The Addams Family: A New Musical ComedyMarshall Brickman & Rick Elice (Book); Andrew Lippa (Music & Lyrics); Based on Characters Created by Charles AddamsThe Stage Guided to our seats by a giant, grunting Lurch with the help of his friend Thing (literally a boxed-in hand with perky personality), we as audience are more than ready to see our favorite ghoulish family … [Read more...] about “The Addams Family”
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“Chinglish”
ChinglishDavid Henry HwangPalo Alto PlayersPhoto credit: Joyce GoldschmidChris Mahle as Daniel Cavanaugh and Joyce F. Liu as Xi YanLanguage mix-ups and cultural misunderstandings abound, romance unexpectedly heats up, and hilarity permeates Palo Alto Players' current Chinglish. Presented with a superb ensemble, six of whom speak fluent Mandarin, Chinglish continues … [Read more...] about “Chinglish”
“A Little Night Music”
A Little Night MusicStephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); Hugh Wheeler (Book)American Conservatory Theatre“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” not only applies to Dickens’ Paris but unfortunately also describes the American Conservatory Theatre production of the Sondheim and Wheeler modern classic of A Little Night Music. So much of the evening at A.C.T. … [Read more...] about “A Little Night Music”
“This Golden State, Part One: Delano”
This Golden StatePart One: DelanoLuis AlfaroMagic TheatreBoth churches and theatres involve people (often strangers) sitting close together in an auditorium, sharing emotional experiences, and then exiting somehow more closely knit than when entering. Luis Alfaro has heightened those similarities in dramatic form in his This Golden State, Part One: Delano, now in its … [Read more...] about “This Golden State, Part One: Delano”
“Trouble Cometh”
Trouble ComethRichard DresserSan Francisco PlayhouseIntense. Frenetic. Fun(ny). Eye-popping. Richard Dresser’s Trouble Cometh in its world premiere at San Francisco Playhouse delivers this and more in its wham-bam, take-no-prisoners, seventy-five minutes. A white-walled, windowless room with a plain worktable and eye-hurting bright lights is maxed … [Read more...] about “Trouble Cometh”
“Talley’s Folly”
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”
“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 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”
“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”
“Show People”
Show PeoplePaul WeitzDragon TheatreA play being acted for us that is also a play where our actors are actors acting for themselves. Sound confusing? Actually, in Paul Weitz’s well-crafted Show People, there is less confusion than fun for us as audience as the actors themselves become increasingly confused and perplexed in all their mixed-up roles of stage and … [Read more...] about “Show People”
“Breaking the Code”
Breaking the CodeHugh WhitemoreTheatre RhinocerosWith the recent Academy-nominated film The Imitation Game, the story of World War II Enigma code-breaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing is now much more widely known than when Hugh Whitemore’s 1986 Breaking the Code premiered. His play, however, brings to the 2015 audience aspects of Turing’s life … [Read more...] about “Breaking the Code”
“Hamlet”
HamletWilliam ShakespeareStanford Department of Theatre What can make a much-known, often-seen classic like Hamlet worth visiting one more time? Certainly, hearing the poetic majesty of familiar lines and witnessing yet again the young Hamlet struggle with his questions of life and death can be compelling reasons. But … [Read more...] about “Hamlet”
“The Lyons”
The LyonsNicky SilverAurora Theatre CompanyAnd yet another family gathers on the current American stage either at the bedside of a dying relative or at their home mourning for a lost member. In Nicky Silver’s The Lyons, a mother, a son, and a daughter enter the hospital room of their dying, cranky, even bitter-about-his-now-spent-life husband and father. This is the … [Read more...] about “The Lyons”
“Harbor”
HarborChad BeguelinNew Conservatory Theatre CenterSometimes, an unexpected event stimulates further events that probably are going to happen anyway but maybe not as quickly and not quite in the way that the trigger ignites them. In this West Coast premiere of Beguelin’s Harbor, the seemingly bucolic life of two gay men -- Ted the architect and Kevin the writer -- is … [Read more...] about “Harbor”
