By Chris Curcio. Originally published on Curtain Up Phoenix. Arizona Theatre Company has found the perfect holiday show with its glistening production of the reworked 1992 Leslie Bricusse musical Scrooge! This Scrooge does not have the evil and malicious Ebenezer seen in many shows based on Charles Dickens’ melancholy A Christmas Carol. Scrooge’s Ebenezer is […]
By Julie Coleman. Originally published by Frontdoors Media. 1. You play the title character in Arizona Theatre Company’s new adaptation of “Scrooge! The Musical.” How is this holiday show different from the classic story? It’s interesting how this particular production came to be. Arizona Theatre Company’s artistic director, Matt August, was working with Leslie Bricusse, […]
Did you know KVOA News 4 Tucson paid us a visit? In case you missed it, check out the video below highlighting ATC’s holiday musical, Scrooge! Don’t miss Tony Award-winning star Shuler Hensley sharing his favorite line, Tiny Tim actor Beni Bermudez speaking to his experience working on the show, and Director Matt August explaining […]
By Kathleen Allen. Originally published by the Arizona Daily Star. Well, this was a surprise. We hadn’t expected to like Arizona Theatre Company’s production of Scrooge!. It’s a Christmas cliché and a too-obvious grasp for a holiday money-maker. But we couldn’t help it: We liked it. We really liked it. The musical is based on the 1970 […]
By Derek Gatopoulos. Originally published by APNews.com. Finishing her class at The Juilliard School of the arts in New York, Greek opera great Maria Callas gave her students a final word of advice. “Keep on going the proper way: Not with fireworks, not with easy applause, but with the expression of the words, the diction, and to really […]
By Kathleen Allen. Originally published by The Arizona Daily Star. This is a simple fact of life: Where there are drag queens there is joy. And there is an abundance of joy on the Arizona Theatre Company stage. The Legend of Georgia McBride, ATC’s current offering, is about Casey, a failed Elvis impersonator who turns […]
ATC’s new leader is no stranger to directing — or to Arizona, for that matter. By Robert Encila-Celdran. Originally published by BroadwayWorld.com. Matt August recalls his first introduction to Arizona Theatre Company as a fortuitous occasion. The year was 2015, a theater season that culminated with a show he directed – the eccentric and lengthily titled three-hander, The Gospel According […]
By M.V. Moorhead. Originally published by Phoenix Magazine. “Keep your mind active.” We’re often told that this is a key to long term cognitive health: doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku or Wordle, reading, writing. But being a famous, award-winning critic and essayist hasn’t kept Prudence “Pru” Payne from one of the scourges of aging: dementia. […]
By Herbert Paine. Originally published by BroadwayWorld.com. Pru Payne is a lost and found story. The title character, Prudence ‘Pru’ Payne (Mimi Kennedy), is a witty and sharp-tongued critic who, while being honored by her peers, starts showing signs of dementia. Despite losing some of her memories, she makes a few new ones with Augustus ‘Gus’ […]
By Chris Curcio. Originally published on Curtain Up Phoenix. Arizona rarely sees world premiere plays and often when plays begin here they aren’t stellar. So, it is wonderful that the Arizona Theatre Company’s Pru Payne is such a remarkable piece. Steven Drukman’s play is a sensitive and touching telling of dementia’s impacts on two very […]