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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

Hillbarn Theatre

Clue: On Stage

June 6, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Clue: On Stage Sandy Rustin Based on Screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, with Additional Material by Hunter Foster & Eric Price Based on Paramount Pictures film, Clue Based on Hasbro Board Game, CLUE Hillbarn Theatre Six guests arrive at a New England, country mansion in 1954; and soon each receive from the host a plain-paper-wrapped gift – either a dagger, a wrench, a … [Read more...] about Clue: On Stage

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

April 24, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change Joe DiPietro (Book & Lyrics); Jimmy Roberts (Music); Doug Katsaros (Orchestrations) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory For someone who has seen well over 150 live theatre shows every, pre-COVID year for at least the past twenty years, how is it I have missed seeing the 1996-premiering, second-longest-running Off-Broadway … [Read more...] about I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

Ain’t Misbehaving: The Fats Waller Musical Show

March 20, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show Richard Maltby, Jr. & Murray Horwitz (Book) Luther Henderson (Musical Adaptations, Orchestrations & Arrangements) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory   Maybe we do not get musical confirmation until the last and fifteenth song of Act One that “this joint is jumping;” but there is no doubt as the … [Read more...] about Ain’t Misbehaving: The Fats Waller Musical Show

Anything Goes

September 2, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Anything GoesCole Porter (Music & Lyrics)P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse (Original Book)Timothy Crouse & John Weidman (New Book)Hillbarn TheatreNathaniel Rothrock & Caitlin McGinty Beginning with the ship’s captain and sailors raising full-voice and rousing harmonies in “There Is No Cure Like Travel” and the full cast blending … [Read more...] about Anything Goes

“Mamma Mia!”

May 12, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Mamma Mia!Catherin Johnson (Book); Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (Music & Lyrics); Stig Anderson (Additional Songs)Hillbarn Theatre Christine Capsuto-Shulman, Merrill Peiffer & Jacquie McCarleyThe sheer joy of this Mamma Mia! is the big-stage quality we as an audience get to enjoy in the intimate, close-up space of the Hillbarn Theatre.  The cast of … [Read more...] about “Mamma Mia!”

“Leading Ladies”

March 10, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Leading LadiesKen LudwigHillbarn TheatreSamantha Ricci, Adrienne Kaori Walters  & Monica CappucciniWhile the Shakespeare-mimicking situations in Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladiesare overall amusing, it is Director James Knipple’s gender-fluid, casting decisions that make Hillbarn Theatre's Leading Ladies well worth a night of forgetting all the day’s troubles and letting … [Read more...] about “Leading Ladies”

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

January 29, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetStephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); Hugh Wheeler (Book)Hillbarn TheatreHeather Orth & Keith PintoOne lone, frozen figure stares blankly forward, singing with almost no emotion those words so well-known to Sondheim lovers everywhere:“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.His skin was pale and his eye was odd.He shaved the faces of … [Read more...] about “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

“A Christmas Carol”

December 3, 2018 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

A Christmas Carol Alan Menken (Music); Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics); Mike Ockrent & Lynn Ahrens (Book)Based on the Story by Charles DickensHillbarn TheatreThe Cast of A Christmas CarolHillbarn Theatre of Foster City, a company known for its rousing, inventively produced musicals, stages the musical version of the perennially holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol.  Unfortunately, … [Read more...] about “A Christmas Carol”

“West Side Story”

September 2, 2018 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

West Side StoryArthur Laurents (Book); Leonard Bernstein (Music); Stephen Sondheim (Lyrics)Hillbarn TheatreJeffrey Brian Adams & Ana Paula Malagón With a cast of thirty and an orchestra of fourteen, Hillbarn Theatre kicks off its seventy-eighth consecutive season with a West Side Story that proves that the sixty-plus-year-old musical is as current, relevant, … [Read more...] about “West Side Story”

“The Full Monty”

May 6, 2018 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The Full MontyTerrence McNally (Book); David Yazbek (Music & Lyrics)Hillbarn Theatre Greg Lynch, Brian Palac, James Creer, Bradley Satterwhite, Linda Piccone, and Andy Cooperfauss The entire production Hillbarn's Monty is packed with humor and heart, gusto and grit, love almost lost and love newly found. From jogging women silently … [Read more...] about “The Full Monty”

“Peter and the Starcatcher”

January 21, 2018 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Peter and the StarcatcherRick Elice, based on the novel by Dave Barry & Ridley PearsonHillbarn TheatreDan Demers & Will Springhorn, Jr. With tongue often in cheek, with twinkles in every eye, and with impishness in the corner of each mouth, the Hillbarn Theatre cast of thirteen romps through Rick Elice’s Peter and the Starcatcher, providing us the prequel story of … [Read more...] about “Peter and the Starcatcher”

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

August 29, 2017 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The Hunchback of Notre DameAlan Menken (Music); Stephen Schwartz (Lyrics); Peter Parnell (Book)Hillbarn Theatre Randy O'Hara (Quasimodo) & the Gargoyles Based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a stage musical retains the songs of the 1996 Disney film while keeping more of the darker, more serious elements of the novel than does the … [Read more...] about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

“Sister Act”

May 8, 2017 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Sister ActAlan Menken (Music); Glenn Slater (Lyrics); Cheri & Bill Steinkellner (Book)Hillbarn TheatreDawn L. Troupe, Melissa Costa and CastGlory Hallelujah and Amen!  Hillbarn Theatre may not have Whoopi Goldberg from the 1992 movie or Patina Miller from the 2009 London and 2011 New York openings; but thank the Almighty, the Foster City company has found its miracle … [Read more...] about “Sister Act”

“Rumors”

March 21, 2017 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

RumorsNeil SimonHillbarn TheatreThe Cast of Rumors With a cast whose tongues are fully in cheek, slapstick skills are sharply honed, and mission is to milk every laugh possible from the ninety-minute script, Hillbarn Theatre stages an entertaining Rumors.  Touting little social, redeeming value other than to produce much laughter from increasingly silly … [Read more...] about “Rumors”

“Cabaret”

January 22, 2017 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

CabaretJoe Masteroff (Book); John Kander (Music); Fred Ebb (Lyrics)Hillbarn Theatre Keith Pinto & Jessica MaxeySince its 1966 Broadway debut and its initial eight Tonys, the inspiring hit Cabaret has continued to evolve through several major, award-winning revivals in both New York and London, becoming ever darker, starker, and rawer with each new … [Read more...] about “Cabaret”

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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.
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3 E's - Liked It
Good production but something is lacking or not clicking.
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Below average but had at least one interesting component.
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Waste of time.

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Theatre Eddys reviews performances throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

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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