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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

Musical

The Music Man

May 11, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

The Music Man Meredith Wilson (Book, Music & Lyrics) Palo Alto Players Musicals often burst onto the stage with numbers that arouse an audience to peak attention and leave fond impressions (and earworms) that can last a lifetime.  Among the dozens of opening numbers that are my big-sound, big-number favorites are the likes of Belle entering the village in Beauty and the … [Read more...] about The Music Man

Forever Plaid

April 29, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Forever Plaid Stuart Ross (Book); James Raitt (Musical Continuity, Supervision & Arrangements) 42nd Street Moon If ever there were a musical whose subtitle should be “Oldies But Goldies,” it would have to be Stuart Ross’s (book) Forever Plaid, a 25+-song collection from close-harmony, all-male (and usually white) groups of the 1950s like the The Four Aces, The Four … [Read more...] about Forever Plaid

Something Rotten

April 28, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Something Rotten Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell (Book); Wayne & Karey Kirkpatrick (Music & Lyrics) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory With eyes sparkling their excitement and a spry body moving almost like a stringed puppet, the Minstrel sings, “Welcome to the Renaissance, where we ooh and ahh you with ambiance ... where everything is new.”  Touting … [Read more...] about Something Rotten

Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin

April 4, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin Michael Gene Sullivan (Book); Betty Reid Soskin (Lyrics); Betty Reid Soskin, Daniel Sovio & Others (Music) Concept by Jamie Zimmer Based on the Life, Music & Writing of Betty Reid Soskin San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) There are times when seeing a live, theatre production is … [Read more...] about Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin

Once

March 25, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Once Enda Walsh (Book); Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglov (Music & Lyrics) (Based on the Movie by John Carney) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory For over fifty-five years of its eighty-three-year history, Hillbarn Theatre has performed in its highly versatile and intimate black box setting, transforming its close-at-hand audiences to locations wonderful, wild, … [Read more...] about Once

Ruddygorre Or, The Bruja’s Curse

February 25, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Ruddygore Or, The Bruja’s Curse W.S. Gilbert (Libretto) & Arthur Sullivan (Score) Adapted by David Euresti Lamplighters Musical Theatre The Company that for seventy-one years has entertained Bay Area audiences with its Gilbert and Sullivan fare has taken one of the pair’s Victorian parodies of the English, nineteenth-century melodrama, Ruddygore, and married it … [Read more...] about Ruddygorre Or, The Bruja’s Curse

Rent

February 12, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Rent Jonathan Larson (Book, Music & Lyrics) Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory In January 1996, onto a Broadway stage burst a sexy, soaring musical daring to bestow unforgettable faces and personalities to seven artists struggling to survive not only their 1989, East Village poverty, but also the plague of AIDS/HIV that appeared ready to wipe out an entire … [Read more...] about Rent

A Little Night Music

February 6, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); Hugh Wheeler (Book) South Bay Musical Theatre In a rich, reverberating blend of harmonies, an elaborately attired quintet sings snippets of fuller songs soon to come of the on-again, off-again love affairs and marriages we are about to witness: “Unpack the luggage, la-la-la; pack the luggage, la-la-la.” ... … [Read more...] about A Little Night Music

Falsettos

July 2, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Falsettos William Finn (Music & Lyrics); William Finn & James Lapine (Book) The Pear Theatre For me as an avid theatregoer and a critic, nothing is more upsetting than to see the applaudable efforts of a talented cast squandered by the choices and/or oversights by those who direct the production, both stage and musical.  Unfortunately, such was the case in … [Read more...] about Falsettos

A Chorus Line

June 30, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

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

Sunday in the Park with George

June 16, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

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

She Loves Me

June 15, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

She Loves Me Jerry Bock (Music); Sheldon Harnick (Lyrics); Joe Masteroff (Book) Based on a Play by Miklós Lázló 42nd Street Moon At 42nd Street Moon, it is Christmas in June; and an old favorite is under this year’s tree, She Loves Me.  The multi-Tony-nominated 1963 musical by Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), and Joe Masteroff (book) started as a 1937 play … [Read more...] about She Loves Me

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

1776

May 17, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

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

May 16, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

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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
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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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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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