December 22, 2008
"The Nutcracker"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the final holiday show, Ballet Arizona's "The Nutcracker," the age old story ballet about Clara's Christmas Eve dream.
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December 15, 2008
"A Christmas Carol" "Times Square Angel"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews two holiday shows this week, Actor's Theatre's "A Christmas Carol" and Nearly Naked Theatre's "Times Square Angel." "A Christmas Carol" continues at the Herberger Theater Cenetr through December 24th while "Times Square Angel" runs through December 20th at The Littel Theatre at Phoenix Theatre.
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December 11, 2008
"Spring Awakening"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the new musical "Spring Awakening." It's based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play, and tells the story of teenage self-discovery and budding sexuality as seen through the eyes of three teenagers. It has a score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater and the book is adapted from Slater's play.
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December 08, 2008
"A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Stray Cat Theatre production, "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant." In the show, playwright Kyle Jarrow satirizes the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, by creating a children's holiday pagaent where Hubbard's birth and his search for truth is modeled after Christ's birth.
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December 01, 2008
"Holly Jolly Christmas"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre's holiday production, "Holly Jolly Christmas." The show, in seven vignettes, provides a traditional tribute to the holidays with a spirited cast and nice production values.
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November 24, 2008
"Forbidden Broadway"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews two local productions, Phoenix Theatre's "Forbidden Broadway" that spoofs 14 Broadway musicals and several Broadway stars plus Nearly Naked Theatre's production of "M. Butterfly" that tells the intrigue of a Peking opera star who convinces a French diplomat that he is a she as they carry on a long affair.
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November 20, 2008
"Happy Days"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Across America-Arizona show, "Happy Days," a new musical version of the popular television comedy with the same characters.
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November 17, 2008
"The Lady with All the Answers"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Lady with All the Answers" that is about lovelorn columnist Ann Landers as she faced telling readers about her dissolving marriage. The play uses Landers letters and own words to give insight into this popular writer.
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November 10, 2008
"The World Goes Round"
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company production of "The World Goes Round" that features 32 John Kander and Fred Ebb tunes frommtheir myriad of Broadway and movie musicals.
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November 03, 2008
"Eat the Taste"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the localiTheatre Collaborative area premiere production of "Eat the Taste," a political and theater satire by"Urinetown The Musical" author Greg Kotis that slams former Attorney General John Ashcroft and Broadway producing.
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October 27, 2008
"A View of the Harbor"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Actors Theatre production of Richard Dresser's "A View of the Harbor," the third play in the playwright's trilogy that examines happiness in America from the differing points of view of three social classes.
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October 20, 2008
"Gem of the Ocean"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Black Theatre Troupe production of August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," one of the playwright's 10 dramas that deal with the black experience in 20th century America.
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October 16, 2008
"The Rat Pack-Live at the Sands"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Across America-Arizona production of "THe Rat Pack-Live at the Sands" that re-creates the now infamous earl '60s Las Vegas lounge act that starred Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. It played while the trio made the "Oceans Eleven" film.
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October 13, 2008
"Enchanted April"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Theatre Company production of Matthew Barber's "Enchanted April," a comedy that traces four unhappy English women in 1922 who transform their lives during a vacation to a lushly vegetated Italian castle.
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October 06, 2008
"All Shook Up"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the musical "All Shook Up," a musical that uses two dozen Elvis Presley hit tunes in a love story set in a small, unnamed Midwest town in 1955.
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September 29, 2008
"The Producers"
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews two diverse plays that recently opened in Phoenix. The first show, Mel Brook's musical "The Producers," is based on his film that focuses on the vaudevillian antics of producing the worst Broadway musical. The second show is the Stray Cat Theatre production of "Everything Will Be Different" that traces Charlotte, a disturbed teenager, whos struggles to escape her miserable life by living in an imaginary world.
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September 22, 2008
"Blackbeard"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the world premiere musical "Blackbeard" that revolves around the notorious pirate, Blackbeard, who blockaded Charleston's harbor in the early 18th century.
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September 15, 2008
"Doubt, A Parable"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews Actor's Theatre's season opener, the first local production of the award-winning "Doubt, A Parable," a prize winning play about the impact of unsubstantiated doubt has in our lives. The discussion evolves from a suspicious nun's thoughts about an approchable priest and his relationship with a young student in the Church's school.
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September 08, 2008
"The All Night Strut"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Black Theatre Troupe's season opener, "The All Night Strut," a musicla review with 24 song hits by various composers. It's set in the '30s and '40s at the famous El Morocco nightclub.
