Oliver Twist Adapted by Neil Bartlett from Charles Dickens Foothill Music Theatre Upfront, a chorus of the entire cast sings a warning of what is to follow: "To be sure, it is a work of fiction, An impossibility, an anomaly, an apparent contradiction; For it finds hope where all hope was past." After all, it is 1837 in an England where the usual fate of young … [Read more...] about Oliver Twist
3.5 E
La Cage Aux Folles
La Cage Aux Folles Harvey Fierstein (Book); Jerry Herman (Music & Lyrics) Theatre Rhinoceros Anyone preparing for Pride and searching shops around the Castro for a yard or two of chiffon, silk organza, netting, voile, or gauze much less any spangles, sequins, boas, or feathers might as well give up. Bonita Rose has probably emptied most shelves as she acquired … [Read more...] about La Cage Aux Folles
how to make an American Son
how to make an American Son christopher oscar peña New Conservatory Theatre Center Books upon books from Borders, a soft-leather bag from Coach, $1100 for fourth-row Madonna tickets -- and now he wants a new car for his upcoming sixteenth birthday? Even though second-generation and definitely spoiled Orlando sees the sky as the limit as he pleads with his … [Read more...] about how to make an American Son
The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady Stephen Garvey 3Below Theatres & Cafe, Guggenheim Entertainment, Producer In the yesteryear era of 1974's big-flowered skirts, psychedelic-striped bellbottoms, and paisley patterns gone wild, Arden Amusement Park is set to open amidst a major foul-up: Two rival, family-member bands have both been … [Read more...] about The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||
||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| Eisa Davis American Conservatory Theater, In Co-Production with Vineyard Theatre Company Four teenage girls spending their summer at a conservatory of music program in Berkeley create and share together music, friendship, tension, conflict, and compassion while also balancing the pressures of others' expectations, their own … [Read more...] about ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||
What the Constitution Means to Me
What the Constitution Means to Me Heidi Schreck Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory At the age of fifteen, Heidi Schreck remembers “in addition to being terrifyingly turned on all the time" and obsessed with Salem witch trials, theatre, and “most importantly” Patrick Swayze,” “I was a zealot” of the Constitution. As then a high school sophomore in Wenatchee, … [Read more...] about What the Constitution Means to Me
Yoga Play
Yoga Play Dipika Guha Los Altos Stage Company Newly hired CEO, Joan, is more than ready to steer the luxury, athletic-wear, mega-company, Jojoman, into new heights after its former CEO was quoted (and then fired) while claiming, "it was the size of women's thighs" that was causing one of their $200 pants to appear transparent, "not the fabric itself." All she must … [Read more...] about Yoga Play
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code Adapted by Rachel Wagstaff & Duncan Abel Based on the Novel by Dan Brown Palo Alto Players When the mystery thriller movie, The Da Vinci Code, opened in 2006, it was largely panned by most critics, laughed at during its Cannes Festival premiere, and landed on many "Worst Of" lists for movies of that year. Yet its opening weekend saw … [Read more...] about The Da Vinci Code
Pear Slices 2025
Pear Slices 2025 Various Playwrights Pear Theatre Since Season Two of its now twenty-three, Pear Theatre each year has reaped a delicious harvest of world premiere, one-act playlets offered as Pear Slices -- six to eight, ten-to-fifteen-minute pieces, each written by members of an ongoing Pear Playwrights' Guild who meet every two weeks to discuss and provide … [Read more...] about Pear Slices 2025
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors William Shakespeare, with Modern Verse Translation by Christina Anderson American Conservatory Theater, A Touring Production by the Acting Company What a difference a week can make! A week ago, New York's touring Acting Company opened at American Conservatory Theatre a must-see, poetic play of powerful prose about a turbulent, turning point … [Read more...] about The Comedy of Errors
Bluebeard’s Castle
Bluebeard's Castle Béla Bartók, Composer; Béla Balás, Original Hungarian Libretto English Translation by Steven White and Joseph Marcheso Opera San Jose An immense, dark, dungeon-like castle with its interior dimly lit by magnificent hanging chandeliers and wall scones of flickering candles is the setting for Opera San Jose's intriguing, beguiling, and … [Read more...] about Bluebeard’s Castle
La sonnambula
La sonnambula Vincenzo Bellini, Composer; Felice Romani, Libretto West Bay Opera In the early nineteenth century for some strange reason, the height of fashion in European stage works was to include somnambulism, or sleepwalking. With Felice Romani contributing the libretto, Vincenzo Bellini followed the popular trend by premiering in 1831 a two-act opera in the … [Read more...] about La sonnambula
Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
Exotic Deadly: Or The MSG Play Keiko Green San Francisco Playhouse In 1908, a Japanese scientist isolated and duplicated the savory taste of a particular type of seaweed, leading to a flavor enhancer that over the years became very popular in Asian cooking. In 1968, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine by an unknown Dr. Ho Man Kwok claimed … [Read more...] about Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
Accused!
Accused! Patricia Milton Central Works Politicians and police ranting against immigrants and the crimes they bring. An invading plague blamed on other countries. Threats and fears of domestic terrorists and possible bombings. Suspicion of corrupt public officials. People of color ignored by police. Women’s opinions ridiculed and outright dismissed by the men in … [Read more...] about Accused!
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor Otto Nicolai (Composer); Salomon Hermann Mosenthal (Original Libretto); Donald Pippin (English Version, Libretto) Based on Play by William Shakespeare Pocket Opera With a measure of self-worth and a confidence in his own attraction to the fairer sex that are almost as mammoth as his rotund belly, Shakespeare’s Falstaff has through the … [Read more...] about The Merry Wives of Windsor
