Recently, Gilbert Theatre Examiner Joe Gordon interviewed David Dietlein about our current production of Forever Plaid.  Below is part of the interview.  If you would like to read the interview in its entirety, please click here. Enjoy!

The Hale Centre Theatre management is devoted to presenting the very best in family entertainment, both for its loyal adult and youth patrons. The Hale Theatre presents the return engagement of one of its most popular shows, the musical Forever Plaid. When first presented in 2007, this internationally acclaimed musical was a sell out, turning away eager audiences nightly. The new production plays through July 10.

The Examiner chatted with Hale Producer David Dietlein about all things Hale last week. Dietlein is a man of many talents, in addition to producing, he is his company’s lighting, set and sound designer, a true renaissance man of the theater. David has been involved in all aspects of theater since a child. He is the grandson of respected theater greats Ruth and Nathan Hale (original founders of the Glendale Center Theatre). Dietlein has produced over 150 comedies and musicals. He brought the Hale Theatre to Gilbert in 2003 after working many years in Glendale along side his brother Tim. Dave oversees all aspects of each production and contributes greatly to the finished product.

Q:The Hale Theatre Centre is an exciting part of the Gilbert community. How many Hale Centre Theatres are there currently?

A: The original Hale Theatre is in Glendale California, right outside of Los Angeles. There’s also one in Salt Lake City’s West Valley and one in Orem, which is about fifty miles south of Salt Lake City. The Hale has a summer theater in Grover, Utah.

Gilbert is our newest home. We chose to build here because there wasn’t a permanent year round theater in Gilbert at the time. We have never regretted that decision. Each theater is totally, independently owned and operated. Our only connection is that we are all family.

Q: What do you consider important in planning each new production?

A: Each area has a different personality. My wife, Corrin, and I have talked about this a number of times. What might work in LA may not work in Arizona or Utah. The family talks about different shows, studying what might and might not work in the different locales. We have to look at what people like in the various locations. It’s definitely a learning process. We do find that our audiences in Gilbert respond well to shows that have a lot of action. It’s a little more over the top than I was used to in California. Here they like bigger more vibrant characters. We were talking about doing The Importance of being Earnest next year. Glendale had just done it and when I spoke to my brother, Tim, who runs that theater, told me that the Wilde play has an exhausting amount of clever dialog and not much action in it. I thought that it might not work for our audiences. One thing we have found here is that dramas don’t seem to do as well as the comedies and the musicals, of course, are always enormously popular.

Q: Like many of the Valley’s theater companies, the Hale has a vibrant children’s theater. Can you tell us about it?

A:We are really excited about our children’s program. While our shows are very interactive with our young audiences, they are equally as entertaining for the adults. The shows have a lot of humor. We try to mix modern with traditional. Some of the characters can be pretty wacky and a whole lot of fun but they are always bright and colorful.

We’re very thrilled about our next show, The Little Mermaid. This is an original work written especially for the Hale. In fact, one of its writers, Karey Kirkpatrick, is someone I knew in LA when he was going to film school. He came to us with the idea of adapting Hans Christian Anderson’s classic fairy tale for the Hale and the resulting show is just great. The Little Mermaid was a collaboration of love by Jonathon Hale and Sarah Sandberg, with the music by Karey Kirkpatrick and Byron Simpson. In fact, Karey was also involved as a writer or director for Madagascar, James and the Giant Peach, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy as well as Over the Hedge. The Little Mermaid will play from July 10 through November 27.

The Little Mermaid will play from July 10 through November 27 following our current production of The Princess and the Pea.

Q: This is not the first time the Hale has presented Forever Plaid. What convinced you to bring it back now and can you describe the new production?

A: We simply couldn’t get everybody in last time. It was a complete sell out. The new production has the same director, Mickey Bryce, who created all the magic the first time out. We have an new choreographer for the revival, Amanda Paige, who performed on Broadway for a number of years and is freshly relocated to the Valley. We have a great new group of actors, DeVal Johnson as Sparky, Devon Johnson as Jinx (no relation to DeVal), Stephen Erek as Francis and Nathan Turley as Smudge. Mickey Bryce is also the music director and our live band includes Lincoln Wright (piano), Stephen Tessier (bass) and Walt Partlow (drums).

This production will be a total change for the Hale. When the audience walks into the theater, they are in store for a delightful surprise. We are converting the auditorium into a proscenium thrust stage. We have draped off the north section, removing about fifty seats, replacing them with a stage. It’s very cool.

Forever Plaid is one of those shows that you can see over and over again and never get tired of it. Somehow the music of that era is like ice cream. It is such a treat. You can’t have enough of it. That’s a tribute to why the show is so popular and done so much all over the world. We are very excited to bring it back.

Next up for the Hale Centre Theatre Main Stage is the classic Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun. Annie Get Your Gun, follows Forever Plaid, opening July 16 and running through August 28.

All photos and artwork used by permission of Hale Centre Theatre.

For more information about performance schedule and ticket availability for Forever Plaid, Annie Get Your Gun, The Little Mermaid and/or The Princess and the Pea, please contact Hale Centre Theatre directly either ON LINE or the box office at (480)-497-1181.

Hale Centre Theatre 50 West Page Ave Gilbert 85233

Here is a little sneak peak into the Hale Theatre Children’s Theatre production of The Princess & The Pea. Each week we have families and children of all ages who enjoy a high energy, fun filled fairytale right here on our stage.  We thought you might like a sneak peak into Saturday Mornings at Hale.  Enjoy!

Special thanks to John Janezic for putting this video together.

Recently, Julie from the Phoenix New Times had the opportunity to review Princess & The Pea. Her comments are below and you can read the entire article here Enjoy!