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September 04, 2008
"A Chorus Line"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Across America-Arizona re-creation of the original "A Chorus Line" as crafted by the late Michael Bennett. The 1975 musical tells individual stories about how 17 performers ended up on Broadway.
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August 25, 2008
"The Rocky Horror Show"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Nearly Naked Theatre's stage version of the popular cult film musical, "The Rocky Horror Show," that is about the whacked out Dr. Frank-N-Furter who creates an ideal man to satisfy his own cravings.
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August 11, 2008
"Unbeatable"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the world premiere musical "Unbeatable," about Laurie Frey's successful battle with Stage III breast cancer.
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August 04, 2008
"The Honky Tonk Angels"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Threater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre production of "The Honky Tonk Angels," a jukebox musical that links over two dozen country-western tunes together using a plot about three women who dream of being Nashville singing stars.
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July 14, 2008
"The Music Man"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Hale Centre Theatre's production of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man." The musical, which includes "SEventy-Six Trombones," pits turn-of-the-last-century Iowans against conman's Harold Hill's zealous selling of a boy's band thet the town librarian and piano teacher, Marian Paroo, watches cautiously.
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June 26, 2008
"High School Musical"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway in Arizona production of "High School Musical" that is based on the popular Disney channel television musical. It has a simple boy meets girl, boy falls for girl story complicated by a high school environment.
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June 19, 2008
"My Fair Lady"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway in Arizona production of Trevor Nunn's new British treatment of the musical "My Fair Lady" based on George Bernard Shaw's witty "Pygmalion" that tells of phonetics professor's Henry Higgins teaching flower girl Eliza Doolittle how to talk and act as a lady.
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June 16, 2008
"Oliver!"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Plam Dinner Theatre production of "Oliver!," a musical version of the classic Charles Dickens story about the 19th century orphan Oliver Twist.
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June 10, 2008
"Reefer Madness-The Musical"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Nearly Naked Theatre's Arizona premiere production of "Reefer Madness-The Musical." It's based on the now infamous 1936 propoganda film that told Americans of the evils of marijuana and how it would doom youth.
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May 26, 2008
"Smokey Joe's Cafe"
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Black Theatre Troupe production of the Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller musical review, "Smokey Joe's Cafe," that includes 40 of the team's popular hits.
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May 22, 2008
"The Wedding Singer"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the road company production of the Broadway musical "The Wedding Singer," based on the hit 1998 movie. It's a simple boy meets girl tale set in 1985 so the show tries to be a tribute to that era.
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May 19, 2008
"Lucky Star"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Phoenix Theatre world premiere musical, "Lucky Star," that deals with an old Picacho Peak saloon where an excentric assortment of bar patrons decide to save the place because it is their home away from home.
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May 12, 2008
:Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the local premiere production of "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde" by iTheatre Collaborative. The play deals with the three trials that found Wilde guilty and marked the decline of the English playwright, novelist and poet.
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May 05, 2008
"The Clean House"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio revies the final Arizona Theatre Company production of the current season, the local premiere staging of Sarah Ruhl's comedy/drama "The Clean House." The play focuses on two successful surgeons who hire a Brazilian maid who hates to clean house but who helps them rediscover a critical but missing ingredient in their marriage.
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April 28, 2008
"Speak Spanish to Me"
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the final Actors Theatre production of the current season, a world premiere staging of the new Bernardo Solano comedy/drama, "Speak Spanish to Me." The play focuses on two ASU freshmen, Frank and Liz, who fal in love nd confront the cultural challenges of an Anglo and Latino relationship.
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April 21, 2008
"La Traviata"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the final Arizona Opera production of the current season, Verdi's "La Traviata." The opera focuses on Violetta, a Paris courtesan dying of tuberculosis.
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April 18, 2008
"Sweeney Todd"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway touring version of John Doyle's revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd," a dark musical about a revengeful but wronged barber who kills his customers and uses them in meat pies.
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April 14, 2008
"Pulp"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Stray Cat Theatre's production of a comedy by Patricia Kane, "Pulp." It's based on the trashy lesbian novels of the 1950s.
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April 07, 2008
"Six Dance Lessons in 6 weeks"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic, Chris Curcio reviews the Phoenix Theatre's production of a new comedy by Richard Alfieri, "Six Dance Lessons in 6 Weeks," about a lonely widow who tries to disguise her shallow life through dance lessons with a sharp tongued instructor, Michael.
