In 1960, it was a little musical that broke many molds, especially from the beloved musicals by big Broadway composers/writers like Rogers and Hammerstein, George Abbott, and Lerner and Loewe. It had little plot and became one of several of the earliest so-called ‘concept’ musicals that would later lead to dozens of others such as A Chorus Line, Assassins, and Avenue Q. There … [Read more...] about The Fantasticks
5 E
She Loves Me
A single violin roams playfully through its scales, soon followed by a twittering trumpet with a speech all its own. Winds trip over each other before more instruments start a game of leapfrog as their well-played notes and phrases seem to jump and skip all around us. One of my favorite overtures has just been played beautifully with spunk and spirit by the fourteen-person … [Read more...] about She Loves Me
A Doll’s House: Part 2
There is nothing more magical than a night at live theatre when a brilliant script, inspired direction, and a perfectly cast set of actors combine with setting, lighting, sound, and costumes such that each makes its own unique contribution to produce as near a perfect evening as possible. Such is how I felt as I exited Lucy Stern Theater after thoroughly enjoying every minute … [Read more...] about A Doll’s House: Part 2
The Pianist of Willesden Lane
“The most important hour of my week is my piano lesson … I always dress up for my piano lesson … I have to look divine.” And with that, a fourteen-year-old girl who dreams someday of her concert debut at Vienna’s famed Musikverein Concert Hall sits down at the Steinway to play her favorite piece, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, fingers flying effortlessly across … [Read more...] about The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Becky Nurse of Salem
“Before there was this Dunkin’ Donuts, they killed women here they called witches. Before that, they killed Indians. Before that, they had Thanksgiving.” Standing in front of her shopping cart with a mannequin of her great, great, great, great grandmother that she has stolen from the Salem Witches Museum, Becky Nurse gives her first tour at $20 an hour, telling her version … [Read more...] about Becky Nurse of Salem
Groundhog Day The Musical
Phil is pissed, big time. That Pittsburg’s best-known, TV weatherman has to drag himself on February 2 to the podunk town of Punxsutawney, PA to provide live coverage for the stupid tradition of having someone declare if a so-called groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not is totally insulting. To make it worse, on his way to the annual ceremony on Gobbler’s … [Read more...] about Groundhog Day The Musical
Pride and Prejudice
The month of December, Broadway composer Paul Gordon, and Director Robert Kelley have a special, intertwined relationship that time and again has resulted in heartwarming, big-smile-producing gifts for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley audiences. Multiple musicals of the Tony-honored Paul Gordon have appeared and often premiered on that stage, with two of them reprising in Decembers … [Read more...] about Pride and Prejudice
Scrooge in Love
Each year in December, the Bay Area is awash with annual holiday productions that have often been running for decades: The Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theatre), The Nutcracker (San Francisco Ballet); Home for the Holidays (The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus); Kung Pao Kosher Comedy; The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes, to name a few. After its … [Read more...] about Scrooge in Love
Bull in a China Shop
Mary Emma Woolley (1863-1947) was the first female to attend Brown University, a women’s suffrage advocate, a peace activist, and the president of Mount Holyoke College (MHC) from 1900 to 1937. She was also in a secret relationship with a former student who became an English professor at MHC during the years Woolley was there, Jeanette Marks. Recently, MHC hosted a digital … [Read more...] about Bull in a China Shop
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Coming off recently winning four Theatre Bay Area Awards for this past year’s Twelfth Night, the Arabian Shakespeare Festival opens A Midsummer Night’s Dream that should also be a top prospect for both production and acting awards in the coming year. Shakespeare’s oft-performed, much-loved comedy of love spats and mishaps; fairy shenanigans; and a hilarious play within the … [Read more...] about A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Cake
“If cake were free for everybody, there would be a lot less problems in the world.” In fact, or at least so goes Della’s thinking, invite the leaders of ISIS into her cakery – Della’s Sweets in Winston, North Carolina – and a few bites of her butter cream icing might just improve their dispositions for good! As soon as we meet Della in Bekah Brunstetter’s play, The Cake, it … [Read more...] about The Cake
Elevada
He is a self-proclaimed “online agitator” with four-to-five million followers who rarely leaves his apartment or takes a shower and has never been on a blind date. She is on her eighth, online-generated, first-date in the past three weeks (alas, no second dates yet). He has signed a contract with a megacorporation to sell his identity and cease to exist as a person for the … [Read more...] about Elevada
Urinetown the Musical
When Mark Hollmann’s (music and lyrics) and Greg Kotis’ (book and lyrics) Urinetown the Musicalpremiered in 2001, critics and audiences alike immediately could list a plethora of targets for its biting, yet hilarious satire: corporate greed, political bribery, liberal naivite, mismanaged bureaucracies of all types. Experiencing in 2019 the highly entertaining, laugh-out-loud, … [Read more...] about Urinetown the Musical
The Daughters
In 1955 their meeting in a San Francisco apartment could have resulted in all of them being arrested, losing their jobs, and being shunned by family and friends. In 2015, their having a special place in the City by the Bay to meet was deemed as no longer needed (or financially viable). In a matter of sixty years, was it time to declare triumphantly, “Face it, we won!” as … [Read more...] about The Daughters
Othello
Othello William Shakespeare African-American Shakespeare Company While there are no American flags flying and no “U.S. Army” or “U.S. Navy” stitching on the military uniforms worn, the intentions of Director Carl Jordan could hardly be clearer. There is no way for him to camouflage that this opening production of the African-American Shakespeare Company’s … [Read more...] about Othello
