Review - ALL NEW PEOPLE

“All New People,” the first stage script by onetime “Scrubs” star Braff, premiered Off-Broadway in 2011. With its mix of existential angst and irreverent humor, it has a lot in common with “Garden State,” the 2004 indie film that Braff wrote, directed and starred in...



OK, so it’s not quite the dark-comic genius of an “August: Osage County.” But in the Arizona-premiere production directed for Stray Cat Theatre by associate artistic director Louis Farber, “All New People” features a spot-on cast that delivers full entertainment value.



Michael Peck, returning from Stray Cat’s “An Impending Rupture of the Belly,” is right in his wheelhouse as the brooding Charlie, but he’s basically playing straight man to his screwball co-stars. Joe Kremer, who just might be the most reliable laugh-getter in the Valley scene, is even funnier than usual as Myron, an unapologetic hedonist whose party-boy antics are a thin disguise for a lonesome soul.



That’s a near enough description as well for Emma, played with bittersweet verve by Angelica Howland (who recently starred in Phoenix Theatre’s “The 39 Steps”). Finally, Kim Richard may be saddled with the least complex character, but she plays her bimbo stereotypes to the hilt. (Explaining the difference between a prostitute and an escort, she squeals, “I’m like the Louis Vuitton of vagina!”)



As a bonus for theater addicts, “All New People” also features cameos from three other top Valley talents in filmed interludes that fill in some of the backstory.



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