Timon of AthensWilliam ShakespeareCutting Ball TheaterDavid Sinaiko & Cast Members of Timon of AthensIn the heart of the troubled Tenderloin with its camped-out homeless and strewn needles and not far from the world headquarters of Twitter with its techy, invading Millennials with pocketbooks often bulging, Cutting Ball Theater opens a tragic tale written over four hundred … [Read more...] about “Timon of Athens”
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“Heisenberg”
HeisenbergSimon StephensAmerican Conservatory TheatreJames Carpenter & Sarah Grace Wilson“If you watch something close enough, you never knew where it’s going or how fast you’re getting there.”That observation made by one of the two principles in Simon Stephens’ 2015 play, Heisenberg, describes the inability to predict something, even and perhaps especially if one closely … [Read more...] about “Heisenberg”
“Weightless”
WeightlessThe Kilbanes (Music, Lyrics & Book)Z Space Kate Kilbane & Lila BlueIn the beginning, everything looks and sounds like a rock concert in an intimate space where audience members tiered on either side of the stage will sit on cushions and sip wine from the bar nearby. Two women, one straddling a bass guitar, face each other and begin singing a somewhat … [Read more...] about “Weightless”
“The King and I”
The King and IRichard Rodgers (Music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (Lyrics & Book)Based upon the novel Anna and the King by Margaret LandonBroadway San JoseLaura Michelle Kelly When a gloriously played overture pours forth hit after hit right out of the Great American Songbook, there is no doubt that the musical to follow is likely to be an evening to be savored. If the … [Read more...] about “The King and I”
“Lucia Berlin: Stories”
Lucia Berlin: StoriesFrom A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia BerlinWord for Word, Z SpaceJeri Lynn CohenEach of five stories by an author who once claimed, “Everything I write is autobiographical” offers independently a glimpse of one salient moment in her rollercoaster life. When presented together, the five provide a heart-warming, inspirational journey from … [Read more...] about “Lucia Berlin: Stories”
“Reel to Reel”
Reel to ReelJohn KolvenbachMagic TheatreWill Marchetti & Carla SpindtWhat does a marriage of fifty-five years sound like? Her middle of the night mumbles, snorts, and snores? His habit of opening a squeaky cabinet ever so slowly to hear each tick? Her end of day footstep that is “like a sack of flour dropped off a three-inch cliff”? His upset voice … [Read more...] about “Reel to Reel”
“The Road to Mecca”
The Road to MeccaAthol FugardPear TheatreDiane Tasca & Brianna Mitchell Under the sensitive, gentle, and highly intuitive-driven direction of Elizabeth Kruse Craig, Pear Theatre presents a staging of The Road to Mecca that boasts a cast of three that could hardly be more perfect to tell this beautifully moving and yet importantly challenging story of a woman who … [Read more...] about “The Road to Mecca”
“Skeleton Crew”
Skeleton CrewDominique MorisseauMarin Theatre CompanyMargo Hall, Lance Gardner & Christian ThompsonFAYE: “You ‘fraid of ghosts?”DEZ: “Them assembly line ghosts? Hell yeah. ...Say them empty plants a breeding ground for ‘em.”The winter of 2008 was more than just cold and windy for Detroit. It was a time when the year-old Great Recession was blowing hard through … [Read more...] about “Skeleton Crew”
“Still at Risk”
Still at RiskTim PinckneyNew Conservatory Theatre CenterThe Cast of Still at RiskAs the final decade of the twentieth century was just beginning, an article in the July 16, 1990 New York Times reported that in the U.S., “212 cases of full-blown AIDS are diagnosed every day; there is one AIDS death every 12 minutes; and a new case of infection every 54 seconds.” At a time … [Read more...] about “Still at Risk”
“Man of La Mancha”
Man of La ManchaDale Wasserman (Book); Mitch Leigh (Music); Joe Darion (Lyrics)Custom Made TheatreEdward Hightower as Don QuixoteAndy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Roberta Flack, Elvis, Cher, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are just a few of the many who have recorded what is surely one of the most enduring standards to emerge from an American musical. And while every … [Read more...] about “Man of La Mancha”
“Our Great Tchaikovsky”
Our Great TchaikovskyHershey Felder (Book); Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Music)TheatreWorks Silicon ValleyHershey Felder The musical chameleon Hershey Felder, who has transformed himself at the keyboard body and soul from Bernstein to Beethoven to Berlin and has at least annually for the past several years taken the Bay Area by storm, returns to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in … [Read more...] about “Our Great Tchaikovsky”
“Watch on the Rhine”
Watch on the RhineLillian HellmanBerkeley Repertory TheatreSarah Agnew, Caitlin O'Connell & Elijah AlexanderIn April 1941 – eight months before Pearl Harbor – history tells us that pockets of America were divided in their loyalties and biases concerning the events going on in Europe and that many in America wanted to put their heads in the sand and hope that the U.S. would … [Read more...] about “Watch on the Rhine”
“Around the World in 80 Days”
Around the World in 80 DaysAdapted by Mark Brown from the Novel by Jules VerneTheatreWorks Silicon Valley The Full CastThere are times when going to the theatre should be just for the fun of it, with nothing to be learned and with no heavy messages. After the year that we in the audience have endured in 2017 with all the troubling turbulence in our political and … [Read more...] about “Around the World in 80 Days”
“Shakespeare in Love”
Shakespeare in LoveBased on the Screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc NormanAdapted for the Stage by Lee Hall, Marin Theatre CompanyAdam Magill and Kenny Toll“Shall I compare … compare … compare thee … to a mourner’s play?”A young Will Shakespeare struggles to find the word -- any word -- to start his latest sonnet. Only after a whispered “summer’s day” comes from his best … [Read more...] about “Shakespeare in Love”
“Aladdin”
AladdinAlan Menkin (Music); Howard Ashman, Tim Rice & Chad Beguelin (Lyrics); Chad Beguelin (Book)SHNThe Cast of AladdinWith exotic, kaleidoscopic colors of every hue imaginable, Disney’s Aladdin bursts onto the SHN Orpheum stage in a touring version that has more elaborate scene changes, more dazzling costumes, and more jumping tumbling, and even flying cast members than … [Read more...] about “Aladdin”
