Miss You Like Hell Quiara Alegría Hudes (Book & Lyrics); Erin McKeown (Music & Lyrics) City Lights Theater Company in Co-Production with Teatro Visión Many a book and movie through the years have chronicled “the great American road trip” across the continent as individuals, friends, and families have ventured into the plains, mountains, and lonely towns in … [Read more...] about Miss You Like Hell
Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea
Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea Nathan Alan Davis The Pear Theatre Eighteen-year-old Dontrell is the kind of son any mother would be so proud to have: Straight A’s throughout school, all AP classes, and now only three weeks before beginning his first semester at John Hopkins University. But his mom cannot stop praying every day that the “t-minus 21” countdown of days … [Read more...] about Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea
Paradise Blue
Paradise Blue Dominique Morisseau Aurora Theatre Company In Aurora Theatre Company’s award-winning Detroit ’67 in 2018, the sounds of Detroit’s homegrown, Motown music were the background beat of Dominique Morisseau’s funny and frightening, heart-warming and heart-stopping play, Detroit ’67, the first of a trilogy about her hometown and a story that explodes amidst … [Read more...] about Paradise Blue
Cashed Out
Cashed Out Claude Jackson, Jr. San Francisco Playhouse Walking into the theatre and seeing the impressive scenic design of Tanya Orellana, my expectations for San Francisco Playhouse’s world premiere of Cashed Out only increased. Already I was excited that this commissioned work coming from the Playhouse’s pandemic Zoomlet series of ten-minute plays is written by a … [Read more...] about Cashed Out
The Play That Goes Wrong
The Play That Goes Wrong Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Palo Alto Players Finally, after past, short-handed productions such as Two Sisters (making for a much shorter evening of Chekhov), The Lion and the Wardrobe (forget the Witch), and Cat (a solo musical?), the Cornley Drama Society has recruited enough members to stage The Murder at Haversham … [Read more...] about The Play That Goes Wrong
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Dave Malloy Shotgun Players Having opened November 15, 2022, Shotgun Players’ audience-immersive, modern-sounding opera set in a Russian cabaret setting of 1812 – Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy – has already received the highest of accolades from both my fellow critics and especially from … [Read more...] about Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
Getting There
Getting There Dipika Guha New Conservatory Theatre Center As a young woman sits on a bench alone, each of four other women of varied generations approach her with highly dramatic outreach motions, lip-singing Edith Piaf’s “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” or in English translation, “No, I Don’t Feel Sorry about Nothing.” As they continue to bombard her with their … [Read more...] about Getting There
Clyde’s
Clyde’s Lynn Nottage Berkeley Repertory Theatre, In Co-Production with Huntington Theatre Company “The sandwich is your pulpit; it’s where you preach the gospel of good eating.” The lowly sandwich that many of us quickly slap together with little thought or planning rises to a cherished place of honor and homage in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s totally delicious and … [Read more...] about Clyde’s
In Every Generation
In Every Generation Ali Viterbi TheatreWorks Silicon Valley During the Jewish, Passover Seder, there is a section recounting all the blessings and miracles the Israelites have received; and after each is recited, those gathered around the festival table say, “Dayenu,” “It would have been enough.” In Ali Viterbi’s 2022-premiering play In Every Generationtime travels … [Read more...] about In Every Generation
TheatreEddys Returns January 2023 … Stay Tuned for More Reviews
Dear Loyal Readers: My husband and I have been out of the country hiking, touring, and visiting friends for the past six weeks. We now are heading to our second home in Medellin, Colombia, returning in January 2023. At that time, I will once again return to my avid attendance at San Francisco Bay Area theaters and will be posting reviews galore. Thanks for your … [Read more...] about TheatreEddys Returns January 2023 … Stay Tuned for More Reviews
Sanctuary City
Sanctuary City Martyna Majok Berkeley Repertory Theatre, in Association with Arena Stage Two high school seniors each are seeking sanctuary from a life that fate and family have unfortunately gifted them. B (as in Boy) arrived in this country ten years prior and is now here illegally because his mom overstayed her visa – a mom who now has vowed to leave him and go … [Read more...] about Sanctuary City
La Traviata
La Traviata Giuseppe Verdi, Composer; Original Libretto by Francisco Maria Piave English Version by Donald Pippin Pocket Opera, in Co-Production with Cinnabar Theatre With cheeks flushed against a snow-white, pale face, Violetta Valéry slowly enters pressed against the strong arm of her devoted servant, Annina, who serves as a needed crutch. Gingerly, painfully, … [Read more...] about La Traviata
Wives
Wives Jaclyn Backhaus Aurora Theatre Company “He wrote our history not for us, for himself,” eulogizes the first wife of Ernest Hemingway as Wife 2 and Wife 3 nod in agreement. In Wives – Jacklyn Backhaus’ time-traveling, boundary-breaking script packed with playful yet powerful punches aimed at patriarchally told history – women once married to the rich and famous … [Read more...] about Wives
Three Tall Women
Three Tall Women Edward Albee Pear Theatre Imagine yourself at a younger age having a conversation with yourself at other points in your life? What would that young, probably naïve you think about how things will turn out, about whom you will love and not love, or about your successes and especially about your failures? What advice would you give and what questions … [Read more...] about Three Tall Women
Dreaming in Cuban
Dreaming in Cuban Cristina Garcia Central Works Breaking boundaries of time, distance, and reality, a swirl of memories, dreams, and harsh realities both clash in conflict and dance in harmony in Cristina Garcia’s beautifully and imaginatively conceived Dreaming in Cuban, now in world premiere at Berkeley’s Central Works. Adapting to the stage her 1992, National Book … [Read more...] about Dreaming in Cuban
