Orpheus in the Underworld Jacques Offenbach (Music) Hector Crémieux & Ludovic Halévy (Original French Libretto) Donald Pippin (English Adaptation) The plights of Orpheus and Eurydice have fascinated audiences from the times of ancient Greeks through the works of Ovid and Virgil up until today’s multiple versions of their ill-fated journey into Hades as told in … [Read more...] about Orpheus in the Underworld
4.5 E
The Road to Mecca
The Road to Mecca Athol Fugard Weathervane Productions at Z Below Light vs. Darkness. Love vs. Trust. White vs. Black. Old vs. Young. Friendship vs. Loneliness. Acceptance vs. Prejudice. Apartheid vs. Freedom. Christian Values vs. Eastern Values. Opposites continuously intercede, sometimes blend, and often explosively collide in Athol Fugard’s thought-provoking … [Read more...] about The Road to Mecca
The Confession of Lily Dare
The Confessions of Lily Dare Charles Busch New Conservatory Theatre Center As two old friends reminisce before a grave whose tombstone they describe as alabaster white due to regular cleanings of baking soda mixed with Jack Daniels whiskey, one notes lovingly and admiringly of the grave’s occupant, “She wouldn’t let a geezer squeeze her tits for less than a twenty.” … [Read more...] about The Confession of Lily Dare
Let the Right One In
Let the Right One In Jack Thorne, Stage Adaptation Based on the Novel & Film by John Ajvide Lindquist Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Presenting The National Theatre of Scotland Production) Two kids meet at night in the courtyard between their families’ two flats and quickly become friends. One is a boy; the other appears as a girl but says is not. One is twelve; … [Read more...] about Let the Right One In
Singin’ in the Rain
Singin’ in the Rain Betty Comden & Adolph Green (Book); Arthur Freed (Lyrics); Nacio Herb Brown (Music) South Bay Musical Theatre I am a sucker for tap-dancing, especially when a stage is packed to the gill with smiling, arm-swinging tappers that uniformly are toe-heel clicking up a storm and singing at the same time in full, fine voice. For that reason alone, I … [Read more...] about Singin’ in the Rain
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare, Adapted by L. Peter Callender African-American Shakespeare Company Maybe no play of the Bard’s has been adapted more than the romantic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in which the ongoing rivalry between two families leads to the deaths of two of their children who just happen to fall in love. On the stages of theatre, opera, and … [Read more...] about Romeo and Juliet
Clue
Clue Based on Screenplay by Jonathan Lynn Written by Sandy Rustin Additional Material by Hunter Foster & Eric Price Based on Paramount Pictures film, Clue Based on Hasbro Board Game, CLUE San Francisco Playhouse Six guests arrive at a New England, country mansion in 1954; and soon each receives from the host a plain-paper-wrapped gift – either a dagger, a … [Read more...] about Clue
The Travelers
The Travelers Luis Alfaro Magic Theatre, in Co-Production with Campo Santo A parable. An allegory. A dream. A mind-bending, fascinating fable. Any and all of these descriptors are possibilities to describe Luis Alfaro’s newest, stage creation, The Travelers, now in a gripping world premiere by Magic Theatre and Campo Santo – a co-production both ethereal and … [Read more...] about The Travelers
Miss You Like Hell
Miss You Like Hell Quiara Alegría Hudes (Book & Lyrics); Erin McKeown (Music & Lyrics) City Lights Theater Company in Co-Production with Teatro Visión Many a book and movie through the years have chronicled “the great American road trip” across the continent as individuals, friends, and families have ventured into the plains, mountains, and lonely towns in … [Read more...] about Miss You Like Hell
The Play That Goes Wrong
The Play That Goes Wrong Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Palo Alto Players Finally, after past, short-handed productions such as Two Sisters (making for a much shorter evening of Chekhov), The Lion and the Wardrobe (forget the Witch), and Cat (a solo musical?), the Cornley Drama Society has recruited enough members to stage The Murder at Haversham … [Read more...] about The Play That Goes Wrong
Ruthless! The Musical Comedy
Ruthless! The Musical Comedy Marvin Laird (Music); Joel Paley (Lyrics and Book) Los Altos Stage Company When third-grader Tina Denmark hears of the lead role in her school’s new musical, Pippi [Longstocking] in Tahiti, she declares “I would kill for that part;” and she is actually not kidding. The deadly ambitious pipsqueak who has trouble talking without singing or … [Read more...] about Ruthless! The Musical Comedy
Ain’t Misbehaving: The Fats Waller Musical Show
Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show Richard Maltby, Jr. & Murray Horwitz (Book) Luther Henderson (Musical Adaptations, Orchestrations & Arrangements) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory Maybe we do not get musical confirmation until the last and fifteenth song of Act One that “this joint is jumping;” but there is no doubt as the … [Read more...] about Ain’t Misbehaving: The Fats Waller Musical Show
Dot
Dot Colman Domingo New Conservatory Theatre Center Family gatherings during the December holidays are often a time of maneuvering about carefully on rather thin ice, with members skating gingerly around issues in order not to reopen past and often persistent cracks in relationships. For the Shealy family, skirting away from the one fact most want to ignore as they … [Read more...] about Dot
Roe
Roe Lisa Loomer Los Altos Stage Company Almost fifty years after Justice Blackmun announced the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision and as a new set of justices are staged in 2022 to announce new decisions that could all but reverse that landmark decision, nothing still divides this country more than Roe vs. Wade. With many people predicting a June 2022 demise … [Read more...] about Roe
Art (A Review of a Filmed & Streamed Live Performance)
After almost seven months of watching all the Netflix and Amazon Prime series that I have missed in the past twenty years of annually seeing 150+ live performances on local and worldwide stages, I have been finally lured back to local theatre. What has prompted me to write my first review since March 12 is San Francisco Playhouse’s bold step to become one of the first theatres … [Read more...] about Art (A Review of a Filmed & Streamed Live Performance)
