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| MVPs: Our picks for this season's best local actors | ||
| By Chris Page, Get Out | ||
| March 13, 2008 | ||
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It’s a funny (OK, dorky) variation of fantasy football: Who, in my ideal theatrical production, would I cast? The lineup changes each season. Fresh faces make new impressions, and veteran talents surprise in unexpected, breakout roles. On the tail end of the 2007-08 season, here are the six that I’d enlist — the actors who delivered memorable, standout performances on East Valley stages. They’re this season’s Most Valuable Players.  PLAYING POLITICS Ben Tyler, TempeSEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The actor, director, civic-minded playwright and former “The Wallace and Ladmo Show” writer once again lent his voice talent to Tempe’s faux-radio variety show, Citrus Valley Playhouse, impersonating everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (“My Schwarzenegger,” he says, “was the most right-on.”) These days, a well-padded Tyler, 51, stars as the obese con man Falstaff in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” for Southwest Shakespeare Company. “You can’t have any inhibitions about how you appear,” the actor says. “The guy is such a monster slob, you just have to go for it and not worry.” WHAT’S NEXT: Citrus Valley’s “A Tribute to ‘The Wallace and Ladmo Show,’” April 12 at the Mesa Arts Center. Later, Tyler is using a new nonprofit foundation to fund other playwrights’ Arizona-themed works to coincide with the state’s centennial in 2012. “I can’t think of anyone else that’s tried this,” he says.  THE CLOSER Elizabeth Loos, MesaSEASON HIGHLIGHTS: A popular mainstay of Mesa’s Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 33-year-old Loos mostly hung out in the ensemble (What? You missed her as Wife No. 5 in “The King and I?”) when she wasn’t playing Mrs. Claus in the Palm’s holiday revue. She must’ve been saving up her energy: Through April 5, she’s showcasing her Ethel Merman-size pipes starring in the romantic musical comedy “Hello, Dolly!” (“Like Dolly herself,” I wrote in my review, “Loos proves once again she’s nothing short of a sensation.”) WHAT’S NEXT: She and her husband, percussionist David Jolley, might join a 20-week national tour of the musical “Footloose” that the Palm’s parent company, Prather Entertainment Group, is setting up to launch in December. Up first, though, she’ll spend the summer in the Palm’s country music revue, “Honky Tonk Angels.”  SWITCH-HITTER Sarah Wolter, PhoenixSEASON HIGHLIGHTS: An artist in residence at Phoenix Theatre, Wolter took a break from the big leagues to work for the community playhouse Mesa Encore Theatre in November. Directed by friend Phillip Fazio in a stripped-down staging, Wolter, 26, reprised the role of nightclub chanteuse Sally Bowles in the musical “Cabaret,” after a razzle-dazzle 2004 production at PT. “It was very guerilla theater-esque,” the actress says of the Mesa production, “because we were working with such a limited budget.” WHAT’S NEXT: She’s charming crowds in Southwest Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor” as the comically conspiring Mistress Page. And she’s keeping an eye out for other projects. “There are so many great theaters out there that are doing higher-quality stuff,” Wolter says, “They’re attracting higher-level talent, but they still have the heart of the Little Engine that Could.”  FANCY FOOTWORK Edgar Torrens, MesaSEASON HIGHLIGHTS: If you need a high-energy hoofer, Torrens is your man. A company member at Tempe’s Childsplay, the 22-year-old spent winter in the musical “Seussical,” followed by a tap-dance-tastic role (Cosmo Brown) in “Singin’ in the Rain” at Gilbert’s Hale Centre Theatre. A shot at playing Ren in the musical “Footloose” at the Hale in 2007 proved Torrens has leading-man appeal — though the actor admits he’s got some work to do before he stars in a romantic comedy, as he’s learning from the smattering of laugh lines he delivers in “Singin’ in the Rain”: “I’ve never been sought out as a comedian,” he says. “I don’t consider myself one, but I’m trying to do my best to please the crowd.” WHAT’S NEXT: A part in the Jason Robert Brown song cycle “Songs for a New World” for Phoenix’s Artists’ Theatre Project in May.  DOUBLE THREAT Katherine and Christina Rae Stewart, MesaSEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The good news: Sibling actors Katherine, right, and Christina Rae Stewart turned in stellar performances this season — Katherine, 32, a complex triumph in the Marilyn Monroe bioplay “M.M.xx” at her own Desert Rose Theatre; Christina Rae, 30, smoldering as the devil Mephistophilis in Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” on the same stage, directed by her sister. The bad news: Katherine had to shutter her 55-seat storefront theater space at the end of 2007, in the wake of a prohibitive rent hike, forcing fans of the plucky 3-year-old troupe to wonder if they’d have to cut an April production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” WHAT’S NEXT: Desert Rose found temporary shelter for its “As You Like It,” in the theater at downtown Mesa’s Heritage Academy, opening April 17. ONLINE EXTRAS We asked these six actors to describe their worst on-stage blunders; click here for the multimedia feature. Click here to listen to an audio interview with the Stewarts.Contact Chris Page by email, or phone (480) 898-5656 |
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© 2008 East Valley Tribune. All rights reserved.
