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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“Sovereignty”
Sovereignty Mary Kathryn Nagle Marin Theatre Company Elizabeth Frances, Adam Magill, Kholan Studi, Scott Coopwood, Andrew Roa, Robert I. Mesa Beginning in the 1830s, Native Peoples were forced to leave their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States and walk thousands of miles to resettle on barren lands in the West, with many thousands dying along the way. … [Read more...] about “Sovereignty”
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge Word for Word Performing Arts Company & Z Space Charles Shaw Robinson The longest, probably best-known poem by the late-eighteenth, early-nineteenth-century founder of the English Romantic Movement, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is the latest theatrical undertaking by San Francisco’s Word for Word Performing Arts … [Read more...] about “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
“Bright Star”
Bright StarSteve Martin (Music, Book, Story) & Edie Brickell (Music, Lyrics, Story)Palo Alto PlayersElizabeth SantanaWhen Alice rotates from the rear to step away from a stage full of townspeople to face us, she opens the show singing, “If you knew my story, you’d have a hard time believing me. ” Immediately we know that Elizabeth Santana is going to make this an evening to … [Read more...] about “Bright Star”
“Caroline, Or Change”
Caroline, Or ChangeJeanine Tesori (Music); Tony Kushner (Book & Lyrics)Ray of Light TheatreElizabeth Jones, Cadarious Mayberry, Majesty Scott, Jasmyne Brice, Antone Jackson & Leslie IvyIt is November 1963; and after a relatively stable 1950s, change is in the air everywhere – some good, some scary, some revolutionary, and in one case, an event tragic for a nation and … [Read more...] about “Caroline, Or Change”
“Exit Strategy”
Exit StrategyIke HolterAurora Theatre CompanyAdam Niemann & Margo HallIt’s 6 p.m. in early August a couple of weeks before school is scheduled to open. A thirty-year-old, boyish-looking, white Vice-Principal is trying his best to make friendly small talk about the chocolate cake he left today in the teacher’s lounge to a stone-faced, African American veteran teacher … [Read more...] about “Exit Strategy”
“Anastasia”
AnastasiaTerrence McNally (Book); Stephen Flaherty (Music); Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics)SHNLila Coogan & Stephen BrowerSoon after a group of Bolsheviks brutally murdered Tsar Nicolas II and his entire family on July 17, 1918, rumors spread faster than the Revolutionary Guard could extinguish them that Grand Duchess Anastasia had somehow escaped and was living in hiding. … [Read more...] about “Anastasia”
Anything Goes
Anything GoesCole Porter (Music & Lyrics)P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse (Original Book)Timothy Crouse & John Weidman (New Book)Hillbarn TheatreNathaniel Rothrock & Caitlin McGinty Beginning with the ship’s captain and sailors raising full-voice and rousing harmonies in “There Is No Cure Like Travel” and the full cast blending … [Read more...] about Anything Goes
“The Language Archive”
The Language ArchiveJulia ChoTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyThe CastIn her play, The Language Archive, Julia Cho explores that interplay of language and love as we meet a couple in the course of a break-up because spoken words fail them, an elderly couple who have spent a lifetime differentiating the languages of love and of conflict, and a young woman who learns a new language … [Read more...] about “The Language Archive”
“Cabaret”
CabaretJoe Masteroff (Book); John Kander (Music); Fred Ebb (Lyrics)San Francisco PlayhouseJohn Paul Gonzalez & the Kit Kat DancersSince its 1966 Broadway debut and its initial eight Tonys, Cabaret has continued to evolve through several major, award-winning revivals in both New York and London, becoming ever darker, starker, and rawer with each new production during its … [Read more...] about “Cabaret”
“Indecent”: Day 8, Play 9, TheatreEddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Indecent Paula Vogel Oregon Shakespeare Theatre The Cast of Indecent As a violin hauntingly plays a song unknown but still quickly familiar in its sounds and rhythms as Eastern European Jewish, we see eight pairs of shoes at the stage’s edge – eerily reminiscent for any of us who have been to Budapest and have seen the moving memorial there to … [Read more...] about “Indecent”: Day 8, Play 9, TheatreEddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
“Hairspray — The Broadway Musical”: Day 8, Play 8, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Hairspray – The Broadway MusicalMark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan (Book); Marc Shaiman (Music); Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman (Lyrics)Oregon Shakespeare TheatreKaty Geraghty, Daniel T. Parker & CastIt is only fair to open this review of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Hairspray – The Broadway Musical with a warning: From the opening “Good Morning Baltimore” to the … [Read more...] about “Hairspray — The Broadway Musical”: Day 8, Play 8, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
“Cambodian Rock Band”: Day 5, Play 6, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Cambodian Rock BandLauren Yee, with Songs by Dengue FeverOregon Shakespeare FestivalJoe Ngo, Abraham Kim, Brooke Ishibashi, Jane Lui & Moses VillaramaA play about family displacement, trauma, and massive genocide is not a play one would normally expect often to laugh, to tap one’s foot to rock music, or to walk out feeling uplifted and inspired. But when the play is … [Read more...] about “Cambodian Rock Band”: Day 5, Play 6, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
“All’s Well That Ends Well”: Day 4, Play 4, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
All’s Well That Ends WellWilliam ShakespeareOregon Shakespeare FestivalRoyer BokusCan anything actually end well in a play where for every good, there is a bad; for every show of trust, there is a betrayal of deceit; for every wise counsel, there is an insult full of biting cynicism. Opposites meet, blend, clash, fight, make love, make war, make peace. The sexes pit … [Read more...] about “All’s Well That Ends Well”: Day 4, Play 4, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
“Mother Road”: Day Two, Play Two, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Mother RoadOctavio SolisOregon Shakespeare FestivalMark Murphey & Tony SanchoSeventy-plus years have past since the Joad family of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath joined a parade of desperate migrant farmers, all leaving their starving lives in Dust-Bowl-ravaged and looking for the lush life they saw painted on fruit crates from California. Two Joads – a mother and her … [Read more...] about “Mother Road”: Day Two, Play Two, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
