All My Sons Arthur Miller Berkeley Repertory Theatre The American Dream: That illusive goal that so many have sought to reach, so many sacrifices have been made ... often not for one's own self but for the next generation so the lives of children will be better. A Dream supposedly open to all, but in reality, mostly available at best to those whose skin is white. … [Read more...] about All My Sons
MUST SEE
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov; Translated by Paul Schmidt Marin Theatre Put Anton Chekhov's globally popular, much-adapted play, The Cherry Orchard, in the bold, directorial hands of the much-accomplished Carey Perloff and provide her with a Bay Area, all-star cast, and it is an easy-money bet that Marin Theater has a sure-fire hit in the making. Such is … [Read more...] about The Cherry Orchard
How Shakespeare Saved My Life
How Shakespeare Saved My Life Jacob Ming-Trent Berkeley Repertory Theatre (in co-production with Folger Theatre and Red Bull Theater In her introductory remarks to the opening night's packed audience in Berkeley Rep's Peet's Theatre, Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer told us that given all the horrific things occurring currently in our country and world, being … [Read more...] about How Shakespeare Saved My Life
Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me
Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me Hershey Felder, Book Music by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Bartók, Gershwin & More TheatreWorks Silicon Valley After creating and performing the past thirty years in some six thousand live performances and eighteen films the musical biographies of sixteen famed composers (Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Beethoven, … [Read more...] about Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady Alan Jay Lerner (Book & Lyrics); Frederick Lowe (Music) San Francisco Playhouse With a long history of season-ending, summer-long, sizzling musicals that consistently sell-out -- classics like Cabaret, Evita, Follies, A Chorus Line -- San Francisco Playhouse once again takes a much-loved, much-produced audience favorite and opens an exuberant, … [Read more...] about My Fair Lady
Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical
Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical Ashley Robinson (Book); Dan Gillespie Sells (Music); Shakina (Lyrics) Based on the Play by Ed Graczyk It's hot and dusty in McCarthy, Texas where it has not rained in three years. But in the summer of 1975, the loyal "Disciples of James Dean" are mopping the sweat from their brows as they gather … [Read more...] about Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical
Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity Neil Simon (Book); Cy Coleman (Music); Dorothy Fields (Music) San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) Sometimes there are so many aspects of a spectacular production that it is almost impossible to know where to begin. That is especially true for San Jose Stage Company's current summer hit-in-the-making, Sweet Charity. First, the 1967-premiering musical … [Read more...] about Sweet Charity
Next to Normal
Next to Normal Brian Yorkey (Book & Lyrics); Tom Kitt (Music) Ray of Light Theatre Lifelong mental disease, paralyzing grief, severe depression, feelings by a child of a parent's abandonment, drug abuse, the questionable practices of modern psychiatry, suicide. While not the subjects normally associated with the Great American Musical, Brian Yorkey (book and … [Read more...] about Next to Normal
Brigadoon
Brigadoon Alan Jay Lerner (Book & Lyrics); Frederick Lowe (Music) South Bay Musical Theatre "When you love someone deeply, anything is possible ... even miracles." In times such as we are now experiencing where more and more people are either deeply losing hope, becoming daily more cynical, or just checking out, the idea of miracles probably for most seems a … [Read more...] about Brigadoon
Otello
Otello Giuseppi Verdi (Music); Arigo Boito (Libretto) West Bay Opera After his successful Aida premiered in 1871, the great Giuseppi Verdi decided with firm finality to retire from opera composition; but the librettist Arigo Boito had other ideas. Boito's persistent temptations for Verdi to tackle one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, Othello, finally led to a … [Read more...] about Otello
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Simon Stephens, Based on the Novel by Mark Haddon San Francisco Playhouse A boy of fifteen years, three months, three days can count from a fast moving train the exact number of trees on a hillside, of clouds in the sky, and of hues of green in the meadows passing by. He notes without hesitation that his neighbor … [Read more...] about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Shameless Hussy
Shameless Hussy Lynne Kaufman The Marsh Surrounded by the sounds of fog horn, crashing waves and terrifying thunder, a trembling eleven-year-old girl cries to her mother as the two leave her native France, bound for the U.S, "I am losing my country, my language, and my father". Her mother hands her a notebook and suggests she write in it letters to the father left … [Read more...] about Shameless Hussy
Writing Fragments Home
Writing Fragments Home Jeffrey Lo Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory Forty-year-old Jay awaits anxiously with luggage in hand for his mom to get home from work, nervously practicing various ways of saying, "Hi, Mom, it's good to see you/How was work?/I'm sorry ... can I move back home?" When Mary Beth walks in, her first reaction? "What's wrong?... What are you … [Read more...] about Writing Fragments Home
Zorro
Zorro Héctor Armienta (Music & Libretto) Opera San José A pulp fiction novel written in 1919 by John McCulley was so popular that he wrote dozens more short stories for decades about its hero. Within a year of McCulley's publication, Douglas Fairbanks starred in a swashbuckling silent film whose popularity helped spawn to-date more than 40 more films, ten TV … [Read more...] about Zorro
Nobody Loves You
Nobody Loves You Itamar Moses (Book); Gaby Alter (Music & Lyrics) American Conservatory Theater When reality TV with a "You're-off-the-island" edge merges with a bachelor/bachelorette dating show format that opens the floodgates for immediate social media inputs, memes, and votes for winners, then the result is a rom-com that is furiously fun from beginning to … [Read more...] about Nobody Loves You
