Talley’s FollyLanford WilsonAurora Theatre CompanyHarry’s Upstage TheatreWalking in to visit an old friend not seen in years, I always wonder if our reunion will be as good as I remember our first meeting. Such is my feeling as I enter the small, intimate Harry’s Upstage at the Aurora and see the somewhat familiar “folly” before me – a latticed, gazebo-looking boat … [Read more...] about “Talley’s Folly”
“Oh No There’s Men On The Land”
Oh No There’s Men On The LandKaren S. RipleyThe MarshCabaret, BerkeleyAs my husband and I settled into our seats and table in the intimate, cozy Cabaret of the Berkeley Marsh for the 5 p.m. show, we soon started to feel a bit uneasy as we realized that we were the only two men in a room of women, many of whom clearly knew each other and most of whom appeared to be possible … [Read more...] about “Oh No There’s Men On The Land”
“Where’s Charley?”
Where’s Charley?Frank Loesser (Music & Lyrics); George Abbott (Book)42nd Street MoonEureka Theatre, San FranciscoThere is something about a man cross-dressing as a woman that has left audiences howling in laughter through the ages, from Falstaff to Daphne & Josephine to Mrs. Doubtfire and Tootsie. Surely one of the all-time favorites of audiences the world over is … [Read more...] about “Where’s Charley?”
“The River Bride”
The River BrideMarisela Trevino OrtaFess Parker Theatre, Santa Clara UniversityA fairy tale is supposed to have an air of magic, a sense of mystery, and a promise of “happily ever after.” Certainly Marisela Trevino Orta’s The River Bride, as directed by Aldo Billingslea and presented by students of Santa Clara University’s Department of Theatre & Dance, meets these … [Read more...] about “The River Bride”
“Colossal”
“Colossal”Andrew HinderakerDallas Theatre Center, Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre: Dallas, TXIt is 2 p.m., and the lobby-waiting audience finally begins its descent into the lower-floor theatre for the afternoon’s matinee. Reverberating ever more loudly are the beats and crashes of drums and cymbals. As we turn the corner at stair’s end, we make our way around the end … [Read more...] about “Colossal”
“The Grand Duke, or The Statutory Duel”
“The Grand Duke, or The Statutory Duel”William S. Gilbert (Lyrics) and Arthur Sullivan (Music)Lamplighters Musical TheatreLittle wonder that Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Grand Duke, or the Statutory Duel has been rarely produced since its premiere in 1896 at the Savory Opera. This final and least successful collaboration by the famed duo pushes three hours in length; has an … [Read more...] about “The Grand Duke, or The Statutory Duel”
“Max Understood”
Max UnderstoodPaul Dresher EnsembleNancy Carlin (Book & Lyrics); Michael Rasbury (Music & Lyrics)The first two minutes of the new musical, Max Understood, are two of the most captivating minutes I have ever seen in live theatre. Against a white wall on darkened stage with one spotlight on him, a small boy silently and erratically shakes, twists, smiles, and … [Read more...] about “Max Understood”
“Death of a Salesman”
Death of a SalesmanArthur MillerThe StageWillie Loman. Just the name conjures up many notions and images of past, great performances of what many believe is one of the greatest American dramas of the twentieth century. How can yet one more production by a local company hope to compete with the giants of Broadway, TV, and film who have played this beaten-down … [Read more...] about “Death of a Salesman”
“The Star without a Name”
The Star without a NameTranslated & Adapted by Ana-Catrina Buchser from Mihail Sebastian’sSteaua fara numeDragon 2nd StagesIn a small Romanian, 1942 town, life is as routine and predictable as the trains that daily speed by, only occasionally pausing just long enough to drop off passenger and package at its tiny, one-desk station. On one otherwise normal evening, a … [Read more...] about “The Star without a Name”
“Let There Be Love”
Let There Be LoveKwane Kwei-ArmahAmerican Conservatory TheatreSeemingly unbridgeable gulfs exist aplenty in Kwane Kwei-Armah’s Let There Be Love. Divisions due to race, age, sex, sex orientation, immigrant status, and class along with serious parent-child conflicts threaten at times to keep each of our three principles islands unto themselves and at other times to pit two … [Read more...] about “Let There Be Love”
“Head of Passes”
Head of PassesTarell Alvin McCraneyBerkeley Repertory TheatreHead of Passes is both the title of rising playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s newest play and the part of lower Louisiana where three passages of the Mississippi join in shifting swamps and sands into turbulent currents of the Gulf of Mexico. It is in this sparsely populated, often stormy and flooded setting … [Read more...] about “Head of Passes”
“Nick & Nora”
Nick & NoraArthur Laurents, Book; Charles Strouse, Music; Richard Maltby, Jr., Lyrics42ndStreet Moon Theatre 42ndStreet Moon prides itself in making “great musicals sing again by finding (and often painstakingly restoring) ‘lost’ classics” -- or in the case of Nick and Nora, forgotten flops. Based on Dashiell Hammett’s … [Read more...] about “Nick & Nora”
“In a Word”
In a WordLauren YeeSan Francisco Playhouse, Sandbox SeriesWords and the memories they struggle to recall piece themselves together like puzzles with missing and/or wrong pieces in Lauren Yee’s In a Word. Guy, a husband, struggles to persuade his wife Fiona to go out for her birthday celebration dinner. She stubbornly resists, rooting herself in tangled and tortured … [Read more...] about “In a Word”
“Stupid F**cking Bird”
Stupid F**cking BirdAaron PosnerSan Francisco PlayhousePrior to seeing Aaron Posner’s Stupid F**cking Bird, I revisited Chekhov’s The Seagull and surprisingly found myself wanting to laugh at the extreme melancholy, quickness of each character to cry over any available disappointment, and the seriousness and weight given to most every interaction. While most translations … [Read more...] about “Stupid F**cking Bird”
“Fire on the Mountain”
Fire on the MountainRandal Myler & Dan WheetmanTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyWith relatively few spoken words but instead with three dozen songs and several score of projected, vintage photographs, Fire on the Mountain tells a moving, powerful story of the Appalachian coal miner. The might of the media used in this timeline history that covers much of the twentieth … [Read more...] about “Fire on the Mountain”
