Archived Reviews of This Season's Productions

2003/2004 Season

Awe Inspiring, But Without a Catharsis
Nearly Naked Theatre's Gilgamesh 6/4/04 - 6/26/04

The Corn is as High as an Elephant's Eye
M&I Bank Broadway in Arizona/ASU Gammage Auditorium's Oklahoma! 6/8/04 - 6/13/04

Who Could Blame Him?
Tempe Little Theatre's George Washington Slept Here 5/28/04 - 6/13/04

Scotch Rocks
Hale Centre Theatre's The Hasty Heart 5/14/04 - 6/19/04

Gunshots and Whispers
Copperstate Dinner Theatre's Rumors 5/7/04 - 6/13/04

Good, but Lacking Some Kitty Glitter
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's Cats 4/22/04 - 6/12/04

Lingerie That is a Little Thin
Arizona Theatre Company's The Underpants 5/6/04 - 5/23/04

No Appy-Polly-Logees for this Ultraviolence
Stray Cat Theatre's Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange 4/23/04 - 5/15/04

Happiness is Getting A New Brain
Theater Works' A New Brain 4/23/04 - 5/16/04

Not Everyone's Cup of Pee
M&I Bank ASU Gammage Broadway Series Urinetown 5/4/04 - 5/9/04

Karaoke Night at La Cage
Desert Stages Theatre's La Cage aux Folles 4/23/04 - 5/9/04

Best When It's Kept in the Immediate Family
Hale Centre Theatre's Over the River and Through the Woods 3/26/04 - 5/8/04

Shakespeare with a Vengeance; or, If We Sickos Have Offended...
Southwest Shakespeare Company's Cardenio 4/29/04 - 5/8/04

Ah, the Follies of Age
Phoenix Theatre's Mornings at Seven 4/16/04 - 5/2/04

Tracy's Tops, but Mama Misses
M&I Bank & ASU Gammage Auditorium's Hairspray 4/14/04 - 4/25/04

Shakespeare in the Best of All Possible Worlds
Southwest Shakespeare Company's As You Like It 4/16/04 - 4/24/04

Can't Quite Kill a Classic
Tempe Little Theatre's West Side Story 4/2/04 - 4/18/04

The Hostile Takeover of Rome, Inc.
The Shakespeare Theatre's Julius Caesar 4/2/04 - 4/18/04

Ship of Foolishness
Arizona Jewish Theatre Company's Meshuggah-Nuns! 3/27/04 - 4/18/04

This Annie Got Me With Her Gun
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's Annie Get Your Gun 3/5/04 - 4/17/04

A Low Budget Fable
Desert Foothills Theatre's Guys and Dolls 3/26/04 - 4/11/04

Isn't it remarkable how potent cheap music can be?
Arizona Theatre Company's Oh, Coward! 3/25/04 - 4/11/04

At the Interchange of I-10 and Despair
Is What It Is Theatre's Waiting for Godot 3/5/04 - 3/27/04

A Mixed Bag of Nuts
Nearly Naked Theatre's The House of Yes 3/5/04 - 3/20/04

Oh, Gorshin!
Theater League's Say Goodnight Gracie 3/9/04 - 3/14/04

Graveyard Shift Morality
Actors Theatre's Lobby Hero 3/5/04 - 3/21/04

Eliza and Henry Charm, But it Couldn't Dance All Night
Hale Centre Theatre's My Fair Lady 2/6/04 - 3/20/04

Disney's Live Action Forum
Phoenix Theatre's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 2/27/04 - 3/14/04

Strong Missives and Slight Missteps
Theatre Works' Love Letters 2/13/04 - 3/7/04

Dreams versus Roots
Canyon Moon Theatre Company of Sedona's In the Valley of the Sun 2/13/04 - 2/29/04\

Dialogue as Song Cues
Black Theatre Troupe's Sweet Thunder 2/12/04 - 2/29/04

Performer Rick Shipman offers his opinion on my review of Black Theatre Troupe's Sweet Thunder, and my response, and his response to my response

The Value of Stories
Arizona Jewish Theatre Company's Collected Stories 2/14/04 - 2/29/04

