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Theatre Eddys

Theatre Eddys

San Francisco Bay Area Theater Reviews

West Bay Opera

La sonnambula

February 15, 2025 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

La sonnambula Vincenzo Bellini, Composer; Felice Romani, Libretto West Bay Opera In the early nineteenth century for some strange reason, the height of fashion in European stage works was to include somnambulism, or sleepwalking.  With Felice Romani contributing the libretto, Vincenzo Bellini followed the popular trend by premiering in 1831 a two-act opera in the … [Read more...] about La sonnambula

Corpus Evita

February 17, 2024 by Eddie Reynolds

Corpus Evita Carlos Franzetti Libretto by José Luis Moscovich; Concept by Lorenz Russo How much responsibility must a person in power assume for acts against humanity that occur because the untested, unprepared leader is either unaware, naïve, or completely incompetent?  Is it possible for such a leader ever to seek and receive atonement – especially if the crimes … [Read more...] about Corpus Evita

Don Giovanni

February 18, 2023 by Eddie Reynolds

Don Giovanni Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Music); Lorenzo Da Ponte (Libretto) West Bay Opera How can an opera about an arrogant, despicable rake who travels throughout Europe seducing women for pure sport and then leaving them often after having promised marriage continue to be one of the most popular, most produced operas of all times?  Why in this particular era of “Me … [Read more...] about Don Giovanni

Pique Dame

May 21, 2022 by Eddie Reynolds

Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky West Bay Opera Woodwinds and strings sing in gentle, back-and-forth conversation before other instruments begin to join, building into rolling climaxes of commanding brass and timpani and all leading to a sense of foreboding as projected on the walls before us are splashed, red blotches mingled in a flurried mix … [Read more...] about Pique Dame

Macbeth

February 15, 2020 by Eddie Reynolds

Woodwinds creep together in soft, low measures before intertwining in higher registers and giving way to announcing brass that awaken spirits from the underworld.  Those dark figures manipulate wood puppets to tell the agonized history of a royal, childless marriage.  From foggy mists, faceless sisters of the night emerge in every sort of torn and draped rag, roving about while … [Read more...] about Macbeth

Nabucco

October 19, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

How relevant can a near one-hundred-eighty-year opera be to modern audiences when there is an autocratic, egotistic ruler who subjugates people of a different ethnicity and nationality to imprisonment and relocation from their homeland and who begins to act and think of himself as a god?  Unfortunately in 2019, a story that originates in biblical times and is the subject of … [Read more...] about Nabucco

“Falstaff”

May 25, 2019 by Eddie Reynolds Leave a Comment

FalstaffGiuseppe Verdi, with Libretto by Arigo BoitoWest Bay OperaMichael Orlinsky, Kiril Havezov & Richard Zeller“In this great abdomen are a thousand tongues that proclaim my name ... This is my kingdom.”  With a measure of self-worth and a confidence in his own attraction to the fairer sex that are almost as mammoth as his rotund belly, Falstaff sings with from his … [Read more...] about “Falstaff”

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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
A classic, would see it a second time.
4 E's - Really Liked It
Excellent, strong production.
3 E's - Liked It
Good production but something is lacking or not clicking.
2 E's - Just OK
Below average but had at least one interesting component.
1 E - Did Not Like It
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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