The plays are for young audiences, but experienced adult actors play adult characters, so you can rely on the solid production values you’ll generally find in a Hale show. The current Children’s Theatre offering, The Princess & the Pea, has been running for about a month, and it continues into June, because these shows are presented just once a week, at a Saturday morning matinee. It’s kind of a nifty system that leaves both the venue and the performers available for more complex, time-consuming projects during the rest of the week.

One of the nice, homey things about Hale that’s even cooler with a young audience is that the performers come out to the lobby in costume to say hello, sign autographs, and pose for photos when the play’s over. Everyone is popular, but as Tabitha, the Queen’s cat, Ashley Letizia was definitely a favorite, and her performance was quite good, too, incorporating an adorable costume by Pam Oborn, the physical control of a dancer, and the cute grouchiness of, well, a cat.

I enjoyed the other performances, too, including Tyler Pounds’ portrayal of young Prince Valiant. Pounds plays naive and good-hearted in an earnest, believable fashion. Even if that’s not a stretch for the baby-faced MCC student, he rounded out the character and won the audience over.

In his quest for a bride, Valiant and his squire, Donald Dunce (Kevin Whitaker, goofy and charming) meet several princesses with whom the prince doesn’t quite click. These actresses do quite a bit of doubling, and they ably adjusted more than just their wigs and dresses to play multiple characters.

The script does make some positive statements about romantic compatibility, incorporates just enough slapstick, gives the kids in the audience opportunities to participate, and stretches what is really a very short story into two brief acts that nearly make sense.

The Princess & the Pea continues through Saturday, June 26, at Hale Centre Theatre, 50 West Page Avenue in downtown Gilbert. Tickets are $10 and $12; order here or call 480-497-1181. Girls in the audience are encouraged to dress up all princessy, but when I attended I saw a diverse mix of wardrobe choices, from super-cute sundresses to the smallest, most fully outfitted Cinderella I’ve ever seen, and everyone looked comfortable.

Below is a recent review of Born Yesterday by Gilbert Theatre Examiner, Joseph Gordon.  We will be posting show photos from the performances soon. Until then, Enjoy!

Garson Kanin’s classic comedy Born Yesterday is more than a half century old but time has done nothing to wither its topical bite or delightful charm. Last night the Hale Centre Theatre opened its new production of Born Yesterday. There has never been a better time to revisit and marvel at this play’s enduring wisdom. Born Yesterday will continue, happily educating its audiences in civics and civility through May 22.

Born Yesterday opened on Broadway on February 4, 1946 at the Lyceum Theatre. The Kanin comedy starred Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, the deceptively not so “dumb blonde,” Paul Douglas as junk merchant Harry Brock and Gary Merrill as reporter Paul Verrall. Holliday famously replaced the deserting, original star Jean Arthur with only a few days rehearsal. Of course, the rest is history. Holliday became an “overnight” sensation and Born Yesterday settled down for a highly successful four year, 1,642 performance run.

The Hale Centre Theatre’s Born Yesterday stars many of it’s audience’s favorite performers. Returning are Alaina Beauloye as Billie, Eric Thompson as Paul and Don Crosby as Harry.

The production is staged by another audience favorite, award winning director Allan Dietlein. Mr. Dietlein has staged the production with his seasoned, knowing eye, illuminating the play’s amazing, up-to-date political commentary, never missing the opportunity to highlight its delicious satire and comedy.

Alaina Beauloye is simply superb as Billie. She is as fresh and delightful as Holliday must have been on that opening night so long ago. Even if she just sashays silently across the stage, Beauloye commands the audience’s attention. When she speaks, Kanin’s words become comic poetry. Beauloye makes Billie’s apparent boredom with the Washington scene a pleasure to watch. What a chameleon! Beauloye can do it all, sing, act, dance. Hale Theatre audiences have been continuously charmed by the many roles she has created there. To play the stern Anna in The King and I, the shy Amalia in She Loves Me and now the radiant Billie in Born Yesterday is proof positive that she can do anything. And do it to perfection!

Eric Thompson’s Paul is all nerdy nerves and earnest sincerity. He easily erases William Holden’s less than stellar performance in the play’s classic film version. Thompson and Beauloye have a most believable and lovely compatibility. Their mutual affection is neither forced nor insincere.

Paul plays Pygmalion to Billie’s Galatea. Through his patient tutelage Billie blossoms touchingly into her own woman. Paul’s initial goal in accepting the role as her tutor may have first been motivated by his desire to get closer to Harry, a man he despises, but, like Pygmalion, he ultimately can not resist any of Billie’s charms, his Galatea.

Billie initially tries in vain to seduce Paul. She tells him that she feels the way to his heart is through his head. When Paul finally breaks down and asks Billie to marry him, she amusingly teases him saying that he only loves her for her brain.

Don Crosby’s Harry would be very comfortable as a member of the Soprano family. Crosby makes Brock’s buffoonish evil fun to watch. He never misses a beat, perfectly illustrating Harry’s oozing, vicious, mean spirited demeanor. You can’t help loving/hating his character, especially when he tells Billie, “I don’t own anything cheap but you.” Harry knows he has to marry Billie to protect himself from the law. When he tells her she has to marry him, Billie refuses saying that he is just too dumb for her now.

Director Allan Dietlein does double duty designing the beautifully appointed set. Sandy Dietlein has as done a superb job costuming the actors. Her designs for Billie are perfection right down to the black seams on her nylons.

Born Yesterday may have been born yesterday but Kanin’s play is gloriously alive and well and firmly living in the present.

Tickets are on sale now, so call the Box Office today at (480) 497-1181 or visit www.haletheatrearizona.com  You won’t want to miss this one!