By Richard Schultz, July 2016 Web Exclusive.
Through July 9
Power, sex, ambition, greed. It's just another day at the office in this classic satire of big business. Big business means big laughs in this delightfully clever lampoon of life on the corporate ladder. This tune-filled comic gem that took Broadway by storm winning both the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize boasts an exhilarating score by Frank Loesser, including "I Believe in You," "Brotherhood of Man" and "The Company Way." This rousing musical follows the rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, who uses a little handbook called "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" to climb the corporate ladder from lowly window washer to high-powered executive at the World Wide Wicket Company, tackling such familiar but potent dangers as the aggressively compliant "company man," the office party, backstabbing co-workers, caffeine addiction and, of course, true love. The setting is the swinging '60s (think "Mad Men") and takes on office politics from corporate ladder-climbing to office hanky-panky.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Through July 9
Don Bluth Front Row Theatre
8670 E. Shea Blvd., Suite 103, Scottsdale
Tickets: $25; 480-314-0841
Through July 10
Back by popular demand, this puppet-filled musical comedy follows a group of 20-somethings seeking their purpose in big-city life. Winner of the Tony "Triple Crown" for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, Avenue Q is part flesh, part felt and all heart. Filled with gut-busting humor and a delightfully catchy score, a recent college graduate named Princeton, portrayed by a puppet and equipped only with hope and a Bachelor's Degree in English, is looking for two things: his life's purpose and an affordable apartment in New York City ("What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?"). On Avenue Q ("a homey, run-down street in an outer-outer borough"), he finds a building with a sign advertising an apartment for rent. He soon meets a motley but friendly assortment of neighbors, including Kate Monster, a kindergarten teaching assistant, also a puppet; Brian, an unemployed comedian, portrayed by a human actor; Brian's Japanese-American fiancé Christmas Eve, also played by a human; and bickering roommates Nicky, a slacker puppet, and Rod, a straight-laced Republican investor puppet. The superintendent of the building and all of the tenants each sing about their personal misfortunes ("It Sucks to Be Me"). Princeton rents an apartment and is welcomed to the neighborhood, and the stirrings of romance begin between Princeton and Kate. Avenue Q is great for adults and older teenagers because it's about real life. It’s not appropriate for children because it addresses such issues as sex, drinking and surfing the web for porn. And, by the way, there’s puppet sex. If Broadway shows were rated, this show would be rated R.
Avenue Q
Through July 10
Phoenix Theatre
100 E. McDowell Road, Phoenix
Tickets: $36-$86; 602-254-2151
Mrs. Wyatt Earp
June 20-30
its 15th year, it’s easy to grab lunch and a show presented by one of the emerging theater companies in the Valley. And it all happens within one hour. Produced by On the Spot Productions, this is the true story of love, adventure, secrets and betrayals as told by Wyatt's third wife, Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, or Josie as she insisted on being called. The show takes place in Josie's memory nine years after Wyatt's death in 1938 when she makes her last visit to there "dream home." Josie, portrayed by playwright Terry Earp, talks to a feral cat at the Earp's Vidal, Calif., cottage in 1938 on Rosh Hashanah. This beautiful middle-class Jewish girl from San Francisco was first the mistress and common-law wife of Sheriff John Behan of Tombstone before beginning her 47-year relationship with his political rival, Wyatt Earp. She was a charming, controlling woman with a compulsion for gambling. Wyatt and Josie are buried together in her family plot in the Hills of Eternity Jewish Cemetery in Colma, Calif.. Their headstone reads "... That nothing's so sacred as honor, and nothing so loyal as love!"
Mrs. Wyatt Earp
June 20-30
Lunch Time Theater – Kax Stage
Herberger Theater Center
222 E. Monroe St., Phoenix
Tickets: $6; 602-252-8497
