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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

5 E

Escape from the Asylum

March 20, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

Escape from the Asylum Patricia Milton Central Works When in June 2019 I reviewed Central Works’ world premiere of Patricia Milton’s The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective, I ended my glowing review of the gripping, yet humorous murder mystery with a hope “the playwright decides that – just like Holmes and Watson – Fortescue, Hunter, and Smalls might deserve … [Read more...] about Escape from the Asylum

Passing Strange

March 14, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

Passing Strange Stew (Book & Lyrics); Stew & Heidi Rodewald (Music) Created in Collaboration with Annie Dorsey Shotgun Players A young, wide-eyed teenager – identified only as “Youth” – is searching for his real self, something beyond his life as a middle-class, black kid in Los Angeles living with his big-hearted, Jesus-loving mom.  His multi-year … [Read more...] about Passing Strange

Sense and Sensibility

March 13, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

Sense and Sensibility Paul Gordon (Book, Music & Lyrics) Based on the Novel by Jane Austin TheatreWorks Silicon Valley   For those who have experienced even a few of the 175 plays and musicals that Robert Kelley directed during the first fifty years of the Tony Award winning company he founded – Theatreworks Silicon Valley – there are much … [Read more...] about Sense and Sensibility

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

February 25, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Jack Thorne Based on Story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany Curran Theater   In a world full of eye-popping, hair-raising, gasp-producing illusions and magic, steep staircases dance as if stars in a ballet; doors and suitcases waltz and twirl; and an ancient, arched ceiling reaching to the heavens transforms … [Read more...] about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Celebrating 150 Years of Gilbert and Sullivan! A Sesquicentennial Soiree of Scenes

February 20, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Celebrating 150 Years of Gilbert and Sullivan!  A Sesquicentennial Soiree of Scenes Lamplighters Music Theatre W.S. Gilbert (Lyrics); Arthur Sullivan (Music)   With a triumphant heralding of opening notes emerging from an orchestra pit that has been empty during two years of COVID, Lamplighters Music Theatre returns with glorious flair just in time to celebrate … [Read more...] about Celebrating 150 Years of Gilbert and Sullivan! A Sesquicentennial Soiree of Scenes

The Hollow

February 15, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The Hollow Agatha Christie City Lights Theater Company   Full disclosure: “Whodunit” is about to be revealed.  It happened at City Lights Theatre Company (and will continue happening until March 6).  It was done with the 1951 play script of The Hollow by Dame Agatha Christie, the globally famed author of the third-most books in publication behind only … [Read more...] about The Hollow

Pass Over

February 9, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Pass Over Antionette Chinonye Nwandu Marin Theatre Company “I got plans to get off this block.” … “How we get off this block?” … “Are we fixin’ to get off this block?” … “Let’s do this shit.  Pass over.” On a desolate, dark street where we see only a metal guard rail; a crumbling concrete curb with a few weeds poking through; and a lone, oft flickering … [Read more...] about Pass Over

Gloria

March 12, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Into a drab-gray, Manhattan office of half-walled cubicles and several desks within touching range of each other drag in one-by-one, three editorial assistants with the morning already half over.  Immediately begins a barrage of back-and-forth banter that includes arrow-sharp insults full of cynicism; biting gossip about colleagues not within earshot; and soap-box diatribes … [Read more...] about Gloria

They Promised Her the Moon

March 9, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

One was among the most successful racing pilots of her day and the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953.  The other began flying at the age of twelve and by her twenties, was setting world records in flying speeds, distance, and altitude.  The former (Jackie Cochran) helped form and finance Mercury 13, a group of accomplished women flyers who underwent the … [Read more...] about They Promised Her the Moon

Don’t Eat the Mangos

March 7, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

While entering the theatre and being tempted to do a few salsa steps to the hip-swiveling Latinx music playing all around us, it is impossible not to notice there are mangos – many rotting – piled on the floor of the tropical house’s kitchen.  There is also a tree laden with ripening mangos that is intertwined into the decorative, iron-gate entrance to the house – a tree that … [Read more...] about Don’t Eat the Mangos

Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border

March 6, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

In his book Retablos, Octavio Solis reminds us that as we grow older, memories from our growing up become vignettes that replay over and again – sometimes as poignant reminders of who we are and why are we, sometimes as teachers of what we can still become, and often just as precious gems to be take in silently, reflectively.  And while his stories have many universal themes … [Read more...] about Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border

Gatz

February 14, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

Into a drab, empty office setting with its metal shelves full of boxes that are clearly full of folders full of papers walks a man in his blue shirt and tie who sits at a table and attempts to turn on his computer – a clunky-looking model by today’s standards from some time period fifteen-to-twenty years ago.  After several frustrating attempts, he opens a small container on … [Read more...] about Gatz

Chicago

February 11, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

Hips snap and swirl.  Hands spread their fingers, Fosse-style.  Shoulders roll as twelve bodies slowly swing around in unison, grouped together in a triangle that moves in soft but precisely placed steps.  Through the center in her black lingerie snakes a slinking gal singing in a smoky, sensuous voice, “C’mon babe, why don’t we paint the town, and all that jazz?” And onto … [Read more...] about Chicago

Tiny Beautiful Things

February 5, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

“Dear Sugar, ... I’m secretly addicted to pain meds.” “Dear Sugar, Icky thoughts turn me on …” “Dear Sugar, My wife drinks while I am at work …” “Dear Sugar, My daughter has a tumor … and I find myself doubting God’s existence.” “Dear Sugar, My birth mother doesn’t want to meet me.” “Dear Sugar, What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?  I’m asking this … [Read more...] about Tiny Beautiful Things

The Fantasticks

February 3, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

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

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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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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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