Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Dave Malloy Shotgun Players Having opened November 15, 2022, Shotgun Players’ audience-immersive, modern-sounding opera set in a Russian cabaret setting of 1812 – Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy – has already received the highest of accolades from both my fellow critics and especially from … [Read more...] about Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
MUST SEE
Sanctuary City
Sanctuary City Martyna Majok Berkeley Repertory Theatre, in Association with Arena Stage Two high school seniors each are seeking sanctuary from a life that fate and family have unfortunately gifted them. B (as in Boy) arrived in this country ten years prior and is now here illegally because his mom overstayed her visa – a mom who now has vowed to leave him and go … [Read more...] about Sanctuary City
Hadestown
Hadestown Anaïs Mitchell (Music, Lyrics & Book) BroadwaySF Sometimes, there simply are not enough superlatives to do justice. During the Jewish Seder, there is a section recounting all the blessings and miracles the Israelites have received; and after each is recited, those gathered around the festival table say, “Dayenu,” “It would have been enough.” If the … [Read more...] about Hadestown
Ragtime the Musical
Ragtime Terrence McNally (Book); Stephen Flaherty (Music); Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics) Based on the novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Let me begin with an upfront confession. In my humble opinion, if there is one musical that could be called “The Great American Musical,” it is Ragtime. Based on E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel by the same name, … [Read more...] about Ragtime the Musical
A Small Fire
A Small Fire Adam Block Shotgun Players If tomorrow I find myself completely without the majority of my sensory powers that only yesterday seemed perfunctory, what would be left for me in life? No smell, no taste, no sight, no hearing? What effects would this catastrophic shift have on my relationships – my family, my friends? How would their lives shift? Could … [Read more...] about A Small Fire
Allegiance
Allegiance Marc Acito, Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione (Book); Jay Kuo (Music & Lyrics) Palo Alto Players With only the clothes on their backs and one tightly clutched suitcase each, shock-faced people stand shoulder-to-shoulder while riding in a cattle car to a location unknown – a destination surrounded by barbed wire in a desolate area reeking of dust and lacking … [Read more...] about Allegiance
Gem of the Ocean
Gem of the Ocean August Wilson TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Arriving amidst a COVID shut-down to assume his position as only the second Artistic Director of the Tony-Award-winning, fifty-two-year-old company TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, nationally known director Tim Bond has had to wait almost two years to bring his vast experience and unique insight as a director … [Read more...] about Gem of the Ocean
August: Osage County
August: Osage County Tracy Letts San Jose Stage Company Why do we return time and again to the muck and mirk, the venom and vile of such time-honored works as Macbeth or Who Killed Virginia Woolf? In many ways, these are not pleasant outings at the theatre; but a great production of either can be exhilarating and entertaining just the same, given great … [Read more...] about August: Osage County
Fefu and Her Friends
Fefu and Her Friends María Irene Fornés American Conservatory Theater It is New England in the mid 1930s; flowers are blooming, birds are singing; and Fefu has invited seven of her female, educator friends to come to her lovely countryside estate to practice their talks for an upcoming event – a reunion of former classmates, some of whom have not seen each other in … [Read more...] about Fefu and Her Friends
Vietgone
Vietgone Qui Nguyen (with Original Music by Shane Rettig) City Lights Theater Company On the surface, a story detailing the journey of some Vietnamese immigrants as they escape the fall of Saigon in 1975 and land in a refugee camp in Arkansas, Vietgone is actually an irreverent, topsy-turvy, wild ride of a moving and engaging love story – in this case, a … [Read more...] about Vietgone
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility Paul Gordon (Book, Music & Lyrics) Based on the Novel by Jane Austin TheatreWorks Silicon Valley For those who have experienced even a few of the 175 plays and musicals that Robert Kelley directed during the first fifty years of the Tony Award winning company he founded – Theatreworks Silicon Valley – there are much … [Read more...] about Sense and Sensibility
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Jack Thorne Based on Story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany Curran Theater In a world full of eye-popping, hair-raising, gasp-producing illusions and magic, steep staircases dance as if stars in a ballet; doors and suitcases waltz and twirl; and an ancient, arched ceiling reaching to the heavens transforms … [Read more...] about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Pass Over
Pass Over Antionette Chinonye Nwandu Marin Theatre Company “I got plans to get off this block.” … “How we get off this block?” … “Are we fixin’ to get off this block?” … “Let’s do this shit. Pass over.” On a desolate, dark street where we see only a metal guard rail; a crumbling concrete curb with a few weeds poking through; and a lone, oft flickering … [Read more...] about Pass Over
Don’t Eat the Mangos
While entering the theatre and being tempted to do a few salsa steps to the hip-swiveling Latinx music playing all around us, it is impossible not to notice there are mangos – many rotting – piled on the floor of the tropical house’s kitchen. There is also a tree laden with ripening mangos that is intertwined into the decorative, iron-gate entrance to the house – a tree that … [Read more...] about Don’t Eat the Mangos
Chicago
Hips snap and swirl. Hands spread their fingers, Fosse-style. Shoulders roll as twelve bodies slowly swing around in unison, grouped together in a triangle that moves in soft but precisely placed steps. Through the center in her black lingerie snakes a slinking gal singing in a smoky, sensuous voice, “C’mon babe, why don’t we paint the town, and all that jazz?” And onto … [Read more...] about Chicago
