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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

5 E

She Loves Me

January 27, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

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

January 25, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

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

January 20, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

“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

December 20, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds

“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

December 12, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds

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

December 12, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds

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

December 8, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds

  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

November 18, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

November 9, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

November 4, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

“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

November 4, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

October 28, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

October 25, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

October 20, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

Mark Twain’s River of Song

October 10, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Part a nineteenth-century cabaret show, part a travelogue of the past, and part a famed writer’s recollections of his life on and around the river, Mark Twain’s River of Song is a journey so worth taking in this TheatreWorks Silicon Valley celebration of the human spirit and its quest for freedom, individuality, and harmony with one of nature’s most beautiful of gifts – the … [Read more...] about Mark Twain’s River of Song

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Eddie is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

Theatre Eddys Ratings Legend

5 E's - Loved It
A classic, would see it a second time.
4 E's - Really Liked It
Excellent, strong production.
3 E's - Liked It
Good production but something is lacking or not clicking.
2 E's - Just OK
Below average but had at least one interesting component.
1 E - Did Not Like It
Waste of time.

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Musical5 Eworld premiereMUST SEE4 ETheatreWorks Silicon ValleySan Francisco PlayhouseNew Conservatory Theatre CenterPear TheatreBerkeley Repertory Company4.5 EMarin Theatre CompanyPalo Alto PlayersAmerican Conservatory TheatreShotgun PlayersAurora Theatre CompanyThe MarshHillbarn Theatre3.5 ECity Lights Theater Company

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Theatre Eddys reviews performances throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

About Eddie

Theatre Critic for the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, writing 150+ reviews annually for Theatre Eddys and Talkin' Broadway (San Jose/Silicon Valley). Read More

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