Phil Villarreal's Blog, page 35
July 19, 2022
Broadway in Tucson Review: "Pretty Woman"
Easygoing, free-spirited and fun, "Pretty Woman" is a joy to behold.
Its cast sparkles with an overpowering sense of fun that makes it seem as though they can't believe they're getting paid to do what they do. The infectious sense of joy wafts through the audience, which is filled with giggles and applause.
Effervescent and boisterous as call-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian, Olivia Valli buoys the show with a charismatic and tireless lead performance, powering nearly every scene with her arresting performance.
Intentionally stiff and proper as wealthy businessman Edward Lewis, Adam Pascal is her apt counterpoint. His staid, proper persona melts away for occasional bursts of joyous energy, underlining the character's transformation.
The script hews close to the film, including the giant cell phone 1990 Los Angeles setting, but changes things up in a few key places to add some welcome flourishes. Although the landmark performances of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere set the template, Valli and Pascal make the characters their own. Also making her mark is Keyonna Knight as Kit De Luca, Vivian's friend who supports her unlikely rise to the high life.
Vivacious ensemble performances by the likes of Nella Cole, Natalie Bourgeois, Carissa Gaughran, Matthew Stocke and Christian Brailsford pace the show's myriad set swaps and costume changes, taking the scene from ritzy dance halls, dingy street corners, to country clubs and the opera.
The most impressive addition is that of Happy Man (Michael Dalke), a mulleted burst of sunshine who plays myriad characters, including a hotel manager, homeless star maps distributer and even a band pit composer. The magical realism-infused character serves as the spiritual North Star of the production, signifying a self-belief in defiant dreams that leads to success and fulfillment.
Although bursting with positive messaging and boundless romance, "Pretty Woman" never strays into preachy territory. Its upbeat, heart-lifting tone gets your heart thumping along to its beat.
"Pretty Woman" plays at Centennial Hall through July 24. For tickets, click here.
July 13, 2022
Book Report: To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
This book was extremely dry, and lacks the biting wit and observational skill of some of her better work. It was agonizing to get through, with no real plot development or sense of storytelling momentum. Its characters are slim and perfunctory. A foreboding sense of gloom hangs over the entire tale. The book was slow, arduous and unchallenging. It wallows in unnecessary detail and struggles to find a voice. Just miserable.
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July 8, 2022
PHIL ON FILM: "Thor: Love and Thunder"
For my full review, click here.
July 1, 2022
PHIL ON FILM: "The Princess"
For my full review, click here.
June 29, 2022
PHIL ON FILM: "Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down"
For my full review, click here.
Book Report: "Madame Bovary."
Madame Bovary by Gustave FlaubertMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Flaubert tells a tragicomic satire of social excess, focusing on a respected, moneyed woman who squanders her livelihood and family fortune on whims and excesses.
Slow-moving yet commanding, the author's storytelling blossoms into stunning revelations and watershed denouements. She strives to deceive her husband, lover and shopkeeper with whom she racks up credit bills, but ends up only punishing herself. There are definite parallels to our time of easy credit and rapid inflation.
I left fulfilled but somewhat disappointed. I expected to be shaken and moved by a classic of such a reputation, but instead got the equivalent of a solid but unastonishing beach read. I recommend reading it but with dampened expectations.
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June 22, 2022
PHIL ON FILM: "Murder at Yellowstone City"
For my full review, click here.
June 20, 2022
Book Report: "The Importance of Being Earnest"
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar WildeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Oscar Wilde is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. Even though "The Importance of Being Earnest" feels like a somewhat phoned-in, consequenceless work, it's a fun ready due to his lively -- if somewhat formulaic -- wordplay, and hilarious context codes that reference the gay subculture of 19th century Britain.
Above all, Wilde prizes entertainment and pacing. His tale of wily bachelors who masquerade under fake names as they tiptoe around social conventions to preserve their confirmed bachelorhood as long as possible.
If there's a fault to Wilde's writing, it's that every character speaks in the same voice. It didn't bother me much, because what they have to say is so clever and amusing. This is a fun and wildly entertaining play that I would love to see live.
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June 17, 2022
PHIL ON FILM: "Lightyear"
For my full review, click here.
June 15, 2022
Book Report: "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward GibbonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
An essential, if thoroughly labored, rundown of the myriad factors that toppled the Jenga tower that was the Roman Empire, Gibbon's long-winded, dry tome dutifully lays out a compelling narrative.
Sorting through mountains of fact, fiction and conjecture to delve at a semblance of the truth, Gibbon explains how a combination of inner strife, the spread of Christianity and Muslim and marauding barbarians created a headwind that blew the whole house down.
Coloring barely-known characters with intriguing anecdotes while cutting away the noise to get at the truth of such figures as Nero, Gibbon accomplishes an authoritative work that bears significant warnings for the American political-cultural empire to heed.
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