For Whom the Belle Cracks
Arizona Theatre Company's A Streetcar Named Desire 2/12/04 - 2/29/04

The Captain and Schlemiel
Stray Cat Theatre's Wonder of the World 1/30/04 - 2/21/04

Hollywood Rending
Actors Theatre's Stones in His Pockets 1/23/04 - 2/8/04

When Blind Justice Peeks
M&I Bank's Valley Broadway Series and ASU's Gammage Auditorium'sThe Exonerated 1/27/04 - 2/1/04

A Short Cruise That's Still Too Long
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's Show Boat 1/9/04 - 2/28/04

A Meandering Chess
Desert Stages Theatre's Chess 1/9/04 - 2/1/04

There Is No Joy in Carefree Tonight...
Desert Foothills Theater's Buzzard Ball 1/15/04 - 2/1/04

Local actress Rebecca Siegel takes issue with Kevin Young for taking issue with my review of DFT's Buzzard Ball, and Mr. Young's response

Kevin Young, a performer from Desert Foothills Theatre's production of Buzzard Ball takes issue with my review

Commedia Dell Hearty
Southwest Shakespeare Theatre's The Taming of the Shrew 1/15/04 - 1/31/04

Viola Below the Mason/Dixon
The Shakespeare Theatre'sTwelfth Night; or What You Will 1/1/04 - 1/18/04

A Master Class in Bluesology
Arizona Theatre Company's It Ain't Nothing But the Blues Phoenix: 12/30/03 - 1/18/04

Leave it to Corliss
Hale Centre Theatre's Kiss and Tell 12/26/03 - 1/31/04

America's Favorite Pastime Gains 10% More Fans
Reviewed 3/7/03
Take Me Out at the Walter Kerr Theatre

An Evening Sidetracked; or "Ignore the Cliff, Just Keep Shoveling in More Coal!"
M&I Bank's Valley Broadway Series and ASU's Gammage Auditorium's Starlight Express 1/6/04 - 1/11/04

Everyone's a Shmulnik
Arizona Jewish Theatre Company's Shmulnik's Waltz 12/27/03 - 1/11/03

Lady Lives the Blues
Black Theatre Troupe's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill 12/26/03 - 1/11/04

Dramatic Offenses of Robert Fulghum
Mesa Encore Theatre's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten 12/6/03 - 12/21/04

Outing the Bard
Nearly Naked Theatre's Shakespeare's R&J 12/5/03 - 12/27/03

A Golden Tenor
Desert Foothills Theatre's Lend Me A Tenor 12/4/03 - 12/21/03

The Fine Art of Melodramatics
Tempe Little Theatre's Klondike Kalamity 12/5/03 - 12/21/03

A Master Class in Performance
THEATRESCAPE's One Man Christmas Carol 11/29/03 - 12/7/03

The World is Lousy with Wolves
Stray Cat Theatre's Patty Red Pants 11/14/03 - 12/6/03

Late Night Cataclysm
Stray Cat Theatre's Hysteric Studs 11/14/03 - 12/6/03

Sex in Sun City
Theater Works' Sweet Charity 11/14/03 - 12/7/03

The Mensch and the Loyal Opposition
Arizona Theatre Company's Talley's Folly Tucson: 10/18/03 - 11/8/03 Phoenix: 11/14/03 - 11/30/03

Musical Comedy: The Two Most Glorious Words in the English Language
M&I Bank Valley Broadway Series at Gammage Auditorium's 42nd Street 11/11/03 - 11/16/03

A Rosen is not a Rosen is not a Rosen
Arizona Jewish Theatre Company's The Value of Names 11/8/03 - 11/23/03

Preaching to the Converted
Is What It Is Theatre's The Fourth Wall 11/7/03 - 11/22/03

Coward Diss
Phoenix Theatre's Private Lives 11/7/03 - 11/23/03

Whose Life is it Anyway?
iTheatre Collaborative's Bee-Luther-Hatchee 10/30/03 - 11/22/03

