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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

Palo Alto Players

Jersey Boys

April 27, 2025 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Jersey Boys Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice (Book) Bob Gaudio (Music); Bob Crewe (Lyrics) Palo Alto Players Let it be known by anyone and everyone who has seen once, twice, or a dozen times Jersey Boys in New York, London, or on touring stages throughout the country and abroad that seeing the 2005, multi-Tony-award-winning juke-box hit one more time in a … [Read more...] about Jersey Boys

Noises Off

January 23, 2025 by Eddie Reynolds

Noises Off Michael Frayn Palo Alto Players “Doors and sardines.  Getting on, getting off.  Getting the sardines on, getting the sardines off. That's farce. That's the theatre. That's life.” Perhaps no line better summarizes the challenge and the fun potential of both the fictional director and the actual stage director of Palo Alto Players’ latest opening, Michael … [Read more...] about Noises Off

Murder on the Orient Express

June 25, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Murder on the Orient Express Adapted by Ken Ludwig from the Novel by Agatha Christie Palo Alto Players For many of us, there is nothing better than curling up in a comfy chair and opening the first page of an Agatha Christie novel to see what devilish deed Hercule Poirot will solve this time.  Perhaps the only thing better is to see all the suspense, speculation, and … [Read more...] about Murder on the Orient Express

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

Misery – The Play

January 29, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Misery William Goldman Based on the Novel by Stephen King Palo Alto Players I feel compelled to make an upfront confession:  I have never read a Stephen King novel; and while I do enjoy the suspense and thriller aspects of Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Sterling, I have never been a fan of the ever-popular genre of horror.  It was thus with slight trepidation that I stepped … [Read more...] about Misery – The Play

The SpongeBob Musical

May 7, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The SpongeBob Musical Kyle Jarrow (Book) Based on the Series by Stephen Hillenburg Original Songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Shape & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady A, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain Whites T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., David … [Read more...] about The SpongeBob Musical

The Play That Goes Wrong

January 30, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

The Play That Goes Wrong Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields Palo Alto Players Finally, after past, short-handed productions such as Two Sisters (making for a much shorter evening of Chekhov), The Lion and the Wardrobe (forget the Witch), and Cat (a solo musical?), the Cornley Drama Society has recruited enough members to stage The Murder at Haversham … [Read more...] about The Play That Goes Wrong

Twelfth Night

June 21, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Twelfth Night William Shakespeare Adapted by Max Tachis Palo Alto Players In his adaptation for Palo Alto Players of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Max Tachis takes the romantic comedy’s early line – “If music be the food of love, play on” – and makes a feast of it.  Even before the curtain opens, a snazzy, zippy singer with eyes that twinkle and fingers that … [Read more...] about Twelfth Night

Allegiance

April 25, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

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

Men on Boats

February 8, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Men on Boats Jaclyn Backhaus Palo Alto Players Palo Alto Players opens the 2015, Off-Broadway-premiering Men on Boats in which playwright Jaclyn Backhaus seeks to entertain and enlighten us about the first government-sanctioned trip in 1869 down the Green River as it spills ripping and roaring into what we now know as the Grand Canyon.  With a twist that mirrors … [Read more...] about Men on Boats

A Doll’s House: Part 2

January 25, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

There is nothing more magical than a night at live theatre when a brilliant script, inspired direction, and a perfectly cast set of actors combine with setting, lighting, sound, and costumes such that each makes its own unique contribution to produce as near a perfect evening as possible.  Such is how I felt as I exited Lucy Stern Theater after thoroughly enjoying every minute … [Read more...] about A Doll’s House: Part 2

“Bright Star”

September 16, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Bright StarSteve Martin (Music, Book, Story) & Edie Brickell (Music, Lyrics, Story)Palo Alto PlayersElizabeth SantanaWhen Alice rotates from the rear to step away from a stage full of townspeople to face us, she opens the show singing, “If you knew my story, you’d have a hard time believing me. ” Immediately we know that Elizabeth Santana is going to make this an evening to … [Read more...] about “Bright Star”

“One Man, Two Guvnors”

June 18, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

One Man, Two GuvnorsRichard Bean(Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo GoldoniWith songs by Grant Olding)Palo AltoPlayers The Cast It only takes the stumbling entrance of Doug Santana onto the stage in the persona of Francis Henshall – the servant of two ‘guvnors’ – to ascertain immediately that Palo Alto Players has a rollicking, riotous hit on its … [Read more...] about “One Man, Two Guvnors”

“Flower Drum Song”

May 6, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Flower Drum SongRichard Rodgers (Music); Oscar Hammerstein II (Lyrics); David Henry Hwang (Book)Palo Alto Players Emily SongPalo Alto Players offers a gift to Bay Area audiences in producing the rarely performed Flower Drum Song, but the present is all the more welcome because of a production that is conceived and performed with the look, sound, style, and … [Read more...] about “Flower Drum Song”

“Shakespeare in Love”

January 26, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

Shakespeare in LoveBased on the Screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc NormanAdapted for the Stage by Lee Hall, Palo Alto Players  Drew Benjamin JonesLee Hall’s adaptation of the Norman/Stoppard screenplay, Shakespeare in Love, emphasizes even more than the original film the determination of one woman to forge a place on the world’s stage — or at least on … [Read more...] about “Shakespeare in Love”

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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

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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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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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