOW TO SUCCEED in Chicago, ENDGAME in Madison, and MY FAIR LADY directed by Julie Andrews in Sydney, just to name a few.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Washington, DC, Milwaukee, Israel and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Signature Theatre's JELLY'S LAST JAM, ARCADIA in Milwaukee, and BILLY ELLIOT in Israel, just to name a few.

Fountain Hills Theater is proud to announce the opening of the comedy thriller Sherlock's Last Case, winner of the Louis B. Mayer Award. Created by an American-born playwright-director, Charles Marowitz, who has become one of the most celebrated figures in the modern British theatre, this diabolically clever (and frequently funny) play was first presented as part of the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles. Illuminating aspects to the master sleuth's character heretofore ignored, the play is both true to the spirit of the original and a total fresh and absorbing theatrical excursion.