A Legacy of Awful Truth
Actors Theatre's Frame 312 10/31/03 - 11/16/03

Neurotically Entertaining
Scottsdale Community Players' Play It Again, Sam 10/31/03 - 11/16/03

Kurt and Courtney Macbeth
Actors Renaissance Theatre's Macbeth Remixed 10/24/03 - 11/16/03

Striving, and Failing, to Find Cohesion
Black Theatre Troupe's On Strivers Row 10/16/03 - 11/2/03

Local actor Barry Williams thanks me for my Black Theatre Troupe On Striver's Row review

The Runner Stumbles
Hale Centre Theatre's See How They Run 10/10/03 - 11/22/03

STREEEEEETS of New York
Arizona Theatre Company's Over the Moon Phoenix: 10/10/03 - 10/26/03

Girls Rule this West Side Story
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's West Side Story 10/2/03 - 11/8/03

Absinthe and Oddity
Theater Works' Picasso at the Lapin Agile 9/19/03 - 10/12/03

Local actor and director Joe Flowers comments on my statements in my Theater Works Picasso at the Lapin Agile review, and my response

Cat in Heat
Actors Theatre's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 9/19/03 - 10/5/03

So-So is Painless
Tempe Little Theatre's M*A*S*H 9/19/03 - 10/5/03

Roxie and Velma in the Flesh
Phoenix Theatre's Chicago 9/12/03 - 10/18/03

I'm Embarrased to Say, but "Thank You for the Music"
ASU Gammage Auditorium M&I Broadway Series' Mamma Mia! 9/9/03 - 9/28/03

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...
Hale Centre Theatre's Man with the Pointed Toes 9/5/03 - 10/5/03

Assuming the Worst Gets You Every Time
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's Honk! 8/29/03 - 9/28/03

Marisa Barron comments on my review of Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre's Honk!

The Unstoppable Sally Bowles
Desert Stages Theatre's Cabaret 9/5/03 - 9/27/03

My God, Why Have You Forsaken Them?
Scottsdale Community Players' Jesus Christ Superstar 9/5/03 - 9/21/03

Member of the Board of Directors of Scottsdale Community Players Allan Fetherolf adds facts to my review of thier production of Jesus Christ Superstar

Mounting the Taboo
Is What It Is Theatre's Assassins 8/15/03 - 9/6/03

Local actor Harley Jay Boyter invites me to review Desert Foothills Theatre's Footloose, and my response

Former Phoenix theatre director and designer David Lee Kelting thanks me for my website

I am asked why I do not review either Fountain Hills Community Theatre productions or Copperstate Dinner Theatre productions, and my response.

Popular former local actress, director, and diva Robyn Ferracane is nostalgically still reading about the valley theatre scene on Goldfish Publishers, and gives us an update as to her new life as a transplant to NYC

Artistic Director Peter Hill and I discuss through email the letter about reviewing and coverage for Fountain Hills Community Theatre and Copperstate Dinner Theatre

The ariZoni Award Discussion

Local actress and sound designer Lisa Arnseth is wondering about the ariZoni Awards nominations and in general, and my response

A series of responses to Lisa Arnseth's questions concerning the ariZoni Awards from The Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director Wes Martin and from ariZoni President and Valley Youth Theatre Artistic Director Bobb Cooper

Wes Martin's response to Bobb Cooper's response to Wes Martin's letter to Lisa Arnseth about the ariZoni Awards

2002/2003 ariZoni-nominated actress and current local diva Andi Watson weighs in on the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards

Soon to be departing 2002/2003 ariZoni-nominated actor Daniel Sykes weighs in on the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards

Becky Staub defends Bobb Cooper in the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb about the ariZoni Awards

Emily Stone and Bryan Madden comment on the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards

Technical Director and actor Michael Peck adds his two cents to the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards

An anonymous reader succinctly summarizes the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards

On 8/15/03, Bobb Cooper and Wes Martin came to an understanding via a telephone discussion. Bobb clarified his remarks, Wes has become a member of the Board of Directors of the ariZoni Awards of Excellence, and The Shakespeare Theatre will continue to be adjudicated by the ariZoni's.