Encore Ed Decker, Dennis Lickteig & Joe Wicht, Curators New Conservatory Theatre Center Much like Jack Benny did for much of his life, New Conservatory Theatre Center has been holding its age at thirty-nine for the past year, just waiting for COVID to ease long enough in order to celebrate in NCTC-Fabulous-Style its fortieth. During this forced pause, Founder and … [Read more...] about Encore
Best Bet
The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin
The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin Jessica Huang San Francisco Playhouse “America is lonely. Yes. Is hard. Is ugly. Is angry. Is scary. But maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not so much. Maybe home. Someday.” In a country where nearly all the present population once immigrated from somewhere else, the United States has historically been plummeted with wave after wave of … [Read more...] about The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin
Ruthless! The Musical Comedy
Ruthless! The Musical Comedy Marvin Laird (Music); Joel Paley (Lyrics and Book) Los Altos Stage Company When third-grader Tina Denmark hears of the lead role in her school’s new musical, Pippi [Longstocking] in Tahiti, she declares “I would kill for that part;” and she is actually not kidding. The deadly ambitious pipsqueak who has trouble talking without singing or … [Read more...] about Ruthless! The Musical Comedy
The Incrementalist
The Incrementalist Cleavon Smith Aurora Theatre Company Following the police-afflicted, brutal murder of George Floyd in May 2020, protests erupted world-wide, including in Berkeley, California where shocked, angry UC students joined local residents in the streets, facing off against aggressive police in riot gear. Oakland resident, Berkeley City College professor, … [Read more...] about The Incrementalist
Allegiance
Allegiance Marc Acito, Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione (Book); Jay Kuo (Music & Lyrics) Palo Alto Players With only the clothes on their backs and one tightly clutched suitcase each, shock-faced people stand shoulder-to-shoulder while riding in a cattle car to a location unknown – a destination surrounded by barbed wire in a desolate area reeking of dust and lacking … [Read more...] about Allegiance
Gem of the Ocean
Gem of the Ocean August Wilson TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Arriving amidst a COVID shut-down to assume his position as only the second Artistic Director of the Tony-Award-winning, fifty-two-year-old company TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, nationally known director Tim Bond has had to wait almost two years to bring his vast experience and unique insight as a director … [Read more...] about Gem of the Ocean
August: Osage County
August: Osage County Tracy Letts San Jose Stage Company Why do we return time and again to the muck and mirk, the venom and vile of such time-honored works as Macbeth or Who Killed Virginia Woolf? In many ways, these are not pleasant outings at the theatre; but a great production of either can be exhilarating and entertaining just the same, given great … [Read more...] about August: Osage County
Fefu and Her Friends
Fefu and Her Friends María Irene Fornés American Conservatory Theater It is New England in the mid 1930s; flowers are blooming, birds are singing; and Fefu has invited seven of her female, educator friends to come to her lovely countryside estate to practice their talks for an upcoming event – a reunion of former classmates, some of whom have not seen each other in … [Read more...] about Fefu and Her Friends
Hotter than Egypt
Hotter than Egypt Yussef El Guindi Marin Theatre Company, in Co-Production with A Contemporary Theatre Wisconsinites Jean and Paul are in exotic Egypt to bask in the winter sun, sail on the Nile on feluccas, and relish the history of the museums – all as part of their twenty-fourth wedding anniversary celebration. Engaged and soon to be married, Cairenes Maha and … [Read more...] about Hotter than Egypt
La Cage Aux Folles
La Cage Aux Folles Harvey Fierstein (Book); Jerry Herman (Music & Lyrics) Based on the Play by Jean Poiret San Jose Playhouse Anyone hoping to find any time soon in the San Jose area even a yard of chiffon, silk organza, netting, voile, or gauze much less any spangles, sequins, boas, or feathers might as well give up. Costume Designer Julie Englebrecht surely … [Read more...] about La Cage Aux Folles
Vietgone
Vietgone Qui Nguyen (with Original Music by Shane Rettig) City Lights Theater Company On the surface, a story detailing the journey of some Vietnamese immigrants as they escape the fall of Saigon in 1975 and land in a refugee camp in Arkansas, Vietgone is actually an irreverent, topsy-turvy, wild ride of a moving and engaging love story – in this case, a … [Read more...] about Vietgone
Escape from the Asylum
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
Dot
Dot Colman Domingo New Conservatory Theatre Center Family gatherings during the December holidays are often a time of maneuvering about carefully on rather thin ice, with members skating gingerly around issues in order not to reopen past and often persistent cracks in relationships. For the Shealy family, skirting away from the one fact most want to ignore as they … [Read more...] about Dot
Passing Strange
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
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