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March 30, 2008
"To Kill a Mockingbird"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic, Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Theatre Company's stage adaptation by Christopher Sergel of Harper Lee's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel about racial injustice in a small fictional Alabama town in 1935.
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March 24, 2008
"A Tale of Two Cities"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Childsplay production of local playwright Dwayne Hartford's adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel, "A Tale of Two Cities." In this work, the playwright has stripped away the novel's excessive detail and focused on its two major themes, justice & vengance.
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March 12, 2008
"East Texas Hot Links"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Black Theatre Troupe production of Eugene Lee's play "East Texas Hot Links," that shows how African American men betray each other and sell out to whites.
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March 10, 2008
"9 Parts of Desire"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic, Chris Curcio reviews the Actors Theatre production of "9 Parts of Desire," a one woman show starring playwright Heather Raffo that traces the reactions of nine different Iraqi women to the war in that country.
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March 03, 2008
Broadway Musicals
( Phoenix,AZ )Our theater critic, Chris Curcio, made his annual trip to Broadway and in his second of two segments he reviews the four musicals he saw; "Curtains," "Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening," "Legally Blonde," and "Young Frankenstein."
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February 25, 2008
"Goodnight Moon"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the current Chidlsplay production of "Goodnight Moon." based on a popular children's nursery rhyme that focuses on a bunny who is too hyper to fall asleep. Instead he uses the toys in his bedroom to travel to exotic places.
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February 21, 2008
"Twelve Angry Men"
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the touring production of the Broadway revival of Reginald Rose's teleplay "Twelve Anrgry Men." The courtroom drama focuses on the jury deliberations in a murder trial and looks at the psychological debate that causes all but one juror to change his opinion on the verdict.
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February 18, 2008
Hello, Dolly!
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre's production of Jerry Herman's "Hello, Dolly!" that traces Dolly Gallagher Levi's matchmaking efforts and ends with several successful pairings plus her own union with Horace Vandergelder, a Yonkers half-a-millionaire.
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February 11, 2008
Dr. Jekylland Mr. Hyde
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Theatre Company's world prmeire production of Jeffrey Hatcher's new version of the popular Robert Louis Stevenson horror story, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Hatcher's aproach looks at the psychological aspects that made the dual character commit the notorious killings he did.
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February 07, 2008
Broadway Plays
( Phoenix,AZ )Our Theater Critic, Chris Curcio, made his annual trip to Broadway and in this first of two segments he reviews the four plays he saw. He tells us about "August: Osage County," "Rock n' Roll," "The Farnsworth Invention and "The Seafarer."
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February 03, 2008
Kate Crackernuts
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Stray Cat Theatre's local production of"Kate Crackernuts." This most unusual play is set in an adult fairy tale kingdom about two sisters, Anne, a real hottie, and plain Kate. The story follows their journey to find Anne's attractive head that she's lost and has a sheep's head instead.
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January 28, 2008
As Bees in Honey Drown
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio attended the Nearly Naked Thetre's local premiere production of "As Bees in Honey Drown." This contemporary play by Douglas Carter Beane twists the conventional plot of an opportunistic woman using a successful young writer for her needs to explore new and unexpected turns.
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January 14, 2008
Almost Maine
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Phoenix Theatre southwest premiere production of "Almost Maine." This contemporary play looks at love in the tiny Maine town of Almost through various loosely linked episodes that feature town people.
www.phoenixtheatre.com
"Almost Maine" plays through January 27 at the Phoenix Theatre in downtown Phoenix. For tickets, call the Phoenix Theatre box office at 602-254-2151 or go online at www.phoenixtheatre.com
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January 07, 2008
The Pajama Game
( Phoenix, AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Pajama Game," a 1954 musical that looks at management relations and union negotiations at the Sleep Tite pajama factory. The score boasts several hit songs including "Steam Heat," "Hey There," and "Hernando's Hideaway."
arizonatheatre.org
"The Pajama Game" plays through January 20 at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. For tickets, call the Arizona Theatre Company box office at 602-256-6995 or go online at arizonatheatre.org.
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January 01, 2008
The Busy World is Hushed
( Phoenix,AZ )KBAQ Theater Critic Chris Curcio reviews the Actors Theatre southwest premiere of "The Busy World is Hushed." This contemporary play explores religion and contemporary lifestyles through a progressive Episcopalian minister, a young writer she hires to help her create a book about a newly discovered gospel that may precede the bible.
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