by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Many months ago, when I first heard that The Phoenix Theatre Company was doing a show about competitive air guitar, I was absolutely fascinated… and super stoked…
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Radio Phoenix Broadcast: Three Hour Spectacular
After hosting radio shows (The Bungalow Show’s YabYum Hour, Rise!, and The YabYum Hour) on Radio Phoenix for 5 years, Senior Editor’s Mark and Carly have handed over their reigns to a new batch of hosts as the good times continue. Before they departed hour however they threw a three-hour long radio show spectacular and invited a bunch of YabYum Staff and family down to the studio to celebrate…
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Comes to Valley Youth Theatre
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Valley Youth Theatre has done it once again. This lovely little theatre company that provides a forum for young people to develop and hone their skills continues to show its range, and tear down the stigmas that often shadow children’s performances. This is not a middle or high school school production. These kids care. They don’t just care. They aren’t just going through the motions. They are laying their hearts out on the stage every night. They are serious about our forum. They are planning their future theatre careers, and ambitiously working towards those goals. And because of them, I am confident that our beloved forum will continue…
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Phoenix Theatre Company’s Annual Festival of New American Theatre Brings Promising New Plays to Light
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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As a lover of theatre, and everything that goes into developing a production, nothing quite compares to experiencing a new work as it comes together. From concept to paper. From paper to initial performance. From cold read to fully-staged. So the Phoenix Theatre Company’s Festival of New American Theatre is a dream come true event for anyone who loves the forum and appreciates the process…
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Aladdin Brings Spectacular Performance to ASU Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Disney knows how to do Broadway.
They’ve proven it again and again, arguably most successfully with The Lion King which began its run on the Great White Way in 1997 and is ranked amongst the longest running Broadway shows of all time. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and most recently Frozen. Disney has proven that animated films built on a foundation of magical and unhappenable-happenings can be adapted for the stage and brought to live audiences. Aladdin proves it yet again…
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‘Hello Dolly!’ and the 2019 ASU Gammage Season
It’s the start of a new year. The brief reflective period when we pause, if only for a few moments, for an exercise in introspection. Contemplation of the year past. Ambitions for the months to come. Even if things are good, we imagine how they can be better. How we can be better. Yes, January is a wonderful, fleeting, hopeful month…
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The Second City’s ‘It’s Not You, It’s Me’ Slays Phoenix Theatre
It starts with a song.
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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It starts with a song.
An irreverent and discourteous song. And anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for a waggish song. This one happens to be about our social malaise and the fronts we all begrudgingly present to each other. Golden! So I was buttered up from the outset…
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Catch the Holiday Spirit with Valley Youth Theatre’s ‘A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail’
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Much of theatre is about moments. Moments that touch us and stay with us. Sometimes it’s an impactful scene, a performance so good it lingers, a note so arresting it haunts. And sometimes it’s the moment when when a young person in our life gets bitten by the theatre bug, as we once did, and we know there is no going back…
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‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Tackles Mental Illness, Social Media, and the Insecurity In Us All
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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I’ve read the script to Dear Evan Hansen. Listened to the cast album so frequently I know nearly every lyric. I’ve seen several videos and cast performances on YouTube and broadcast television. In other words, I went in ‘knowing’ the show. Feeling like I had a grasp on what to expect. Turns out, I knew nothing…
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‘Elf: The Musical’ Delivers Heartwarming Fun at Phoenix Theatre
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Elf: The Musical is a show based on the much-loved 2003 film, a movie that has become a holiday staple in countless households. A quotable and beloved cult classic, both film and musical alike are built on pure, adorable, laugh out loud comedy…
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Now & Then Creative Company Takes On French Avant-Garde Classic ‘Rhinoceros’
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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Now & Then Creative Company is currently taking on a classic. Rhinoceros is play by Eugène Ionesco, a powerhouse in the French avant-garde theatre movement of the twentieth century. The themes and underpinnings of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros are debated, even to this day…
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‘On Your Feet!’ The Emilio and Gloria Estefan Musical Hits Gammage
by Rebecca Rudnyk
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On Your Feet! is a jukebox musical about the life and career of Gloria Estefan and her husband, music partner and greatest advocate of 40+ years, Emilio Estefan…
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