Bluebeard's Castle Béla Bartók, Composer; Béla Balás, Original Hungarian Libretto English Translation by Steven White and Joseph Marcheso Opera San Jose An immense, dark, dungeon-like castle with its interior dimly lit by magnificent hanging chandeliers and wall scones of flickering candles is the setting for Opera San Jose's intriguing, beguiling, and … [Read more...] about Bluebeard’s Castle
3.5 E
La sonnambula
La sonnambula Vincenzo Bellini, Composer; Felice Romani, Libretto West Bay Opera In the early nineteenth century for some strange reason, the height of fashion in European stage works was to include somnambulism, or sleepwalking. With Felice Romani contributing the libretto, Vincenzo Bellini followed the popular trend by premiering in 1831 a two-act opera in the … [Read more...] about La sonnambula
Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
Exotic Deadly: Or The MSG Play Keiko Green San Francisco Playhouse In 1908, a Japanese scientist isolated and duplicated the savory taste of a particular type of seaweed, leading to a flavor enhancer that over the years became very popular in Asian cooking. In 1968, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine by an unknown Dr. Ho Man Kwok claimed … [Read more...] about Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
Accused!
Accused! Patricia Milton Central Works Politicians and police ranting against immigrants and the crimes they bring. An invading plague blamed on other countries. Threats and fears of domestic terrorists and possible bombings. Suspicion of corrupt public officials. People of color ignored by police. Women’s opinions ridiculed and outright dismissed by the men in … [Read more...] about Accused!
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor Otto Nicolai (Composer); Salomon Hermann Mosenthal (Original Libretto); Donald Pippin (English Version, Libretto) Based on Play by William Shakespeare Pocket Opera With a measure of self-worth and a confidence in his own attraction to the fairer sex that are almost as mammoth as his rotund belly, Shakespeare’s Falstaff has through the … [Read more...] about The Merry Wives of Windsor
Pear Slices 2024
Pear Slices 2024 Various Playwrights Pear Theatre Pigs seeking shelter, zombies released by the millions, precious memories found in a flower garden, Juliet’s visitor in Romeo’s tomb, Tarot cards coming to life. These are just some of the glimpses from this year’s crop of Pear Slices 2024, the near-twentieth annual array of eight, original, one-act plays produced by … [Read more...] about Pear Slices 2024
Adventures with Alice
Adventures with Alice Ava Roy Adapted from Lewis Carroll We Players Leave all logic behind; put away the need for plotline; forget understanding exactly what is happening at all times; readily accept questions with no answers and riddles with no solutions. Anyone ready to meet these requirements is more than eligible to plunge into a two-hour, thirty-minute whirlwind … [Read more...] about Adventures with Alice
Cunning Little Vixen
Cunning Little Vixen Leoš Janáček (Music & Original Czech Libretto) Donald Pippin (English Version of Libretto) Pocket Opera An old badger waddles outside its bushy abode, batting away a horde of buzzing, pesky insects. A spry frog hops onto a nearby rock while one by one, other forest creatures happily hop, prance, and sniff as a butterfly and blue dragon flit and fly … [Read more...] about Cunning Little Vixen
The Pride of Lions
The Pride of Lions Roger Q. Mason Theatre Rhinoceros On October 1, 1928, Mae West opened her latest play, The Pleasure Man – a comic, murder mystery with a climatic Drag Ball spectacle, resulting in the show being raided in its first two – and only – performances before being permanently shut down by the New York vice squad. Over fifty performers were hauled off to … [Read more...] about The Pride of Lions
For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday
For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday Sarah Ruhl The Pear Theatre In a tribute to her own mother’s 70th birthday, prolific and award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl has penned a play featuring a woman much like her mom along with her mom’s four, adult siblings. Both in the play and in real life, her mom is an actress whose lifelong career began as a child in Davenport, … [Read more...] about For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday
Swimming with Lesbians
Swimming with Lesbians Marga Gomez The Marsh Grab your life preserver; stop by the bar on the Lezzo Deck for a ‘sapphotini;’ and welcome aboard The Celesbian, “the world’s oldest lesbian cruise line because we have the world’s oldest lesbians on board.” We may think we are at The Marsh Berkeley; but under the command of the comic antics of veteran author and performer … [Read more...] about Swimming with Lesbians
Falsettos
Falsettos William Finn (Music & Lyrics); William Finn & James Lapine (Book) The Pear Theatre For me as an avid theatregoer and a critic, nothing is more upsetting than to see the applaudable efforts of a talented cast squandered by the choices and/or oversights by those who direct the production, both stage and musical. Unfortunately, such was the case in … [Read more...] about Falsettos
The Dignity Circle
The Dignity Circle Lauren Smerkanich Central Works “Hi, y’all. I’m Angela. I work in real estate. I live in Westlake, Sacramento, California. … I have a question for you. What would you do if right now I handed you forty thousand dollars? In cash. No strings attached?” Maybe “a trip, a new car, a new guest bathroom, a new forehead?” Or how about just “a way to … [Read more...] about The Dignity Circle
Yerma
Yerma Melinda Lopez (Adaptation & Translation) Based on the Play by Federico García Lorca Shotgun Players An opening scene of passionate lovemaking; a happy realization of a late period; and a pregnant, young woman singing sweetly a mesmerizing lullaby are still not enough to belie the feeling that all is not going as well as it at first seems. The fact that the … [Read more...] about Yerma
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
