Mother Road Octavio Solis Berkeley Repertory Theatre Seventy-plus years have passed since the Joad family of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath joined a parade of desperate migrant farmers, all leaving their starving lives in Dust-Bowl-ravaged Oklahoma of the 1930s while looking for the lush life they saw painted on fruit crates from California. Two Joads – a mother and … [Read more...] about Mother Road
MUST SEE
Everybody’s Talking about Jamie
Everybody’s Talking about Jamie Dan Gillespie Sells (Score) & Tom MacRae (Book & Lyrics) Based Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Directed by Jenny Popplewell Ray of Light Theatre What better way for a San Francisco audience to celebrate Pride Month than enjoying to the hilt a joyous, upbeat, and totally inspiring coming out story of a sixteen-year-old whose only dream … [Read more...] about Everybody’s Talking about Jamie
The Lehman Trilogy
The Lehman Trilogy Stefano Massini Adapted by Ben Power American Conservatory Theater It is a story whose ending we already too well know. The world’s fourth largest investment bank files for the biggest bankruptcy in American history, sending Wall Street into panic and initiating the 2008-09 global financial crisis and the collapse of numerous, other banking … [Read more...] about The Lehman Trilogy
Galileo
Galileo Danny Strong (Book); Michael Weiner & Zoe Sarnack (Music & Lyrics) Berkeley Repertory Theatre From one side we hear, “Science asks the questions; the Bible has the answers;” from the opposing view, “The Scriptures is a book about going to heaven; it is not a book about how the heavens go.” Sounds like countering arguments made in some current, state … [Read more...] about Galileo
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams San Francisco Playhouse As we enter the theatre, we immediately notice at the stage’s corner a young man intently smoking, looking one moment longingly into a non-descript distance and writing the next with much intent into a small notebook clasped tightly in his hand. In between, he rummages through a collection of records, … [Read more...] about The Glass Menagerie
Something Rotten
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
The Tutor
The Tutor Torange Yeghiazarian New Conservatory Theatre Center, In Partnership with Golden Threads Productions “Everyone knows that everyone is lying … Eventually you learn what you can get away with publicly, and the rest, you manage privately … It may seem like a lot to juggle; but practice, daily practice makes perfect," declares the young Baran, soon after … [Read more...] about The Tutor
Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin
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
The 39 Steps
The 39 Steps Adapted by Patrick Barlow Based on the Novel by John Buchan From the Movie by Alfred Hitchcock San Francisco Playhouse In Patrick Barlow’s 2005 theatrical adaptation of the 1915 John Buchan novel and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film version of The 39 Steps, the suspense and dark natures of Hitchcock’s enduring thriller – ranked in 1999 by the British Film … [Read more...] about The 39 Steps
Unpacking In P’Town
Unpacking in P’Town Jewelle Gomez New Conservatory Theatre Center “Nothing erodes a mountain of pain better than a river of friendship.” So claims Lydia, one of four, long-term friends from yesteryear’s vaudeville circuit days who are once again returning to Provincetown for their annual, summer reunion. And in 1959, there is pain aplenty in the air of laid-back, … [Read more...] about Unpacking In P’Town
Big Data
Big Data Kate Attwell American Conservatory Theater A stranger shows up at the door, and you let him in, not knowing quite why. He settles in as if he knows the place and begins asking mundane but also personal questions and taking some notes. Somehow, he seems already to know a lot about you and describes aspects of yourself, your inner desires, and even dreams for … [Read more...] about Big Data
Rigoletto
Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave Opera San José Little wonder it is that from its Vienna premiere in 1851 until the twenty-first century, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is one of the world’s most-beloved, most-performed operas. Soaring in music that includes famous, widely recognized arias that are difficult for an audience member not to … [Read more...] about Rigoletto
How I Learned What I Learned
How I Learned What I Learned August Wilson (Co-Conceived with Todd Kreidler) TheatreWorks Silicon Valley As an elderly, Black man emerges from the theatre’s exit door with aged limp but also with a dignified and sure stature, he intently and silently watches projected, vintage black-and-white film clips of the neighborhoods and their peoples of Black America’s … [Read more...] about How I Learned What I Learned
A Chorus Line
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
Out of Character
Out of Character Ari’el Stachel Berkeley Repertory Company One of the most remarkable aspects of Berkeley Rep’s latest world premiere show, Out of Character, is the vast array of characters on the stage – unique, interesting people of so many races, places of origin, and family backgrounds with accents, personalities, and personal stories so rich, authentic, and … [Read more...] about Out of Character
