Live theatre is a different kind of beast than most forms of performance art…
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‘Miss Saigon’ Reveals Consequences of War at ASU Gammage
Miss Saigon is generally considered a modern classic. A cannon work in Broadway’s soaring age of powerful, post-Golden Age, works. It opened in the West End in 1989 and premiered on Broadway in 1991, winning several Tony Awards for performances, although none for technical or developmental components. Based on Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and inspired by a photograph of painful childhood separation after the Vietnam War, it was the Schonberg/Boublil collaborative work immediately following Les Misérables…
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‘Unmentionables’ Takes Cross-Country Trek to Space 55
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Unmentionables is a new work written by Molly Greville and developed at Boston University in collaboration with Kirsten Greenidge, the award winning playwright of Milk Like Sugar. It premiered in 2018 at the Boston Fringe Fest, and was recently brought to Arizona, thanks to a collaboration with Space 55 in Phoenix. The production team is comprised of recent Boston University BFA graduates, almost all female, and all incredibly talented. Annie Brennan Coursey directs, and Sophie Gore is both Stage Manager and Intimacy Director…
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Stray Cat Theatre’s ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ Makes Brave Moves at Tempe Center for the Arts
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Stray Cat Theatre’s newest production, Small Mouth Sounds, is bravely unconventional…
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‘The Book of Mormon’ Rings in Unapologetic Delight at ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudynk
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The Book of Mormon is simply delightful: Unwaveringly blunt, raucously hilarious, and unapologetically offensive. It tackles the taboo and the sacred. The absurd and the heartwrenching. While it maintains the structure and cadence of a traditional Broadway musical, it is anything but. Unlike any other show out there, it is absurdly special…
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Get ‘Freaky’ with Valley Youth Theatre at the Herberger
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Freaky Friday is a story familiar to most (if not all of us) thanks to the original 1972 book by Mary Rodgers, and its subsequent film adaptations, most recently in 2003 starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan. The musical version premiered on stage in Virginia in late 2016, with a cast album released in 2017 and a Disney Channel Original Movie airing in 2018…
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Pure Imagination: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Delights ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is a new musical based on the beloved children’s book by Roald Dahl. A story that was woven into the everlasting fabric of our zeitgeist by the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder’s portrayal of the odd-but-intriguing candy man left a lasting impression on an entire generation of young people. A warmth and nostalgia that, although some have tried, has never been fully replicated…
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Rent Returns to ASU Gammage on 20th Anniversary Tour
It’s a tragic, recurring cycle. Every generation loses artistic visionaries too soon, and the mourning of that loss embeds itself into the fabric of popular culture. Jonathan Larson, the creator of Rent, died suddenly in 1996 at the age of 35, leaving a gaping wound in the theatre-loving community upon which he had already generously bestowed his talent and vision. Although he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize, as well as several of the most coveted Tony, Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards, he passed before seeing his greatest success open on Broadway, and its subsequent meteoric rise…
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Weird West: ‘be my little baby’ at Space 55
by Dale I. Rasmussen
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The deserts of Arizona are a place of mystery and myth.
The environs are harsh, uncompromising, and teeming with menace. However, even amidst the unyielding cruelty, there is beauty, at times, even peace. The winds whisper of both dreams unimagined and tragedies untold. Such is the backdrop and setting of Space 55’s newest offering, be my little baby, an original production by local playwright John Perovich with directtion by Ilana Lydia…
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Radio Phoenix Broadcast of The YabYum Hour: Rebecca Rudnyk
YabYum Theatre Critic Rebecca Rudnyk joined hosts Anna and Bonnie with some show tunes and local music sing-alongs on this edition of The YabYum Hour. Hear all about some of Rebecca’s favorite musicals from both past and present as well as the vibrant theater community that Phoenix has to offer by checking out this Radio Phoenix broadcast…
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Greek Classic, American Contemporary: Now & Then’s New Take on Antigone
by Dale I. Rasmussen
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How do we define “loyalty?”
When confronted by others whose viewpoints we find toxic or offensive, just how important is steadfast resolve to our own values? Are there prices for “being right” that are too high to pay, and if so, where is that threshold? At what point does fidelity to our responsibilities to God or country mutate into obstinate, self-serving pride?
These questions, which haunt us in 2019 America form the spine of a story first told nearly 2,500 years ago in Sophocles’ Antigone, and this shockingly contemporary work is being told anew in Now and Then Creative Company’s final show of their second season, directed by Cody Goulder…
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‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ Does Everything Right at ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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The Play That Goes Wrong is a play within a play. A college production with a small but mighty cast, making due as things go devastatingly awry. Bringing back memories of shows from childhood when everyone invests their entire soul into a production, building sets from scraps and piecing together costumes from Goodwill finds and parents closets. Desperate to making it work. Improvising as things fall apart along the way. Yet this is not a cobbled-together, low budget passion project. It is a Broadway show with a Tony Award-winning set, perfectly constructed and capable of doing the unimaginable. Accompanied by a script with carefully considered errors yielding hilarious results. And as if that wasn’t enough, there are some very impressive magic tricks sprinkled in for good measure…
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