photo by Tim Fuller

Foreground, Ms. Watson (Regina A. Fernandez) picks up the pace while Ms Holmes (Kelen Coleman) adds more sauce.

While we in the audience are frequently admonished to “brush up on our Shakespeare,” Arizona Theatre Company is now suggesting we keep up with the evolving times and “brush up on our Sherlock Holmes.”

Popular culture issues playwright Kate Hamill (known for her updating of such classics as “Pride and Prejudice,” “Sense and Sensibility” and “Little Women”) turns her hand to the sort of crime scenes packed with telling details first deeply analyzed by Sherlock Holmes in 1887 when Arthur Conan Doyle published “A Study in Scarlet.”

Never mind thinking “We're not in Kansas anymore.” Hamill has advanced the curve-stemmed Calabash pipe smoking detective and his proper doctor pal into a pair of vigorously fact-seeking feminists in “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B.” These two also love taking selfies of themselves at crime scenes and using Google to get more facts.

Marcia Milgrom Dodge is directing the ATC production, giving her cast of four a high-speed boost to keep the comedy rolling. Rather than construct the usual tsunami of droll deductions that we always expect from the understated Holmes, Dodge starts out fast, skips the details, then accelerates the action with slam-bang punchlines to stimulate high volume body language.

If the situation calls for an exclamation point, Dodge has her players give it three exclamation points...just for good measure.

Adding the topspin are Kelen Coleman as Ms. Holmes (occasionally called Shirley) and Regina A. Fernandez as the tech-minded and retired American doctor Joan Watson all at loose ends, finding herself in London when she runs into the splendidly self-styled English detective.

So in lieu of a brain-scratching who-dun-it type of plot we get more of a neck-snapping journey for these two women, both all at sixes and sevens, who keep getting involved in hyper-quick train wreck situations while learning to depend on each other.

Handling a variety of male roles, some with a traditional Sherlock Holmes look, is Aaron Cammack. He becomes sort of a glue-guy whose presence contributes a kind of order to the stage action.

The best member of the cast, filling the other female roles, is Michelle Duffy. One time she is the victim, another time the villain, and other roles, always making each one distinctively memorable in a different way.

The “Apt. 2B” of the title becomes not just a chaotic London flat but also an awesome stage set designed by Chen-Wei Liao. Filled with deliberately placed and carefully chosen “clutter,” as well as a remarkable collection of chandeliers, the overall effect comes to stand for the swirling mass of flotsam that fills both women's lives.

“Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson” runs through June 7 with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.  For tickets and show times, visit atc.org. 

As a theatrical performance, the conversations between turbulent Marjorie and mechanical Walter are brilliantly performed. Playwright Jordan Harrison has constructed “Marjorie Prime” so cleverly, and director Christopher Johnson puts so much attention to the most subtle details, we come away believing reality can indeed exist in many shades of imagination.

Completing the cast are Carley Elizabeth Preston and Matt Walley as Marjorie's tense daughter Tess and her goodhearted husband Jon. Tess is equally as mercurial as her mom in abrupt mood shifts. Slipping into middle age Tess faces her own dystopia that she never had a warm relationship with her mother.

Every conversation between the two always ends in a bickering, sputtering argument. For both women, family life exists more in their head than in their hearts. In one series of short bursts, Preston brilliantly leaps from crisis conclusion to crisis combustion.

So we in the audience are left to ponder, does it really matter what happened in the past? Or does what we remember become more important than what actually happened?

ing in various combinations deliver one intense rendition after another filled with their personal hopes for some relief, offering 27 blues flavored pieces straight from the 1930s gut of Depression Era struggles in gritty cities, nearly 100 years ago.

Award winning Sheldon Epps first conceived of this revue in 1980, opening a successful Broadway run in 1982, followed by an equally popular London production in 1987.

Epps found ways to blend the music of such established composers as Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer with the popular blues success of marque names like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Bessie Smith and others.

From the evergreen favorites “Lush Life” and “Stompin' at the Savoy” to the sly double entendre of “Take Me For A Buggy Ride” to the equally defiant “Wild Women Don't Have the Blues,” no heart left wanting goes unexamined.