Reader comments (14)
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leathej1
You don't have to tell me this - I work with them every day! Though I must protest that Gene Ganssle is not on this list. Then we'd have the "Merry Wives Trifecta". Suggest removal of this commentMarch 13, 2008
comebacklvr
Sarah Wolter should ashamed of herself for stealing her "worst on-stage blunder" from the tv series The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow. She didn't just use one or to things from the show, she plagiarised an entire episode. Rent The Comeback, you'll find it's all there. Comment has been reviewedMarch 14, 2008
Todd
Oh my God! I loooooooooooove The Comeback, that was freakin HILARIIOUS. I laughed so hard, I thought it was a great homage to one of THE BEST shows EVER on television. Hey comebacklvr, GET A SENSE OF HUMOR!! Suggest removal of this commentMarch 14, 2008
kallen
Of course that was an homage to "The Comeback," which should not only comeback, but have Sarah Wolter in it. What a total stitch. What a complete talent. Suggest removal of this commentMarch 14, 2008
pat
I KNEW her story was familiar. OMG, I can't believe Sara Wolter did that so well. Liza Kudrow should totally get a load of this. From now on, I am going to make sure I see what evr sara is in because she totally made me laugh. Suggest removal of this commentMarch 14, 2008
mattie
hahahahahahaha! my friend sent me this link. brilliant! long live valerie cherish! "i don't wanna see that!" Suggest removal of this commentMarch 14, 2008
David
Hats off, Ms Wolter... I just bought a ticket to "The Merry Wives of Windsor", any friend of "The Comeback" is a friend of mine. Suggest removal of this commentMarch 14, 2008
jarradm
lisa kudrow=comic genius. nice shout-out. :)MUST HAVE CUPCAKE! MUST HAVE QUESADILLA!
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/271/1211/1024/cupcake21.jpg Suggest removal of this comment
March 14, 2008
Monica
OMG!!! I hope Lisa Kudrow has seen this!! For those of us devastated about the loss of "The Comeback" it's nice to see the character of Valerie Cherish can live on, with or without HBO!Sarah should star in a stage version!!!! Suggest removal of this comment
March 15, 2008
comebacklvr
Come on people, it was suppose to be about your biggest theatrical blunder, not your favorite cable tv moment. If she needed a theatrical blunder she could have just said "Cabaret at MET". Now that was a blunder. Comment has been reviewedMarch 15, 2008
kallen
Ohhh, Comebacklvr, methinks there's a bit of jealousy rearing its ugly head there. Wolter and (most) of the cast of "Cabaret at Met" were gutsy and moving. Suggest removal of this commentMarch 15, 2008
SarahWolterFanClub
Good one Comebacklvr! Cabaret at MET was such a "blunder" that Chris Page listed it as one of the reasons why she made the MVP list. Comment has been reviewedMarch 15, 2008
Bill Potts
Please, Comebacklvr, lighten up. Sarah Wolter is brilliant, and everyone was undoubtedly in on the joke, it's just raging jealous folks like you who can't see Real, Genuine Talent or when you do, do everything you can to demean it. I travel from Flagstaff just to see Sarah Wolter in anything, anytime. You'll be eating your words when you watch her accepting her Tony on of these days! Comment has been reviewedMarch 15, 2008
comebacklvr
ok, whatever about Sarah, I don't really care. I wasn't commenting about her talent, just her story. Let me move to Elizabeth Loos. The only thing I've seen her in was the Christmas "thing" at Broadway Palm. Hated the show, loved her. I think she was the only thing I liked about that show. Suggest removal of this commentMarch 16, 2008