GET ME TO SF PLAYHOUSE ON TIME: MY FAIR LADY CHARMS UNION SQUARE Every summer, San Francisco Playhouse puts on a classic blockbuster musical that runs from early July into September. It’s an unbeatable gambit taking advantage of the tourist traffic in the Union Square district. Jillian A. Smith This year’s offering is a stunning […]
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ACTING WHILE ASIAN: A SURVIVAL GUIDE IN ONE ACT Kung Fu, Sidekick, Wise Man, Dead: The Hollywood Starter Pack. Philip Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die pulls no punches in its portrait of two Asian-American actors navigating Hollywood’s tangled machinery—one a hardened veteran, the other freshly idealistic. Set in the late 1980s but pulsing with […]
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THE BUSINESS OF NOSTALGIA: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALL DRESSED UP WITH NOWHERE TO GO Last Thursday night, a rainy July 10th, ensconced in the stunningly beautiful Cadillac Palace Theatre, I finally took in a Disney stage musical. Fittingly, it was the very first one they’d produced in 1994, Beauty and the Beast. While a […]
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A man leaves his wife to start a relationship with another man. Together, the two men—Marvin and his new partner, Whizzer—try to co-parent Marvin’s twelve-year-old son, Jason, alongside Marvin’s ex-wife, Trina. Over time, Whizzer becomes a close friend to Jason, while Trina begins a relationship with Marvin’s psychiatrist, Mendel, whom she eventually marries. They are […]
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ANOTHER FAMOUS BALCONY SCENE Romeo and Juliet isn’t the only play with a famous balcony scene. The London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita has attracted attention for the decision to stage the signature song “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” on a balcony outside the London Palladium, disappointing many in the ticket-buying […]
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CAST TRAVELS LIGHT-YEARS, SCORE FINDS A NEW UNIVERSE, THE BOOK GETS LOST IN SPACE. CAN THE WRINKLES IN THIS NEW MUSICAL BE IRONED OUT? Round about a lifetime ago, in the shadow of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War, Madeleine L’Engle wrote a fable for precocious children that she was pretty sure no one […]
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A DARKLY HILARIOUS REVIVAL The 1989 cult classic film, Heathers (if you haven’t seen it, it’s a friggin’ must) preceeded the film Mean Girls (2004) by fifteen years. Later, it was adapted into a stage musical in 2014, four years before the Plastics sang their way onto Broadway. Now, eleven years later, Heathers the Musical […]
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BYRD SONG IN SHADOW: CONCERT IN CANDLELIGHT, THEATRE OF DEFIANCE Hark! Attend, ye lovers of sacred sound and clandestine devotion, for the international tour of Secret Byrd—an evanescent glimpse into a hidden past—cometh to The Americas but ten times—16th-21st of July—in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. In the flicker of candlelight within the vaults […]
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Sondheim, Slightly Inappropriate Stories, and Spiritual Whiplash: Claybourne Elder Unplugged Best known for roles in Company, Torch Song, and HBO’s The Gilded Age, Broadway and television performer Claybourne Elder now steps into the spotlight as, well, himself in If the Stars Were Mine—a new cabaret blending song, stand-up, and deeply personal storytelling. Currently touring nationwide, […]
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SEND IN THE CLOWNS Farce is not a style of performance one sees too often these days and that’s probably because it is extraordinarily difficult to pull off, requiring complete commitment from cast and crew to its sensibilities, razor-sharp comic timing, physical comedy chops, and tight pacing and direction. There’s a lot that can go […]
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