Invisible Theatre News

Marilyn is this girl's best friend (with video) www.azstarnet.com ® Accent Marilyn is this girl's best friend (with video) By Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona Published: 01.09.2009 Sunny Thompson most definitely did not want to be Marilyn Monroe. • But thanks to a persistent husband, a primo Monroe impersonator and an actor's curiosity, the platinum hair, luscious lips and heavy-lidded eyes are now part of her. • And Invisible Theatre brings her one-woman show, "Marilyn: Forever Blonde," to the Old Pueblo this weekend. Sunny Thompson plays Marilyn Monroe in the one-woman show, "Marilyn: Forever Blonde," which Invisible Theatre brings to the Old Pueblo. Photos by Howard Petrella / Courtesy of Invisible Theatre Her husband, Greg Thompson, had spent much of the last decade perfecting his script, based on interviews with and writings by Monroe, who died in 1962 from what may or may not have been an accidental suicide. The last six years of t...

Tucson Weekly : CityWeek : Pick of the Week : "Pick of the Week" PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 8, 2009 Audiences Prefer Blondes? By CLAIRE CONRAD During the opening performance of Marilyn: Forever Blonde, actress and singer Sunny Thompson faced a tough crowd. The play opened in Hollywood, Calif., across the street from Marilyn's Walk of Fame star. In the audience sat former producers, co-stars and friends of Marilyn. The pressure was on for Thompson, who personifies the iconic blonde in the one-woman play about Marilyn's life. Sunny Thompson "It was terrifying at first, because there were so many people who came to the play who knew her and worked with her," Thompson said. "I thought, 'Gosh, can we open it in Dayton, Ohio, where they don't claim her?'" Opening in Hollywood was Thompson's husband's idea. Greg Thompson, the show's playwright and producer, thought that if the play was true to who Marilyn was and authentic to those who k...

Celebrate 'The Blond Bombshell' at Marilyn events Culture CHUCK GRAHAM Published: 01.01.2009 When memories just aren't enough, taking in a tribute performance can be nice. When one's memories get to be more than 50 years old, what brain doesn't appreciate a nostalgia-boosting experience to relive the excitement of the times when cars had fins and there was only one way to make a martini? Sunny Thompson stars in Invisible Theatre's "Marilyn: Forever Blonde!" One of the hottest buttons for dream date fantasy was Marilyn Monroe, a pop culture icon still sweet enough to be the girl next door, even after she became the bride first of Joe DiMaggio and then of playwright Arthur Miller. Another part of the legend is that alleged link between Monroe and President John F. Kennedy. And who mysteriously snatched away her address book after she died? How did she keep that glow alive for so many influential men? There will be insights aplenty in a trio of events cel...

Tucson Weekly : Chow : Noshing Around : PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 1, 2009: Noshing Around Marilyn Merlot Nova Wines of Napa Valley has been making popular Marilyn Monroe-themed wines since 1985, including Blonde De Noirs, Marilyn Cabernet and the playfully named Marilyn Merlot. Those wines will be highlighted at an Invisible Theatre Company fundraiser at Pastiche Modern Eatery, 3025 N. Campbell Ave., at 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 9. $125 per person, $75 of which is tax-deductible. Appetizers, sweets and music by Joe Bourne and Rob Boone are included. Call 882-9721 for reservations. Visit marilynwines.com or invisibletheatre.com for more information. Marilyn: Forever Blonde

Loft celebrates Marilyn Monroe with costume contest, screening www.azstarnet.com ® Caliente Loft celebrates Marilyn Monroe with costume contest, screening Tucson, Arizona Published: 01.01.2009 Tucson's Invisible Theatre will present the Southwest premiere of "Marilyn: Forever Blonde" Jan. 10-11 at the Berger Performing Arts Center. To help prime the pump for the stage show, IT and the Loft Cinema have cooked up an event called "Gentlemen Prefer Marilyn: A Marilyn Monroe Celebration." The one-night-only event, at 7:30 Wednesday, will include a costume contest, trivia and a screening of the classic 1953 comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," in which Monroe sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend." Admission is $6. For information about the Invisible Theatre production, call 882-9721.

Moody noir musical 'Gunmetal Blues' depicts misfortune in surreal world December 09, 2008, 9:49 a.m. CHUCK GRAHAM Tucson Citizen "Gunmetal Blues" rises out of the darkened Invisible Theatre stage as a 1930s nightclub gangster caper that's four parts atmosphere and one part action, with a twist. Armen Dirtadian looks terrific as Sam Galahad, the well-dressed loser who's old enough to know better but has never learned to resist. Dirtadian is well-known around Tucson for his dashing roles as the broad-shouldered leading man at Gaslight Theatre, but is keeping his personality in the shadows here. He plays a private eye so down on his luck, no client is ever turned away from his tattered office. Betsy Kruse Craig (another Gaslight star) steps into the IT spotlight as that tall blonde who doesn't care how much trouble Sam gets sucked into. She also plays three other blondes with their own suspicious motives. Taking on several additional roles is Mike Padilla, wh...

Tucson Weekly : Arts : Live From the Red Eye PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 11, 2008: Live From the Red Eye Blending both humor and sincerity, Invisible Theatre's 'Gunmetal Blues' offers a pleasant surprise By JAMES REEL I know what you're thinking, because I thought the same thing--and we're both wrong. Invisible Theatre is putting on Gunmetal Blues, a musical inspired by the gritty 1930s-'40s private-detective stories of writers like Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler. It rattles off lines like, "The rain on my face was a washrag full of straight pins." You can't really take that seriously unless it's coming straight from Hammet or Chandler. And this is a musical, remember, in which two of the stars are longtime regulars at Gaslight Theatre. You're thinking: This is just another silly, fluffy spoof. But you're as wrong as stilettos on a choirboy. Sure, Gunmetal Blues starts off as a send-up of more noir clichés than you can list on a corpse...