ARIZONA ONSTAGE UPDATE

posted by James Reel

My latest scribbling for the Tucson Weekly:

Kevin Johnson has been having one of those good-news/bad-news summers. The good news is that his Arizona Onstage production of Stephen Sondheim's _Sunday in the Park With George_ sold out every show in June and got great reviews. The bad news is that even with packed houses, the run left Arizona Onstage Productions more than $10,000 in the hole. Johnson briefly considered shutting down his company. Other good news is that Johnson learned that he may be more or less the inspiration for the main character in a movie being released Aug. 27. The bad news is that the movie is _Hamlet 2_, whose main character is a talentless dork who leads his high school drama students into an ill-advised production that features a song titled "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus." Johnson briefly considered legal action, but, then, he was more than $10,000 in the hole. Ultimately, he decided to forge ahead with another Arizona Onstage season, the first production of which will open next week. And he decided to relax and enjoy the 15 minutes of notoriety he'll get from _Hamlet 2_, even though he's decided not to comment on it publicly for fear of making people wonder just what goes on during his day job at the highly touted BASIS Tucson School.

The full story is here.