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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

4.5 E

Ain’t Misbehaving: The Fats Waller Musical Show

March 20, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

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

March 18, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

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

March 8, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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)

October 26, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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)

The Children

February 7, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

What is the responsibility of retired parents to their children?  Is it to continue to be supportive, loving, and available, even making sacrifices for them if a grown kid is having problems making it as an adult?  Is it to relish and enjoy their grandchildren, spoiling them in ways they could not their own children?  Is it to live their own lives, to do the things they now … [Read more...] about The Children

Mother of the Maid

November 21, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

A girl in her late teens announces to her Ma, “Saint Catherine bin’ appearin’ to me,” to which her mother glances up from cleaning burrs from sheep wool and says sweetly, “Oh, she’s a lovely saint; that’s lovely, Joanie.”  When the girl describes how the Saint “fills me up … slays me … takes me apart” and that she can feel Saint Catherine “here and here” (her hands cupping her … [Read more...] about Mother of the Maid

Monty Python’s Spamalot

October 26, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

One of the joys of any Monty Python’s Spamalot production for all of us musical lovers are the obvious (sometimes painfully so) parodies that Eric Idle and John Du Prez continually insert on other musicals such as Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, West Side Story, and anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  In addition, the show’s over-the-top stunts, eye-popping … [Read more...] about Monty Python’s Spamalot

Nabucco

October 19, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

How relevant can a near one-hundred-eighty-year opera be to modern audiences when there is an autocratic, egotistic ruler who subjugates people of a different ethnicity and nationality to imprisonment and relocation from their homeland and who begins to act and think of himself as a god?  Unfortunately in 2019, a story that originates in biblical times and is the subject of … [Read more...] about Nabucco

White Noise

October 11, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

By his own admission, thirty-something Leo has done “everything right” his entire life: good grades, followed all the rules, established himself as a career artist, and has even won a ton of trophies as a bowling champion.  But then during one of his habitually sleepless nights when his mid-of-night walk takes him into an upper-class, white neighborhood, the young African … [Read more...] about White Noise

“Top Girls”

September 26, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Top Girls Caryl Churchill American Conservatory Theater Rosie Hallett, Summer Brown, Michelle Beck, Monica Lin & Julia McNeal It is 1982; and search-firm interviewer Marlene admires Britain’s Margaret Thatcher: “She’s a tough lady, Maggie; I’d give her a job.”  Marlene has toughed it out herself in the man’s world where she works and has just been named the new … [Read more...] about “Top Girls”

“Admissions”

September 12, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

AdmissionsJoshua HarmonLos Altos Stage CompanyMichael Champlin, Quincy Shaindlin and Kristin WalterAdmissions is Joshua Harmon’s hard-hitting, paradoxical look at admission processes at both upper-crust private secondary schools and the most-sought-after private universities.  Now in a riveting, superbly acted and directed production at Los Altos Stage Company, Admissions … [Read more...] about “Admissions”

“An Ideal Husband”

September 9, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

An Ideal HusbandOscar WildePear Theatre  Aaron Weisberg and Tom FarleyIn the midst of his own infidelities to his wife via his live-in, male lover becoming headlines and a life-ruining court case, the famed and wildly popular poet, playwright, and novelist (as well as celebrated, itinerant speaker in the U.S.), Oscar Wilde, wrote a play still widely produced almost … [Read more...] about “An Ideal Husband”

“The Flick”

September 2, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The FlickAnnie BakerShotgun PlayersJustin Howard & Chris GinesiEntering the Ashby Stage setting, it is at first confusing where to find the ticketed seat.  Mirroring the regular seating area is another set of seat rows, which after a second look, are clearly those of a small movie theatre.  Looking further, there are the curtained walls with movie-house sconces, … [Read more...] about “The Flick”

“The 39 Steps”

August 31, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The 39 StepsAdapted by Patrick BarlowBased on the Novel by John BuchanFrom the Movie by Alfred HitchcockTheatreWorksSilicon ValleyLance Gardner, Ron Campbell, Annie Abrams & Cassidy BrownFour actors playing upwards of one-hundred-plus parts.  Eighty costume changes, with a total of fifty different costumes often switched in split-second timing on stage.  Bridges, … [Read more...] about “The 39 Steps”

“Present Laughter”

June 14, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Present LaughterNoël CowardPear Theatre Jenni Chapman, Barbara Heninger, Akex Draa, Charles Woodson Parker & John Stephen KingPear Theatre presents in its intimate setting Noël Coward's Present Laughter that bursts at the seams with riotous comedy propelled by a stage full of memorably quirky characters who get themselves and each other … [Read more...] about “Present Laughter”

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Eddie is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

Theatre Eddys Ratings Legend

5 E's - Loved It
A classic, would see it a second time.
4 E's - Really Liked It
Excellent, strong production.
3 E's - Liked It
Good production but something is lacking or not clicking.
2 E's - Just OK
Below average but had at least one interesting component.
1 E - Did Not Like It
Waste of time.

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Theatre Eddys reviews performances throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

About Eddie

Theatre Critic for the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, writing 150+ reviews annually for Theatre Eddys and Talkin' Broadway (San Jose/Silicon Valley). Read More

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