Hairspray Marc Shaiman (Music); Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman (Lyrics); Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan (Book) San Francisco Playhouse It is only fair to open this review of San Francisco Playhouse’s Hairspray with a warning: From the opening “Good Morning Baltimore” to the finale “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” multiple worms will be implanted deep within … [Read more...] about Hairspray
Best Bet
Ride the Cyclone
Ride the Cyclone Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell (Book, Music & Lyrics) City Lights Theater Company Wild, weird, wacky, and most of all, wonderful are just some of the descriptors for City Lights Theatre Company's summer-time offering, sure to be a sell-out hit for the next several weeks. Ride the Cyclone is Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell's 2009 bizarre … [Read more...] about Ride the Cyclone
The Employee Dharma Handbook
The Employee Dharma Handbook Geetha Reddy TheatreWorks Silicon Valley In the heart of a Valley where the next IPO can birth hundreds of new millionaires and where many companies are founded, run, and heavily populated by Indian immigrants and Indian Americans, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley commissions and opens a fantastically engaging, intriguing, and often funny … [Read more...] about The Employee Dharma Handbook
Arab Spring
Arab Spring Denmo Ibrahim Golden Thread Productions and San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company With fireworks occasionally exploding to mark the 4th of July in a Houston sweltering in 100+ degrees, a brother and sister who have not seen each other in five years arrive to bury in Muslim tradition a father she has not seen in twenty and one with whom he only recently … [Read more...] about Arab Spring
The Cottage
The Cottage Sandy Rustin Palo Alto Players Plop into a cocktail shaker a bit of Vaudeville, a few Carol Burnett/Lucille Ball antics, a "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" pop-up, and a "Saturday Night Live" over-the-top skit; and then add for good measure a touch of Mel Brooks' no-holds-barred, bodily-function humor. Shake together these across-the-decades masters of … [Read more...] about The Cottage
We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You Queen (Music & Lyrics); Ben Elon (Book) San Jose Stage Company Three hundred years in the future in a land once known as Earth and now known as iPlanet, life is lived online; all music is computer-generated; pop stars are avatars; and owning a musical instrument is illegal. Yet in such a dystopian landscape, a few rebels have a cause and are … [Read more...] about We Will Rock You
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum (Book); Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg (Music & Lyrics); Herbert Stothart (Background Music) Mountain Play From the opening notes of the Overture, bits of familiar tunes brighten more than three thousand faces as toes tap and heart beats quicken. Young and old alike have made once again their way up Mount Tamalpais in yellow … [Read more...] about The Wizard of Oz
Becoming a Man
Becoming a Man P. Carl Z Space Polly spent the first fifty years of her life as a girl/woman who came out as queer and eventually married her girlfriend of twenty years, Lynette. On March 16, 2017, at the Hotel Chandler in New York, this same person was called "sir" at the front desk, in the elevator, and at breakfast. As bearded Carl proudly tells us, "I became … [Read more...] about Becoming a Man
The Lunchbox
The Lunchbox Ritesh Batra (Book & Co-Lyrics); The Lazours (Music & Co-Lyrics) Berkeley Repertory Theatre Repeatedly in publicity materials, program, and even the pre-show announcement, "heart, humor, and hope" are the three words used to describe The Lunchbox, a musical now in world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. And admittedly, there may be no … [Read more...] about The Lunchbox
Tosca
Tosca Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa West Bay Opera With music that flows with abundant passion and fury, with performances directed and acted with creative insight and fervor, and with a setting made grand and glorious by massive and majestic projections, West Bay Opera once again proves with its current production of Giacomo … [Read more...] about Tosca
In the Heights
In the Heights Lin-Manuel Miranda (Music & Lyrics) Quiara Alegría Hudes (Book) South Bay Musical Theatre As our country born of immigrants seeking a better life is only weeks away from celebrating its 250th anniversary, recent immigrant citizens and non-citizens alike feel their lives and livelihood here threatened by a current administration and its cohorts … [Read more...] about In the Heights
Shakespeare Over My Shoulder
Shakespeare Over My Shoulder Ted Lange African-American Shakespeare Company For acclaimed, award-winning playwright, director, actor, and educator, Ted Lange, it began almost sixty years ago while researching a possible role in Romeo and Juliet; it happened again in 1984 while at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts in London; and it continued occurring every few … [Read more...] about Shakespeare Over My Shoulder
Pictures from Home
Pictures from Home Sharr White Marin Theatre There is that box in your closet that you know is there but have not opened in years -- a box crammed with family photos and a history of beach, holiday, dress-up, and back-yard poses. What memories lie there ready to reveal stories you have forgotten or relationships you have not resolved? How much reality is actually … [Read more...] about Pictures from Home
The Play That Goes Wrong
The Play That Goes Wrong Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory OK, let's first just put on the table all the words that Merriam-Webster, Roget, or ChatGBT can spit out for 'funny': a scream, a riot, zany, kooky, a knee-slapper, uproarious, sidesplitting, that dog won't hurt. Get the idea? It would take all these and … [Read more...] about The Play That Goes Wrong
Frozen
Frozen Kirsten Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez (Music & Lyrics) Jennifer Lee (Book) Palo Alto Players Whether one is five, ninety five or any where in between, Palo Alto Players has a hit that is sure to be deemed "hygge" by everyone who is lucky enough to attain a ticket to its current blockbuster, Disney's Frozen. Even that Nordic term for anything that … [Read more...] about Frozen
