The Play That Goes Wrong Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory OK, let's first just put on the table all the words that Merriam-Webster, Roget, or ChatGBT can spit out for 'funny': a scream, a riot, zany, kooky, a knee-slapper, uproarious, sidesplitting, that dog won't hurt. Get the idea? It would take all these and … [Read more...] about The Play That Goes Wrong
Oy, What They Said About Love
Oy! What They Said About Love Steve Budd The Marsh San Francisco Steve Budd is turning fifty and has yet to meet his 'beshert,' his soul mate for a life of bliss together after their exchange of vows under the chuppah. Sure he has dated a string of possibilities along the way, but none of them seems ever to work out. What is going on? In his created and … [Read more...] about Oy, What They Said About Love
Moonchild
Moonchild Connor Lifson & K. Sid Zhang Stanford Theatre and Performance Studies (TAPS) "What are we except the stories we tell ourselves?" A little girl confined in a small space surrounded by white draping suddenly is visited by a fairy who beckons her to follow, leading Lyra into a supernatural domain and a journey full of wonder, excitement, and danger -- a … [Read more...] about Moonchild
Frozen
Frozen Kirsten Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez (Music & Lyrics) Jennifer Lee (Book) Palo Alto Players Whether one is five, ninety five or any where in between, Palo Alto Players has a hit that is sure to be deemed "hygge" by everyone who is lucky enough to attain a ticket to its current blockbuster, Disney's Frozen. Even that Nordic term for anything that … [Read more...] about Frozen
Mean Girls
Mean Girls Tina Fey (Book); Jeff Richmond (Music); Nell Benjamin (Lyrics) Ray of Light Theatre With a twenty-five-year history of picking musicals "with our gut" that "pack a punch" -- musicals that other companies often shun like Carrie, Jerry Springer: The Opera, an all-female Jesus Christ Superstar, or Lizzie the Musical -- Ray of Light Theatre triumphantly … [Read more...] about Mean Girls
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov, Translation by Tom Stoppard Los Alto Stage Company While Anton Chekhov categorized his 1904 premiere, The Cherry Orchard, as a comedy with some elements of farce, the great work now seen as a literary classic is often produced more as a tragicomedy as it dramatizes the fall of the Russian aristocracy at the turn of the twentieth … [Read more...] about The Cherry Orchard
Clouds from an Crumbling Giant: our wild shining days
Clouds from a Crumbling Giant: our wild shining days Shinichi Iova-Koga inkBoat "There is being. There is nonbeing. There is a not yet beginning to be nonbeing. There is a not yet beginning to be a not yet beginning to be nonbeing. Suddenly there is nonbeing." ~Chuang Tzu Has there ever been a time when humans during their short stay on earth did not wonder, … [Read more...] about Clouds from an Crumbling Giant: our wild shining days
Anon(ymous)
Anon(ymous) Naomi Iizuka The Pear Theatre A young man is surrounded by people of many colors, races, and nationalities who answer his initial "Where I come from is far away from here" with memories of their own origins: "hills of green tea," "waterfalls taller than the tallest skyskraper," "monsoon rains," "the smell of fried squid," and many more. The … [Read more...] about Anon(ymous)
Come from Away
Come from Away Irene Sankoff & David Hein (Book, Music & Lyrics) TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Whenever TheatreWorks Silicon Valley combines the masterful artistry, deep-felt values, and insightful creativity of long-time collaborators Robert Kelley as Stage Director and William Liberatore as Music Director, the heart is bound to reign forth in a magical, … [Read more...] about Come from Away
Hamnet
Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell, Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti American Conservatory Theatre, A Production of The Royal Shakespeare Company & Real Street Productions A romance born in the woods between teenagers William Shakespeare and Agnes Hathaway eventually bears a son whose sudden death spawns near unbearable grief as well as inspiration for one of the world's … [Read more...] about Hamnet
how to make an American Son
how to make an American Son christopher oscar peña New Conservatory Theatre Center Books upon books from Borders, a soft-leather bag from Coach, $1100 for fourth-row Madonna tickets -- and now he wants a new car for his upcoming sixteenth birthday? Even though second-generation and definitely spoiled Orlando sees the sky as the limit as he pleads with his … [Read more...] about how to make an American Son
The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady Stephen Garvey 3Below Theatres & Cafe, Guggenheim Entertainment, Producer In the yesteryear era of 1974's big-flowered skirts, psychedelic-striped bellbottoms, and paisley patterns gone wild, Arden Amusement Park is set to open amidst a major foul-up: Two rival, family-member bands have both been … [Read more...] about The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
The Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight Keith Bunin San Jose Stage Company A young man's decision to board a train in LA heading to Seattle is one that may likely impact every day of his life going forward unless he decides in the next few hours to get off and return to where he started in San Diego. The secret he carries will not be conveyed to any of the other five people who share … [Read more...] about The Coast Starlight
The Monsters
The Monsters Ngozi Anyanwu Berkeley Repertory Theater, in a Co-Production with La Jolla Playhouse In an octagonal space called the Cage, a bare-chested, bare-foot fighter with rippled muscles kicks, jabs, lands punches, and overcomes an unseen foe. The reigning MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) champion returns to a fan-empty locker room sans any sign of victory, looking … [Read more...] about The Monsters
Flex
Flex Candice Jones San Francisco Playhouse The squeaks and stomps of tennies across maple, the grunts and grinds of girls blocking others bodies, and the sudden silence and swoosh of aiming and shooting for the basket fill the electric air as San Francisco Playhouse becomes a high school gym full of young women's dreams of a state, basketball championship and maybe … [Read more...] about Flex
