TransfersLucy ThurberCrowded Fire TheaterVictor D. Ragsdale & Caleb CabreraWho is let in the gate to reside inside the ivy-covered walls of Hared University? Who is left only looking in from the outside? What set of qualifications wins out in the end when two candidates – one African American, one Latino -- have both beaten all odds over the daily hunger, … [Read more...] about “Transfers”
“American Hero”
American HeroBess WohlThe Custom Made Theatre Co.Paul Stout, Devon deGroot & Laura EspinoDay-by-day, the slices of turkey, pastrami, and cheddar dwindle away. Already there are no more chips and no more Dr. Pepper. But at Toasty Subs that just recently celebrated its grand opening, the three “sandwich artists” continue to spread what mustard is left on the few … [Read more...] about “American Hero”
“Marie and Rosetta”
Marie and RosettaGeorge BrantTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyMichelle E Jordan and Marissa RuddGeorge Brant’s Marie and Rosetta receives its foot-tapping, spirit-arousing, and raise-the-roof production at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, returning to its birthplace of sorts where in 2015 the musical was first featured in the company’s annual New Works Festival. The music and … [Read more...] about “Marie and Rosetta”
“Leading Ladies”
Leading LadiesKen LudwigHillbarn TheatreSamantha Ricci, Adrienne Kaori Walters & Monica CappucciniWhile the Shakespeare-mimicking situations in Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladiesare overall amusing, it is Director James Knipple’s gender-fluid, casting decisions that make Hillbarn Theatre's Leading Ladies well worth a night of forgetting all the day’s troubles and letting … [Read more...] about “Leading Ladies”
“Fiorello!”
Fiorello!Jerome Weidman and George Abbott (Book); Jerry Bock (Music); Sheldon Harnick (Lyrics)42nd Street Moon Colin Thomson & Cast MembersIn an age when daily we are hit with news about politicians at all levels who are racked with scandals, how refreshing it is to open the pages of history and discover there was once a lawyer-turned-mayor whose career was one of seeking … [Read more...] about “Fiorello!”
“The Who and The What”
The Who and The WhatAyad AkhtarMarin Theatre CompanyDenmo Ibrahim & Alfredo HuerecaAfzal has about all a man could want in life, save his precious wife whom he lost to cancer a few years ago. As a Pakistani immigrant and now U.S. citizen, he owns a commanding thirty per cent of the Atlanta, taxi industry. He has two beautiful, grown daughters who adore … [Read more...] about “The Who and The What”
“Violet”
VioletBrian Crawley (Book & Lyrics): Jeanine Tesori (Music)Based on the The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris BettsBay Area MusicalsJuliana LustenaderIt’s September 4, 1964 in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, as a wide-smiling, young woman with a small suitcase packed full of anticipation and hope boards a Greyhound bus. Bound for the church of Hope and Glory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, … [Read more...] about “Violet”
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
Cat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee WilliamsThe StageRob August & Allison F. RichWhat is it about sixty-plus-year-old this play about one family’s secrets, doubts, deceptions, lies, greed, unmet sexual desires, and mores still reflecting the Deep South’s century-old defeat that makes it one of the American stage’s favorites? The Stage presents a stellar … [Read more...] about “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
“American Night: The Ballad of Juan José”
American Night: The Ballad of Juan JoséRichard MontoyaLos Altos Stage Company Adrian Torres, Carlos Diego Mendoza & Dan CardenasMaybe it was when I first heard the Mexican-American actor say “jew” for “you” or when his character talked about wanting to get into the “Jew-S-A” that I began to check out. After all, I grew up as a kid in an era when I … [Read more...] about “American Night: The Ballad of Juan José”
“Border People”
Border PeopleDan HoyleThe MarshDan HoyleHow many average-sized, white guys can start a one-man show in San Francisco taking on the South Bronx, slang-filled dialect and the smooth-moving body motions of a six-foot-five black man and not get booed off the stage? What if that same white actor employs numerous other ways of positioning his eyebrows, eyes, mouth, posture, … [Read more...] about “Border People”
“Metamorphoses”
MetamorphosesMary Zimmerman (From the translations of Ovid by David R. Slavitt)Berkeley Repertory Theatre (in co-production with GuthrieTheater)Steven Epp & Sango TajimaThe element that flows, freezes, and flies into the sky as steam is the medium in which multiple, life-altering transformations occur in each of dozen-plus vignettes of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, now in … [Read more...] about “Metamorphoses”
“The Revolutionists”
The RevolutionistsLauren GundersonDragon Productions Theatre CompanyJenafer Thompson, Maria Marquis, Meredith Hagedorn, and Melissa JonesLauren Gunderson imagines a sorority of sorts forming during France's 1793 Reign of Terror among four unlikely friends – three real, one fictional – with portraits of their bravery, foresight, and revolutionary spirits emerging in a … [Read more...] about “The Revolutionists”
“Late Company”
Late CompanyJordan TannahillNew Conservatory Theatre CenterBaela Tinsley, Cheryl Smity, Desiree Tinsley, Lawrence Radecker & Kenneth Heaton The announced menu for the dinner party includes a main course of healing and reconciliation; but as the meal progresses, the dessert begins to look like a food fight full of accusations peppered by cradled secrets, unspoken … [Read more...] about “Late Company”
“A Little Night Music”
A Little Night MusicStephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); Hugh Wheeler (Book)Lamplighters Music Theatre Amy Bouchard, Jonathan Smucker, Elana Cowen & Chris UzelacSwaying and circling, circling and swaying, a quintet sings in a lush blend of harmonies snippets of fuller songs soon to come while also providing us metaphors in movement and in words of the on-again, off-again … [Read more...] about “A Little Night Music”
“Mothers and Sons”
Mothers and SonsTerrence McNallyCity Lights Theater CompanyDamian Vega and Lillian BogovichMuch has changed in the world around them since those days when AIDS was both a sure death sentence and a reason for many families to turn their backs in shame and righteousness on its victims. What has not changed is the prevailing ache of loss, the futile … [Read more...] about “Mothers and Sons”
