The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov; Translated by Paul Schmidt Marin Theatre Put Anton Chekhov's globally popular, much-adapted play, The Cherry Orchard, in the bold, directorial hands of the much-accomplished Carey Perloff and provide her with a Bay Area, all-star cast, and it is an easy-money bet that Marin Theater has a sure-fire hit in the making. Such is … [Read more...] about The Cherry Orchard
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Spanish Stew
Spanish Stew Marga Gomez The Marsh Berkeley Theater With ample heart and over-flowing humor, GLAAD Award winning writer and performer known nationally and beloved locally -- Marga Gomez -- presents her latest of fifteen solo shows at The Marsh Berkeley Theater, Spanish Stew. Adapted for the Marsh after a successful world premiere in the autumn of 2025 at the New … [Read more...] about Spanish Stew
How Shakespeare Saved My Life
How Shakespeare Saved My Life Jacob Ming-Trent Berkeley Repertory Theatre (in co-production with Folger Theatre and Red Bull Theater In her introductory remarks to the opening night's packed audience in Berkeley Rep's Peet's Theatre, Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer told us that given all the horrific things occurring currently in our country and world, being … [Read more...] about How Shakespeare Saved My Life
Little Women
Little Women Jason Howland (Music), Mindi Dickstein (Lyrics), Allan Knee (Book) Based on the Novel by Louisa May Alcott South Bay Musical Theatre A beloved novel written over 150 years ago about a family of four sisters during the last two years of the Civil War has since been adapted seven times to film; multiple times to television; four, to the stage; twice, … [Read more...] about Little Women
Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me
Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me Hershey Felder, Book Music by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Bartók, Gershwin & More TheatreWorks Silicon Valley After creating and performing the past thirty years in some six thousand live performances and eighteen films the musical biographies of sixteen famed composers (Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Beethoven, … [Read more...] about Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book) Shotgun Players Birds happily chirping, tall trees climbing on all sides with hints of limbs hanging from above, a glimpsing view of a lake and its graceful boats, and everywhere from the ground up, rich and varied greens filling in the scene. As we enter what we expect to be … [Read more...] about Sunday in the Park with George
Into the Woods
Into the Woods Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book) San Francisco Playhouse In many respects and for many reasons, the following is a meaningless review. At least a score -- and probably many more -- reviewers have already raved about the continued proven genius of Susi Damilano's directorial abilities, about a stage-filling cast that to a … [Read more...] about Into the Woods
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady Alan Jay Lerner (Book & Lyrics); Frederick Lowe (Music) San Francisco Playhouse With a long history of season-ending, summer-long, sizzling musicals that consistently sell-out -- classics like Cabaret, Evita, Follies, A Chorus Line -- San Francisco Playhouse once again takes a much-loved, much-produced audience favorite and opens an exuberant, … [Read more...] about My Fair Lady
Constellations
Constellations Nick Payne The Pear Theatre He is a beekeeper. She is a Cambridge physicist. She can wax on forever starry eyed about subjects like quantum mechanics, string theory, and cosmology. He likes to explain how female bees are the workers and male drones exist only to have sex with the queen, after which their penises are ripped off and they die. She … [Read more...] about Constellations
A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest
A Grand Night for Singing -- An American Songfest Ronny Michael Greenberg, Curator Merola Opera Program From 1300 initial applicants and 650 in-person auditions, twenty-eight singers, pianists, and directors have been selected in 2025 for the nation's preeminent opera training program whose annual participants arrive from all over the world. In addition to their … [Read more...] about A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest
Annunciation
Annunciation Lauren Groff Word for Word and Z Space "It is only now when I know myself to be good and bad in equal measures." That announcement of sorts -- or "annunciation" -- comes after our unnamed narrator has recalled a year much earlier in her life post college graduation when she headed across the country to land initially in San Francisco, California with … [Read more...] about Annunciation
Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical
Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical Ashley Robinson (Book); Dan Gillespie Sells (Music); Shakina (Lyrics) Based on the Play by Ed Graczyk It's hot and dusty in McCarthy, Texas where it has not rained in three years. But in the summer of 1975, the loyal "Disciples of James Dean" are mopping the sweat from their brows as they gather … [Read more...] about Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical
Sweat
Sweat Lynn Nottage Palo Alto Players Stories are how we often best learn new truths about the world around us. Lynn Nottage -- the first and only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times -- clearly understands the power of narratives to deliver messages and to raise questions that we in the mostly liberal and Blue Bay Area somehow have missed while … [Read more...] about Sweat
Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity Neil Simon (Book); Cy Coleman (Music); Dorothy Fields (Music) San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) Sometimes there are so many aspects of a spectacular production that it is almost impossible to know where to begin. That is especially true for San Jose Stage Company's current summer hit-in-the-making, Sweet Charity. First, the 1967-premiering musical … [Read more...] about Sweet Charity
Next to Normal
Next to Normal Brian Yorkey (Book & Lyrics); Tom Kitt (Music) Ray of Light Theatre Lifelong mental disease, paralyzing grief, severe depression, feelings by a child of a parent's abandonment, drug abuse, the questionable practices of modern psychiatry, suicide. While not the subjects normally associated with the Great American Musical, Brian Yorkey (book and … [Read more...] about Next to Normal
