Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) Richard Wagner (Music & Libretto) West Bay Opera First a French horn and then a trumpet raise clarion calls demanding attention, soon to be followed by conversing, melodic strings and winds as projected clouds gather on the stage before us. As a storm’s fury increases, all sections of the orchestra respond, with the … [Read more...] about Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
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Into the Woods
Into the Woods Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book) The Mountain Play What better way to get in the mood to enjoy an afternoon of Into the Woods than to walk on a path through a forest of mighty trees after traveling by bus, car, or even foot halfway up a mighty mountain? Now far away from the Bay and a City that can be seen through a gap in the … [Read more...] about Into the Woods
1776
1776 Sherman Edwards (Music & Lyrics); Peter Stone (Book) Broadway San Jose How familiar does this sound? A Congress that seems to get nothing done. A Congress that is divided into two factions that can barely tolerate each other. Committees upon committees where members of Congress meet to debate ad nauseum and decide little. Members of Congress debating who … [Read more...] about 1776
The Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys John Kander & Fred Ebb (Music & Lyrics); David Thompson (Book) 42nd Street Moon Eleven Black men walk onto the stage with spirited steps carrying wooden boxes that become their seats. In the middle of their quarter-moon arc enters a tall, white man in white suit and with white hair and beard. After first announcing, “Gentleman, be seated,” … [Read more...] about The Scottsboro Boys
Chinglish
Chinglish David Henry Hwang San Francisco Playhouse With a congenial big smile behind the center-stage lectern, American businessman Daniel Cavanaugh punctuates his talk on “Doing Business in China” with examples how Chinese interpreters often massacre common English phrases in commercial signage, with “Chief Financial Officer” becoming “Financial Affairs Is Everywhere … [Read more...] about Chinglish
The NI¿¿ER LOVERS
The NI¿¿ER LOVERS: An Amerikkan Musical Marc Anthony Thompson, Writer & Composer Magic Theatre In 1848, a young, married couple devised and successfully executed in eight days a daring, dangerous plan to escape the horrific bondage of slavery in Macon, Georgia to find freedom in Boston – the light-skinned wife disguised as a man and her darker-skinned husband, as … [Read more...] about The NI¿¿ER LOVERS
Tosca
Tosca Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa Opera San José Immensely impressive, profoundly passionate, and musically masterful from first notes to closing plunge off the parapet describe Opera San José’s triumphant production of Giacomo Puccini’s timelessly popular Tosca. Within the setting of San José’s beautifully majestic California … [Read more...] about Tosca
Cyrano
Cyrano Edmond Rostand, Adapted by Josh Costello Aurora Theatre Company From its premiere night in 1897 Paris when the audience was still applauding an hour after the final curtain fell, through multiple stagings on the Great White Way starring some of Broadway’s finest, and after hundreds of productions worldwide in multiple languages, Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de … [Read more...] about Cyrano
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude Colin Higgins Los Altos Stage Company Maybe fifty-two years ago the film was a flop according to both critics and audiences. Maybe in 1980 as a stage play, it closed on Broadway after only four nights. But somewhere along the way the screenplay that was originally written by Colin Higgins as his master thesis became a cult film favorite, turned a … [Read more...] about Harold and Maude
Come From Away
Come From Away Irene Sankoff & David Hein (Book, Music & Lyrics) BroadwaySF “I’m sitting in my car.” “I’m in the library.” “I’m in the staff room.” “And I turned on the radio.” Like almost everyone worldwide and everyone in the opening night audience of BroadwaySF’s Golden Gate Theatre, citizens of Gander, Newfoundland remember where they were at 8:46 a.m. … [Read more...] about Come From Away
A Distinct Society
A Distinct Society Kareem Fahmy TheatreWorks Silicon Valley An executive order on January 27, 2017, by a president barely one week in office barred citizens from seven countries – all majority Muslim – from entering the United States. Protests, legal challenges, and suits followed; but in the meantime, border agencies began reacting and enacting, often changing … [Read more...] about A Distinct Society
Grand Horizons
Grand Horizons Bess Wohl San Jose Stage Company As the Beach Boys in the background sing joyfully their upbeat harmonies of “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older … to live together in the world where we belong,” a couple clearly pushing well into their seventies goes about prep for dinner – she pulling the roast from the oven and arranging it ever so properly on their … [Read more...] about Grand Horizons
The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love Pierre De Marivaux, Translated by Stephen Wadsworth Shotgun Players Gender confusions left and right that lead to infatuations built on false pretenses. A cunning princess plotting to capture the love of a naïve prince who has been taught his whole life to hate and eventually usurp her. Loves built on mounting lies leading to three planned … [Read more...] about The Triumph of Love
Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit Noël Coward City Lights Theater Company The world was at war; England was constantly threatened from the skies; the fear of death of self and of loved ones was on everyone’s mind. What better time to write a three-act farce about a séance gone haywire recalling an author’s dead wife from the beyond – a ghost only he can see and a ghost who has devilish … [Read more...] about Blithe Spirit
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); George Furth (Book) Based on the Original Play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart 42nd Street Moon 6 a.m., October 1957, on a rooftop of a New York apartment building, two friends look to the sky, searching for the world’s first orbiting satellite. Frank has just been released from the Army and is about … [Read more...] about Merrily We Roll Along
