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)
4.5 E
The Children
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
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
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
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
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
“Archduke”
ArchdukeRajiv JosephTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyJeremy Kahn, Stephen Stocking, Scott Coopwood & Adam Shonkwiler One gun shot and its hapless, men-still-boys perpetrators are the unlikely subjects of a laugh-out-loud retelling of one of history’s darkest moments – World War I’s initiating assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand. Pulitzer Prize finalist … [Read more...] about “Archduke”
“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”
Beautiful: The Carole King MusicalDouglas McGrath (Book)Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (Music & Lyrics)SHNSarah BockelIt is a testament to the touchstone popularity of a musical that had its world premiere in San Francisco in 2013, returned in 2016, and now is in a limited appearance for its third SF run in a half dozen years that the opening … [Read more...] about “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”
“Anna Considers Mars”
Anna Considers MarsRuben GrijalvaPlaygroundMelissa Ortiz, Katie Rubin, Aaron Wilton & Christian HainesThe polar ice caps are no more. Fiji has disappeared; San Francisco is surrounded by a gigantic seawall. From sharks to lions, species are going extinct in the wild while decades-long droughts send desperate throngs to attack arriving planes as people look for … [Read more...] about “Anna Considers Mars”