Think of this indigo journey as a musical confessional so convincing in its search for sweet release, the capacity audience on opening night at the downtown Temple of Music and Art jumped to its feet in a standing ovation of the joyful discovery to learn what is meant by making it hurt so good.

This remarkable metaphor of a religious experience is carried out in the soaring stage design of Edward E. Haynes Jr. A towering church-like arc is filled with patterned columns that could also represent endless towers of faceless apartment buildings in a shadowy urban setting.

Included in the stage design are setups representing four generic apartments flaunting their ordinariness in cold concern for these star-crossed performers.

Each is given a descriptive title rather than a name. They are: The Lady from the Road (Roz White), The Woman of the World (April Nixon), The Girl with a Date (Camryn Hamm) and The Man in the Saloon (Darryl Reuben Hall). As the titles imply, each of these women represents all women at different stages in their lives.

The man, presumably, stands for all men who end up by themselves in a bar.

There is no dialogue or plot per se but each song is self-contained, telling its own story, adding another chapter to the challenging life of being female.

“Blues in the Night” runs through Feb. 15, with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Run time is approximately two hours, including intermission.

Tickets are $33-$113. For additional details and reservations, 833-ATC-SEAT (282-7328) or online, atc.org

Gaslight photo 

From left, Jake Chapman, Janee Page and Jacob Brown spin back through the decades to reach the 1960s,  where everybody had more fun.

Do you remember the joke that insists “If you can remember the1960s, you weren't actually there?”

Well, over at the Gaslight Theatre they clearly remember the 1960s, and they have the show to prove it.

Yes, we are talking about a revival of “Beach Blanket Bee-Bop,” originally written by Peter VanSlyke, now revived, adapted and directed by Katherine Byrnes and Mike Yarema.

How long has it been since you heard anybody shout “Cowabunga!?” Or rave on about something “humongous?” Or proudly take the nickname Moondoggie?

That role is played by Jake Chapman. He is Moondoggie the Surfer, and his extremely cool girlfriend is Barbara Anne (Janee Page).

Technically it is the 1960s, but in the earlier part. Before the Summer of Love, the Beatles and all that.

We are basking in the innocent sun of Surf City, USA, where the seductive curls of churning waves are numero uno and everybody's favorite schoolteacher is Bernie Longboard (Todd Thompson) whose death defying, breaker-riding escapades as a teen made him the Big Kahuna.

Can I get a hearty “Righteous, man!” Exacto mundo!

Those days were also the trophy-yearning heart of chromed car culture – surf all day, then cruise up and down Main Street all night. Drag races? Of course. With occasional breaks for hiding in the trunk of a friend's car to sneak in the drive-in movie.

The Gaslight Gang remembers all of it...the bad as well as the good.

Like the unkempt bully known as Moose (Charlie Hall) and his totally uncool pal Lunkhead (Jacob Brown). They made life miserable for Melvin (Mike Yarema), the brightest kid in school, who also had the most unbelievably bright collection of plaid pants.

Of course Melvin's exceptionally gifted nerdiness is matched by his nerdette girlfriend Francine (Kelly Coates).

The only other adults in the room are the white-gloves wearing Dean of Students, Miss Cliffhausen (Heather Stricker), and the VILLAIN spelled with capitol letters, Mrs. Fogbottom (Erin Thompson).

See, the deal is, Mrs. Fogbottom is a beachfront developer who wants to close Surf City's seaside amusement park, end all that surfing nonsense and convert the waterfront into an exclusive housing and high rise development. Uhh-ohh!

Following this classic clash of good vs evil is the after-show olio dedicated to celebrating the songs and humor of Sonny and Cher. Some of their special guests include Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, the Mamas and Papas.

“Beach Blanket Bee-Bop” runs through June 1, with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway Blvd. Reservations are required.

Tickets (before tax) are $28 adults, with discounts available for groups, students, seniors, military, first responders and children age 2-12. For details and reservations, 520-886-9428, online www.thegaslighttheatre.com, or visit the box office, open daily 10 am-9 pm.