Where Did We Sit on the Bus? Brian Quijada (Book and Music); Satya Chávez (Additional Compositions) Marin Theatre Company When he was in the third grade, Brian Quijada sat in a classroom during a lesson about Rosa Parks contemplating the bus where she took her seat. In the front, he heard, was where the whites normally sat; in the back were the Blacks. Brown-skinned, … [Read more...] about Where Did We Sit on the Bus?
Chinglish
Chinglish David Henry Hwang San Francisco Playhouse With a congenial big smile behind the center-stage lectern, American businessman Daniel Cavanaugh punctuates his talk on “Doing Business in China” with examples how Chinese interpreters often massacre common English phrases in commercial signage, with “Chief Financial Officer” becoming “Financial Affairs Is Everywhere … [Read more...] about Chinglish
By Georges! A Day in the Life of the Legendary Chevalier de Saint-Georges
By Georges! A Day in the Life of the Legendary Chevalier de Saint-Georges James D Sasser (Book & Lyrics); Charles Vincent Burwell (Music & Lyrics) Lamplighters Music Theatre As with so many accomplished people of color, the incredible life, achievements, and legacy of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, has largely been forgotten since his 1799 death … [Read more...] about By Georges! A Day in the Life of the Legendary Chevalier de Saint-Georges
The NI¿¿ER LOVERS
The NI¿¿ER LOVERS: An Amerikkan Musical Marc Anthony Thompson, Writer & Composer Magic Theatre In 1848, a young, married couple devised and successfully executed in eight days a daring, dangerous plan to escape the horrific bondage of slavery in Macon, Georgia to find freedom in Boston – the light-skinned wife disguised as a man and her darker-skinned husband, as … [Read more...] about The NI¿¿ER LOVERS
The SpongeBob Musical
The SpongeBob Musical Kyle Jarrow (Book) Based on the Series by Stephen Hillenburg Original Songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Shape & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady A, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain Whites T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., David … [Read more...] about The SpongeBob Musical
The Producers
The Producers Mel Brooks (Book, Music & Lyrics) Hillbarn Theatre and Conservatory Perspective #1: Raunchy, crass, insulting, insensitive. Horrible stereotypes that in 2023 seem particularly out of place in light of Me-Too, Don’t Say Gay, dramatic increase in antisemitism, and attacks in state after state aimed at transgender people. Perspective #2: Riotous, … [Read more...] about The Producers
Tosca
Tosca Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa Opera San José Immensely impressive, profoundly passionate, and musically masterful from first notes to closing plunge off the parapet describe Opera San José’s triumphant production of Giacomo Puccini’s timelessly popular Tosca. Within the setting of San José’s beautifully majestic California … [Read more...] about Tosca
Cyrano
Cyrano Edmond Rostand, Adapted by Josh Costello Aurora Theatre Company From its premiere night in 1897 Paris when the audience was still applauding an hour after the final curtain fell, through multiple stagings on the Great White Way starring some of Broadway’s finest, and after hundreds of productions worldwide in multiple languages, Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de … [Read more...] about Cyrano
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude Colin Higgins Los Altos Stage Company Maybe fifty-two years ago the film was a flop according to both critics and audiences. Maybe in 1980 as a stage play, it closed on Broadway after only four nights. But somewhere along the way the screenplay that was originally written by Colin Higgins as his master thesis became a cult film favorite, turned a … [Read more...] about Harold and Maude
Locusts Have No King
Locusts Have No King Julian Jiménez New Conservatory Theatre Center Jonathan and Marcus are in final prep for a dinner party with their neighbors, Lucas and Matthew. All four live in the same building and work in the same profession for the same institution. All are also in the closet at work and pretty much everywhere else except in the confines of the building … [Read more...] about Locusts Have No King
Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2
Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2 Qui Nguyen American Conservatory Theater Qui Nguyen refuses to write a play that can be easily described by any conventional terms. His highly inventive, irreverent, wild ride of a love story, Vietgone, that pulled up in 2018 on a motorcycle onto the intimate Strand stage of A.C.T. was a topsy-turvy combination of romantic comedy; … [Read more...] about Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2
Come From Away
Come From Away Irene Sankoff & David Hein (Book, Music & Lyrics) BroadwaySF “I’m sitting in my car.” “I’m in the library.” “I’m in the staff room.” “And I turned on the radio.” Like almost everyone worldwide and everyone in the opening night audience of BroadwaySF’s Golden Gate Theatre, citizens of Gander, Newfoundland remember where they were at 8:46 a.m. … [Read more...] about Come From Away
A Distinct Society
A Distinct Society Kareem Fahmy TheatreWorks Silicon Valley An executive order on January 27, 2017, by a president barely one week in office barred citizens from seven countries – all majority Muslim – from entering the United States. Protests, legal challenges, and suits followed; but in the meantime, border agencies began reacting and enacting, often changing … [Read more...] about A Distinct Society
Grand Horizons
Grand Horizons Bess Wohl San Jose Stage Company As the Beach Boys in the background sing joyfully their upbeat harmonies of “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older … to live together in the world where we belong,” a couple clearly pushing well into their seventies goes about prep for dinner – she pulling the roast from the oven and arranging it ever so properly on their … [Read more...] about Grand Horizons
English
English Sanaz Toossi Berkeley Repertory Theatre As an adult who is attempting to learn another language later in life, I know firsthand how the experience can be both exciting and tormenting, with my altering within minutes between feeling proud of all I know and stupid for all that I still do not. But like most Americans born here, I am not learning another language … [Read more...] about English
