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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

5 E

The Wizard of Oz

June 8, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

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

Into the Woods

May 23, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

The Scottsboro Boys

May 13, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

Chinglish

May 11, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Chinglish David Henry Hwang San Francisco Playhouse With a congenial big smile behind the center-stage lectern, American businessman Daniel Cavanaugh punctuates his talk on “Doing Business in China” with examples how Chinese interpreters often massacre common English phrases in commercial signage, with “Chief Financial Officer” becoming “Financial Affairs Is Everywhere … [Read more...] about Chinglish

The NI¿¿ER LOVERS

May 7, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

The NI¿¿ER LOVERS: An Amerikkan Musical Marc Anthony Thompson, Writer & Composer Magic Theatre In 1848, a young, married couple devised and successfully executed in eight days a daring, dangerous plan to escape the horrific bondage of slavery in Macon, Georgia to find freedom in Boston – the light-skinned wife disguised as a man and her darker-skinned husband, as … [Read more...] about The NI¿¿ER LOVERS

Tosca

April 22, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Tosca Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa Opera San José Immensely impressive, profoundly passionate, and musically masterful from first notes to closing plunge off the parapet describe Opera San José’s triumphant production of Giacomo Puccini’s timelessly popular Tosca.  Within the setting of San José’s beautifully majestic California … [Read more...] about Tosca

Cyrano

April 17, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Cyrano Edmond Rostand, Adapted by Josh Costello Aurora Theatre Company From its premiere night in 1897 Paris when the audience was still applauding an hour after the final curtain fell, through multiple stagings on the Great White Way starring some of Broadway’s finest, and after hundreds of productions worldwide in multiple languages, Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de … [Read more...] about Cyrano

Harold and Maude

April 16, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Harold and Maude Colin Higgins Los Altos Stage Company Maybe fifty-two years ago the film was a flop according to both critics and audiences.  Maybe in 1980 as a stage play, it closed on Broadway after only four nights.  But somewhere along the way the screenplay that was originally written by Colin Higgins as his master thesis became a cult film favorite, turned a … [Read more...] about Harold and Maude

A Distinct Society

April 12, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

A Distinct Society Kareem Fahmy TheatreWorks Silicon Valley An executive order on January 27, 2017, by a president barely one week in office barred citizens from seven countries – all majority Muslim – from entering the United States.  Protests, legal challenges, and suits followed; but in the meantime, border agencies began reacting and enacting, often changing … [Read more...] about A Distinct Society

The Triumph of Love

April 2, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

The Triumph of Love Pierre De Marivaux, Translated by Stephen Wadsworth Shotgun Players Gender confusions left and right that lead to infatuations built on false pretenses.  A cunning princess plotting to capture the love of a naïve prince who has been taught his whole life to hate and eventually usurp her.  Loves built on mounting lies leading to three planned … [Read more...] about The Triumph of Love

Blithe Spirit

April 1, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Blithe Spirit Noël Coward City Lights Theater Company The world was at war; England was constantly threatened from the skies; the fear of death of self and of loved ones was on everyone’s mind.  What better time to write a three-act farce about a séance gone haywire recalling an author’s dead wife from the beyond – a ghost only he can see and a ghost who has devilish … [Read more...] about Blithe Spirit

Merrily We Roll Along

March 26, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Merrily We Roll Along Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); George Furth (Book) Based on the Original Play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart 42nd Street Moon 6 a.m., October 1957, on a rooftop of a New York apartment building, two friends look to the sky, searching for the world’s first orbiting satellite.  Frank has just been released from the Army and is about … [Read more...] about Merrily We Roll Along

Fiddler on the Roof

March 23, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Fiddler on the Roof Joseph Stein (Book); Jerry Bock (Music); Sheldon Harnick (Lyrics) BroadwaySF After its record-setting, award-winning initial run on Broadway in 1964; its five Broadway revivals since; countless openings on local and touring stages globally and in towns and cities from coast to coast in America – not to mention the 1971 film whose scenes are now … [Read more...] about Fiddler on the Roof

FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer

March 13, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer Cheryl L. West TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Despite having suffered polio as a child, a Mississippi sharecropper worked in the cotton fields twelve-to-eighteen-hour a day starting at the age of six in a state where 77% of the people were Black like she but where the minority whites ran 100% of everything.  But then one day … [Read more...] about FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer

Perfect Arrangement

March 12, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Perfect Arrangement Topher Payne Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory The red stage light comes on, accompanied by a resounding ring; theme music fills the air; and lights come up on what could almost be a recreation of Lucy and Desi’s apartment.  Canned applause joins in ushering to the stage another episode of Perfect Arrangement.  But what starts out as a … [Read more...] about Perfect Arrangement

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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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