Whisper Sweetly, directed with crackerjack control and precision by Perovich. Mahon has created a world that is at once funny and terrifying. He has approached his creation with wild abandon, and the story is an hilarious nightmare.... (more...)
Director Cambrian James' fast paced, delightful Kiss and Tell gave this grumpy critic more laughs than she has experienced in a good long time - and the rest of the Hale's opening night audience was right there with her.... (more...)
Amanda Glenn's turn as Louise is lovely and heartbreaking. Glenn has a beautiful voice and exquisite is her painstaking, delicate interpretation of the awkward, plain Jane who becomes the iconic burlesque queen.... (more...)
Fun Home relays the story of Alison Bechdel, a cartoonist who wrote a graphic memoir that serves as the basis for the musical. Fun Home explores Bechdel's life and her relationship with her father, a closeted gay man.... (more...)
I have to admit, I had been counting down the days to see VYT's Shrek The Musical. Ever since seeing Wizard of Oz back in June, I had been itching to see another one of the Phoenix youth theatre's spectacular, cutting-edge shows.... (more...)
Droppin' Johns is as shamelessly subversive, as courageously adventurous and as boldly resolute a piece of Feminist Fringe Theatre as any you'll find, anywhere.... (more...)
When it comes to seeing high school theatre productions, some do not receive nearly as much credit and publicity as they deserve. It is so for Sandra Day O'Connor High School's How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by Toni Fioramonti. The production was put together in a short p... (more...)
Megan O'Connor's The Pledge is a startlingly clever new play that opened last Friday at Historic Downtown Glendale's Brelby Theatre Company.... (more...)
Satirical works tend to resurface during trying social and political times, and Mesa Encore Theatre's production of Urinetown timing is impeccable. Urinetown takes place in a dystopian-esque world, where due to a severe drought, private toilets are banned by the government, and citizens can only rel... (more...)
Childsplay kicks off their summer with the rockin' Wonderland: Alice's Rock & Roll Adventure, a reinvented production of the treasured stories by Lewis Carroll, written by Rachel Rockwell with a score by Michael Mahler.... (more...)
Change can be jarring. The contemporary worldwide rise of populism demonstrates the backlash of the older generations against the new social current. Stray Cat Theatre's Hir showcases this social metamorphosis through the implosion of a nuclear family and its identity politics.... (more...)
This rags-to-riches story of ugly-duckling, Louise, the tomboy who rose to national fame as Gypsy Rose Lee (the entertainment queen who put class into Burlesque) is an all American classic; and Mama Rose, the pushy backstage mother who lived through her daughters, but paid a high price, is one of th... (more...)
Brelby Theatre Company's Shelby Maticic has directed her company in a breakneck paced, enticing production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. With a book by Rachel Sheinkin and music and lyrics by William Finn, it's a show that could be breathtakingly dreadful, but instead is wildly ente... (more...)
Blacklisters ain't for sissies. It is, however, a vital work by a serious young playwright, produced by an essential young theatre company that must be encouraged and supported. Our survival depends on it.... (more...)
Alanna Kalbfleisch is an utter delight to see and hear, with luminous skin, bright eyes and dimples in both cheeks and chin. Let's face it. She's eye candy. As Dot/Marie, the comfortable authority with which Kalbfleisch moves about the stage suggests a lifetime of performance. Her voice is off-the-c... (more...)
While Matilda the Musical is silly, it is by no means lighthearted--rather, it is full of dark twists, and strong social messages about the cruelty of society, and the imagination that suffers because of it.
The national tour of Matilda the Musical is based off of the classic children's novel by Ro... (more...)
Now and then, but not often, a theatregoer experiences theatre that is THEATRE. Not theatre that tries to be film or television, but theatre that has the audacity to be theatrical. Theatre wherein the actor looks the witness in the eye and says, 'I know you know I'm an actor, and I know you're sitti... (more...)
A Very Hairy Javelina Holiday has been in workshop for several years, and made its official debut at Childsplay Theatre this winter. With book and lyrics by Jenny Millinger, music by Todd Hulet, and based on the books by Susan Lowell, A Very Hairy Javelina Holiday is a family-fun treasure appropriat... (more...)
This Quentin Tarantino-style black comedy is written by Arizona native playwright and actor Ron Hunting, and runs through December 10 at Stray Cat Theatre for its world premiere. 'Anything You Hear and Only Half of What You See' is a dark, yet hilarious delight, driven by plot twist and turns that l... (more...)
BWW Review: WHISPER SWEETLY at Brelby - A Weekend of Perovich Part II
BWW Review: The Hale Centre Theatre's KISS AND TELL
BWW Review: GYPSY at Theater Works
BWW Review: FUN HOME at ASU Gammage
BWW Review: Valley Youth Theatre Presents SHREK THE MUSICAL
BWW Review: The Hale's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
Review: DROPPIN' JOHNS at B3 Theatre
BWW Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING at Sandra Day O'Connor High School
BWW Review: 1070 at Herberger Theater Center
Review: Brelby's Allegiance to THE PLEDGE Yields Magical Results
BWW Review: URINETOWN at Mesa Encore Theatre
BWW Review: THE BOOK OF MORMON Tour Two at ASU Gammage
BWW Review: WONDERLAND: ALICE'S ROCK & ROLL ADVENTURE at Childsplay
BWW Review: The Nuclear Implodes In Stray Cat Theatre's HIR
BWW Review: NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS at Hale Centre Theatre
BWW Review: GYPSY at Desert Foothills Theater
BWW Review: Brelby Wins THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
BWW Review: BLACKLISTERS at Brelby Theatre Company
BWW Review: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at Theatre Works
BWW Review: MATILDA THE MUSICAL Is Magic At ASU Gammage
BWW Review: Outstanding PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at Brelby Theatre Company
BWW Review: A VERY HAIRY JAVELINA HOLIDAY at Childsplay Theatre
BWW Review: ANYTHING YOU CAN HEAR AND ONLY HALF OF WHAT YOU SEE Triumphs at Stray Cat Theatre
BWW Review: MAMMA MIA! at ASU Gammage
BWW Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROL KING MUSICAL at ASU Gammage
Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 9/22
Ladies Will Be Lunching in London! Patti LuPone to Lead COMPANY in the West End
