The 2010-11 Season at Phoenix Theatre, Part One

August 25 through September 12

To celebrate its ninetieth anniversary Phoenix Theatre is promising the Valley a most remarkable season. The plays and musicals that have been scheduled are a giddy, golden treasure chest of riches. It would be wise to begin practicing your bravi and applause now, in preparation for the superb entertainments heading your way. Today, let's look at the first three of the six theatrical gifts that Phoenix Theatre has in store for us.  

Opening the 2010-11 season on August 25 is one of the funniest plays ever written, Noises Off by Michael Frayn. New York Magazine called it, “As side-splitting a farce as I have seen. Ever? Ever." 

In theatrical terms, noises off specifies sounds that are meant to be heard offstage. The idea for the play stems from his watching a performance of Chinaman from the wings, a farce he had written for the late, great Lynn Redgrave. Frayn thought the play was funnier from behind the scenes than on stage in front of the audience. In 1977, he wrote a one act play, Exits, which detailed the farcical pandemonium that exists behind the scenes of a play being performed. Frayn eventually expanded Exits into the full length Noises Off. The rest is comic history!

Noises Off opened in the West End at the Savoy Theatre in 1982 to ecstatic reviews and ran for five gloriously funny years. It won the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy.

Frayn's play opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on December 11, 1983 to a similar rapturous critical reception and ran for 553 performances. This production won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble.

Since its original productions, Noises Off has become a staple of both professional theater companies and community theaters on both sides of the Atlantic. Frayn has continually rewritten the play over the years, the last time being in 2000 at the request of director Jeremy Sams, who staged its last phenomenally successful revival in both London and New York.

In 1992, the play's sterling reputation was marred by an underwhelming film adaptation directed by Peter Bogdanovich. New York Times Theater Critic, Frank Rich, had called Noises Off “the funniest play written in my lifetime,” but wrote that the film “is one of the worst ever made.”

Phoenix Theatre's Noises Off will run through September 12, 2010. Hopefully, the management will provide oxygen in the lobby for its audiences gasping for breath from the play's constant laughter. 

September 29 through October 17

The very popular Three Redneck Tenors return to the stages of Phoenix Theatre on September 29 in their new revue Broadway Bound, with musical arrangements by Phoenix’ own Craig Bohmler and directed by PT's Producing Artistic Director Michael Barnard. To quote Phoenix Theatre, “The boys have finally made it to the Great White Way, trailer and all, smack dab, right in the middle of Times Square. Although the Colonel and the boys have finally found the perfect venue, they're now on a quest to find the perfect show!”

The boys, Billy Joe, Billy Bob and Billy Billee, are definitely putting the odd in Off-Broadway in their new evening of musical favorites at PT this fall. Get out your bandannas and tiaras,Three Redneck Tenors: Broadway Bound runs through October 17. 

November 10 through December 12

Next up is one of Broadway's best, the international multi-award winning Hairspray opens November 10 and will run through December 12.

Hairspray is based on the 1988 John Waters film and adapted to the stage by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan (book) with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre on August 15, 2002, starring Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur, recreating the roles made famous by Devine and Ricki Lake in the original film.

Ben Brantley wrote in his opening night review in the New York Times, "So what if it's more than a little pushy in its social preaching? Stocked with canny, deliriously tuneful songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and directed by Jack O'Brien with a common touch that stops short of vulgarity, Hairspray is as sweet as a show can be without promoting tooth decay. ...[it] succeeds in recreating the pleasures of the old-fashioned musical comedy without seeming old-fashioned...”

The musical was nominated for thirteen 2003 Tony Awards, winning eight, including Best Musical, Best Actor (Fierstein), Best Actress (Winokur) and Best Direction of a Musical (Jack O’Brien) . It was nominated for fourteen 2003 Drama Desk Awards, winning nine, including Outstanding New Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Fierstein) and Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Winokur).

The Broadway production of Hairspray ran for more than six years and 2,642 performances, closing on January 4, 2009.

The London opening took place at the Shaftesbury Theatre on October 30, 2007, starring Michael Ball and Leanne Jones. This production received a record breaking eleven Olivier Award nominations, winning four, including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Ball) and Best Actress in a Musical (Jones). It also won the 2007 Evening Standard Award for Best New Musical. The show closed on March 28, 2010 after a run of nearly two-and-a-half years and over 1,000 performances.

The musical Hairspray was transferred to the screen in 2007 starring John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky. It opened to nearly unanimous positive reviews and went on to become the fourth highest grossing musical film in history, behind the film adaptations of Grease, Chicago, and Mamma Mia! It's phenomenal, combined worldwide gross exceeded $420 million.

All graphic artwork courtesy of Phoenix Theatre.

Next we will discuss the Phoenix Theatre's delicious dark side with the murderous musical thriller No Way to Treat a Lady, the puppet master and mastery of Avenue Q and the very seductive and sexy Nine.