Kinky Boots Cyndi Lauper (Music & Lyrics); Harvey Fierstein (Book) City Lights Theater Company Sometimes it just feels right to start with dessert. When a musical ends with a stage full of people of every shape, size, race, sex, and sexual orientation all dancing in stiletto-heeled boots that rise to hug their hips, it is difficult not to start there with the … [Read more...] about Kinky Boots
Best Bet
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line James Kirkwood and Nicolas Dante (Book): Marvin Hamlisch (Music); Edward Kleban (Lyrics) Originally Conceived by Michael Bennett San Francisco Playhouse What is immediately striking as the twenty-four dancing hopefuls both sprint and shuffle onto the stage is the wide variety of shapes, sizes, races, and ages among them. At first glance, many of them is … [Read more...] about A Chorus Line
Out of Character
Out of Character Ari’el Stachel Berkeley Repertory Company One of the most remarkable aspects of Berkeley Rep’s latest world premiere show, Out of Character, is the vast array of characters on the stage – unique, interesting people of so many races, places of origin, and family backgrounds with accents, personalities, and personal stories so rich, authentic, and … [Read more...] about Out of Character
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book) Los Altos Stage Company “Order.” “Design.” “Tension.” “Composition.” “Balance.” “Light.” As each word is announced by the artist whose science of painting is guided by these exacting principles, the members of his most famous composition move into place, aided by his … [Read more...] about Sunday in the Park with George
Othello
Othello William Shakespeare San Jose Stage Company The more Iago’s seeds of deceit begin to take root and wind their deadly vines around the too-receptive Othello, the more brilliant becomes Director Kenneth Kelleher’s decision to place San Jose Stage Company’s production of the Bard’s tragedy in a barely lit, black-walled jazz club of the 1950’s. With the background, … [Read more...] about Othello
The Road to Mecca
The Road to Mecca Athol Fugard Weathervane Productions at Z Below Light vs. Darkness. Love vs. Trust. White vs. Black. Old vs. Young. Friendship vs. Loneliness. Acceptance vs. Prejudice. Apartheid vs. Freedom. Christian Values vs. Eastern Values. Opposites continuously intercede, sometimes blend, and often explosively collide in Athol Fugard’s thought-provoking … [Read more...] about The Road to Mecca
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz Frank Baum (Book); Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg (Music & Lyrics); Herbert Stothart (Background Music) American Conservatory Theater Let’s be clear: Not only are we not in Kansas anymore, in the current American Conservatory Theater production, we are also definitely not in the same version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz that we read in … [Read more...] about The Wizard of Oz
Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) Richard Wagner (Music & Libretto) West Bay Opera First a French horn and then a trumpet raise clarion calls demanding attention, soon to be followed by conversing, melodic strings and winds as projected clouds gather on the stage before us. As a storm’s fury increases, all sections of the orchestra respond, with the … [Read more...] about Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
The Confession of Lily Dare
The Confessions of Lily Dare Charles Busch New Conservatory Theatre Center As two old friends reminisce before a grave whose tombstone they describe as alabaster white due to regular cleanings of baking soda mixed with Jack Daniels whiskey, one notes lovingly and admiringly of the grave’s occupant, “She wouldn’t let a geezer squeeze her tits for less than a twenty.” … [Read more...] about The Confession of Lily Dare
Let the Right One In
Let the Right One In Jack Thorne, Stage Adaptation Based on the Novel & Film by John Ajvide Lindquist Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Presenting The National Theatre of Scotland Production) Two kids meet at night in the courtyard between their families’ two flats and quickly become friends. One is a boy; the other appears as a girl but says is not. One is twelve; … [Read more...] about Let the Right One In
Into the Woods
Into the Woods Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book) The Mountain Play What better way to get in the mood to enjoy an afternoon of Into the Woods than to walk on a path through a forest of mighty trees after traveling by bus, car, or even foot halfway up a mighty mountain? Now far away from the Bay and a City that can be seen through a gap in the … [Read more...] about Into the Woods
1776
1776 Sherman Edwards (Music & Lyrics); Peter Stone (Book) Broadway San Jose How familiar does this sound? A Congress that seems to get nothing done. A Congress that is divided into two factions that can barely tolerate each other. Committees upon committees where members of Congress meet to debate ad nauseum and decide little. Members of Congress debating who … [Read more...] about 1776
Singin’ in the Rain
Singin’ in the Rain Betty Comden & Adolph Green (Book); Arthur Freed (Lyrics); Nacio Herb Brown (Music) South Bay Musical Theatre I am a sucker for tap-dancing, especially when a stage is packed to the gill with smiling, arm-swinging tappers that uniformly are toe-heel clicking up a storm and singing at the same time in full, fine voice. For that reason alone, I … [Read more...] about Singin’ in the Rain
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare, Adapted by L. Peter Callender African-American Shakespeare Company Maybe no play of the Bard’s has been adapted more than the romantic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in which the ongoing rivalry between two families leads to the deaths of two of their children who just happen to fall in love. On the stages of theatre, opera, and … [Read more...] about Romeo and Juliet
The Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys John Kander & Fred Ebb (Music & Lyrics); David Thompson (Book) 42nd Street Moon Eleven Black men walk onto the stage with spirited steps carrying wooden boxes that become their seats. In the middle of their quarter-moon arc enters a tall, white man in white suit and with white hair and beard. After first announcing, “Gentleman, be seated,” … [Read more...] about The Scottsboro Boys
