The Anxiety Project is an original new musical written by Rachel Dean (composer) and David Brush (lyricist). The cast album dropped on August 13th, and is now available for streaming. Recorded in collaboration with Arizona State University Music Theatre and Opera, and featuring exceptionally talented ASU students, it is well worth a listen…
Continue reading...Rebecca Rudnyk
#OnlyIntermission: Performers Take a Precautionary Pause
The days weigh heavy. Compounding. Each, somehow, heavier than the last. Saturated in monotony. Accompanied by a novel loneliness that can only come from seclusion at an epic level. Days, weeks, months without social gathering. An oddly unsettling guilt for having taken weekly family brunches, happy hours with friends, and live communal entertainment for granted for so long. This is the new normal in the time of COVID-19. This is our new normal…
Continue reading...
Social Distancing in a World Without Theatre
by Rebecca Rudnyk – This may be wildly inappropriate. Knowingly stepping out of my lane. I write about theatre. But writers need to write, out of...
Continue reading...
Unique Revival of ‘Once on This Island’ Tours Through ASU Gammage
Once on This Island originally premiered on Broadway in 1990. Based on the 1985 novel “My Love My Love” by Rosa Guy, which is ultimately based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” the musical is the brainchild of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty of Ragtime and Anastasia fame. The revival premiered at Circle in the Square in late 2017, winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and receiving several other notable nominations…
Continue reading...
Limited Run of ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ Hits ASU Gammage
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a jukebox show about the singer and songwriter whose extremely successful career spanned decades. First through songs she wrote for others, ultimately culminating in a solo career. Originally premiering on Broadway in January 2014, it received several Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. Beautiful played over 2,400 performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, launching its first national tour in 2015, and closing in October 2019…
Continue reading...
‘¡Americano!’ is a Must See at The Phoenix Theatre Company
¡Americano! is special. The show ended with such an impact, that I found myself giddy with excitement to start writing about it. Grateful for the experience,...
Continue reading...
Broadway Classic ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at ASU Gammage
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical about tradition. Family. Culture. Oppression. Love. It’s about finding personal strength and making tough choices. Holding on and letting go. It is one of the most known pieces of modern art that pays homage and reverence to Jewish culture, both as a religious faith and a way of life. And it does so through the eyes and narration of one of the most endearing and generally likeable characters in theatre lore…
Continue reading...
‘La Cage Aux Folles’ Graces Arizona Broadway Theatre
La Cage Aux Folles is an endearing staple in the Broadway lexicon. With a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. It had its first run on the Great White Way in 1983-1987, winning 6 Tony Awards including Best Book, Best Score and Best Musical. Its subsequent Broadway revivals in 2004 and 2010 won several Tony Awards, including a Best Revival Tony for both…
Continue reading...
Experience the Genre-Defying ‘Flight’ at Tempe Center for the Arts
by Rebecca Rudynk – So I just saw this show. This undefinable show. A show so unique that I don’t know which box I should try...
Continue reading...
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical first appeared at the La Jolla Playhouse in late 2017, then moved to Broadway in 2018. It closed in late 2018, after 27 previews and 288 performances. The show recounts Summer’s story, starting in her childhood. Three actresses of varying ages play her in life stages. Duckling Donna is her youth. Disco Donna her early career. And Diva Donna at the top of her game, the undeniable Queen of Disco…
Continue reading...
Million Dollar Quartet Rocks The Phoenix Theatre Company’s Hormel Theatre
Million Dollar Quartet is a jukebox musical based around an unplanned 1956 jam session between Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. They converge at Sun Studios in Memphis for different reasons, and the result is rock and roll history. It is ultimately Sam Philip’s story. The record producer who discovered them serves as the imperative narrator who ties the unwoven pieces together…
Continue reading...
Critic’s Picks: Best of Local Theatre 2019
by Rebecca Rudnyk
–
The decade ascends into history, and we enter 2020 anew. Another year of incredible local theatre comes to a close…
Continue reading...