Herbert Paine - Page 14

THE BILL MURRAY STORIES ~ LIFE LESSONS LEARNED FROM A MYTHICAL MAN (one of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival) is a wildly entertaining and inspiring documentary about a unique urban legend.

Virtuoso performances are the order of the day in Arizona Theatre Company's revival of August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING, directed by Lou Bellamy and featuring standout performances by James Craven, Alan Bomar Jones, Erika LaVonn, Ahanti Young, Lester Purry, Cedric Mays, and Dennis Spears.

In recognition of the SEDONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL's 25th Anniversary as unique communal experience for filmmakers and moviegoers. A profile of the event and the man who has steered its course, Patrick Schweiss. Running this year from Saturday, February 23rd, 2019 through Sunday, March 3rd.

If you're looking for a good-natured satire on the excesses of capitalism, you're-in-luck with URINETOWN ~ the Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis musical that riffs on a draconian vision of a pay-to-pee society. If you're looking for a high-spirited rendition of the musical, look no further than the stage of Greasepaint Youtheatre where a stellar cast of young actors is delivering a wicked pissah (i.e., really great) performance, under the direction of Bob Sorrenson.

Barbara McBain and Roger Prenger are arm-in-arm charming in Desert Stages Theatre's production of SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS, directed by Joy Bingham Strimple. Runs through March 3rd.

Childsplay's current staging of Idris Goodwin's AND IN THIS CORNER… CASSIUS CLAY (in co-production with Black Theatre Troupe), features a superb cast, led by Rapheal Hamilton as Cassius and including some of the Valley's heavyweight talents. It packs a solid punch to the heart in an insightful and inspired recounting of Muhammad Ali's formative years. Runs through March 3rd at the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center in Phoenix.

Theatre Artists Studio presents Cindy Lou Johnson's BRILLIANT TRACES. Taut drama, deftly directed by Carol MacLeod, featuring Kent and Heidi Wellborrn. Runs through February 17th at The Studio in Scottsdale, AZ.

Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein, the writers and stars of THE SECRET COMEDY OF WOMEN-GIRLS ONLY®, shine in a series of sketches that range from reminiscences of early childhood to commentaries that poke at the 'progress' women have made from subordination to self-empowerment. A show filled with sensitivity and loads of good-natured laughs. Runs through February 24th at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

In Arizona Broadway Theatre's production of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, Director Kurtis Overby has assembled all the pieces of this American classic into a charming and engaging interpretation that is, to be clear, en pointe! The result is a jaunty, rhapsodic, and sentimental journey across avenues, cafes, and a dance studio where eros (romantic love) and pragma (practical love) intersect.

The Phoenix Theatre Company's production of JERSEY BOYS, featuring Justin Albinder as Frankie Valli and James D. Gish as Bob Gaudio, ripples with energy. From Antonio Leroy King's opening rap solo of Yannick's pop hit (Cues soirees la!) to the cast's celebratory closing (Who Loves You), the show is a joyful retrospective on the group's rise to fame.Runs through March 10th.

Stray Cat Theatre has taken up Leah Nanako Winkler's gauntlet to bring diversity to the stage and assumed the challenge of producing TWO MILE HOLLOW, with Louis Farber directing this madcap excursion into family absurdity and dysfunction. At Tempe Center for the Arts through February 2nd.

David Ivers, Arizona Theatre Company's Artistic Director, has taken Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN and transformed it into an eye-popping and hand-clapping two hours of nonstop jubilation. An unequivocally boffo production, the show continues its run at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix through January 27th.

Theatre critic Herb Paine offers up 10 Shows in the Phoenix Metro area to look forward to in 2019 ~ to warm the heart and stir the mind.

Steve Solomon's comic take on family dysfunction, MY MOTHER'S ITALIAN, MY FATHER'S JEWISH & I'M IN THERAPY, featuring Peter J. Fogel, is regaling audiences now at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix through January 20th.

All Puppet Players presents DIE HARD: A CHRISTMAS STORY, a ribald adaptation of the flick, running through December 29th at Playhouse in the Park in Phoenix.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a Broadway-smart production that fuses together the essential elements of a smash hit along with just enough superficiality and social relevance to juice up the audience and build box office. The National Tour, featuring a brilliant lead performance by Ben Levi Ross, is at ASU Gammage in Tempe through December 2nd.

Arizona Broadway Theatre presents MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, directed by James Rio. Runs through December 29th.

Tony Award-nominated actress Jeanne Paulsen (The Kentucky Cycle) is regaling audiences in a charm-laden and intimate solo as Erma Bombeck in Arizona Theatre Company's production of AT WIT'S END, directed by Casey Stangl. Runs through December 2nd at Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

Among the various programs to celebrate the centenary of Leonard Bernstein's birth, none has been more ambitious in its design and more fulfilling in its execution than ASU School of Music's production of MASS. Showed November 17 and 18.

To see INHERIT THE WIND, in its current iteration at Theatre Artists Studio, is to revisit the endless battle between open-minded reason and the intolerance of blind faith. It is, as well, a golden opportunity to witness two bears of the stage ~ Michael Fleck and Tom Koelbel ~ have at each other in their portrayals of the goliaths that put the trial of the century on the map. Runs through December 9th.