Small Mouth SoundsBess WohlAmerican Conservatory Theatre The Cast of Small Mouth SoundsWhat happens if we allow silence to dominate our world – at least the silence of our own voices? What might we hear if words no longer clutter our day-to-day lives? In Bess Wohl’s 2016 Off-Broadway hit, Small Mouth Sounds, six seekers of needed solace arrive for a week of forested … [Read more...] about “Small Mouth Sounds”
“An Enemy of the People”
An Enemy of the PeopleHenrik Ibsen, Adapted by Rebecca LenkiewiczPear TheatreThe Cast of An Enemy of the People Rebecca Lenkiewicz has stripped Ibsen’s original play of some of its extraneous moralizing and sidetracks for a slimmer version of An Enemy of the People that brings the nineteenth century story right into 2017 relevance. Pear Theatre is now staging this 2008 … [Read more...] about “An Enemy of the People”
“La Muerte Baila”
La Muerte BailaRebecca Martinez Teatro Visíon There is palpable excitement stirring as the curtain rises on a darkened underworld as all skeletal souls wait to hear the bells on earth begin to chime to announce el día de los muertos (the Day of the Dead). Those bells are their invitation to cross over for one day and re-enact a favorite memory, to visit a missed … [Read more...] about “La Muerte Baila”
“Barbecue”
BarbecueRobert O’HaraSan Francisco PlayhouseTeri Whipple, Clive Worsley, Anne Darragh & Jennie BrickWe are here “to encircle with truth and love today in the open air ... Today, we step in.” So says a sister to three of her adult siblings gathered together in a city park setting where the main features are a chain-link fence, a picnic table next to the public … [Read more...] about “Barbecue”
“The Prince of Egypt”
The Prince of EgyptStephen Schwartz (Music & Lyrics); Philip LaZebnik (Book)TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (in collaboration with Fredericia Teater, Denmark) Diluckshan Jeyaratnam & Jason Gotay Almost twenty years later, the creators of the 1998 animated film, The Prince of Egypt – Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Philip … [Read more...] about “The Prince of Egypt”
“This Bitter Earth”
This Bitter EarthHarrison David RiversNew Conservatory Theatre CenterH. Adam Harris & Michael HannaGrief over a devastating loss unfolds as a series of sometimes disconnected memories whose recall follows no particular timeline in Harrison David Rivers’ riveting, moving This Bitter Earth, now in its world premiere at the New Conservatory Theatre Center. As one man’s … [Read more...] about “This Bitter Earth”
“Thomas and Sally”
Thomas and SallyThomas BradshawMarin Theatre CompanyMark Anderson Phillips & Tara PachecoIf Thomas Bradshaw were a writer of history books, then that subject might very well be THE favorite of school kids across America. Instead, he is a playwright who has created a detailed, engaging, sometimes a bit shocking, and often quite funny timeline of our third president and … [Read more...] about “Thomas and Sally”
“Hamlet”
HamletWilliam ShakespeareAmerican Conservatory TheatreJohn Douglas ThompsonThat something is “rotten in Denmark” becomes immediately obvious in the opening minutes of American Conservatory Theatre’s current production of Hamlet. Black-clad men climb from the bowels of some underground passageway, with streaks of stark light emanating from the subterranean world onto … [Read more...] about “Hamlet”
“Disney’s The Little Mermaid”
Disney’s The Little MermaidAlan Menken (Music); Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater (Lyrics); Doug Wright (Book)Broadway San JoseThe Cast of The Little MermaidA stage-filling, blue screen full of bubbles that boringly bobbled up and down a few inches in each direction as the packed audience filled the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts should have been all the evidence we … [Read more...] about “Disney’s The Little Mermaid”
“Million Dollar Quartet”
Million Dollar QuartetColin Escott & Floyd Mutrux (Book)Palo Alto Players The Cast of Million Dollar QuartetMillion Dollar Quartet finds its way to the Palo Alto Players stage, featuring two dozen songs guaranteed to ensure audience toe taps, head bops, and hand claps along to familiar beats and rhythms. The musical is a staged … [Read more...] about “Million Dollar Quartet”
“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the TemptationsDominique Morisseau (Book); The Legendary Motown Catalogue (Music & Lyrics)Berkeley Repertory TheatreEpraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, James Harkness, Jared Joseph & Derrick BaskinIn silver-grey suits with a slight sheen of sparkle, the five appear, fingers smartly snapping at their sides in perfectly synchronized … [Read more...] about “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
“An American in Paris”
An American in ParisGeorge Gershwin and Ira Gershwin (Music and Lyrics); Craig Lucas (Book)SHNTaking a 1951 film starring the dancing likes of Gene Kelly and Leslie Carron – a film that is idolized by members of a certain generation and one hardly if at all known by those known as Millennials – and turning that film decades later into a stage musical is nothing short of risky … [Read more...] about “An American in Paris”
“Durst Case Scenario”
Durst Case ScenarioWill DurstThe MarshWill DurstIn early summer 2016, Will Durst -- political comedian extraordinaire and a San Francisco Treat if there were ever one – took The Marsh stage by storm in a one-person show entitled Elect to Laugh in which he skewered one-by-one all the many, many candidates then running for president in both parties. Even then, the missteps, … [Read more...] about “Durst Case Scenario”
“Luna Gale”
Luna GaleRebecca GilmanAurora Theatre CompanyJamie Jones, Devin S. O'Brien & Alix CuadraOn any given day in the U.S., over 400,000 kids are living in foster care environments, with at least a quarter of those placed by the courts with blood relatives in what is classified as kinship care. Social workers are assigned to each of those children to ensure where they live … [Read more...] about “Luna Gale”
“In the Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play”
In the Next Room, or, the Vibrator PlaySarah RuhlPear TheatreApril CulverSarah Ruhl’s Pulitzer Prize finalist In the Next Room, or, the Vibrator Play received its much acclaimed world premiere in 2009 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Now on the much smaller, more intimate stage of Pear Theatre, the play opens once again in the Bay Area featuring a doctor’s wife, … [Read more...] about “In the Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play”
