Chuck Louden

CULT OF LOVE TAKES YOU FROM “HO, HO, HO” TO “HOLY CHRIST!” The Dysfunctional Family, whether in a comedy or drama, is a staple of storytelling, from The Bible and Shakespeare to Netflix. We all have one. And what better fodder for drama is there than the dysfunctional American family? Throw in the trope of…

ANDREA GORDON’S NEW PLAY IS A DIAMOND In Andrea Gordon’s lovely and engaging play Miriam and Esther Go to the Diamond District  —   which opened last Friday at Magic Theatre — two estranged sisters meet at their wealthy stepfather’s house 45 years after their opera singer mother’s death to go through her possessions and clean out…

EVERY BRILLIANT PLAY Now playing at Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek through Jan. 28 is the fantastic one-man show Every Brilliant Thing. Written by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahue, this show combines humor and pathos with audience participation for a night of riveting theater. Originating in London and made into an HBO…

For two generations, a yearly outing to see A Christmas Carol  has been a feel-good tradition for San Francisco families. American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has staged adaptations of this famous Dickens story continuously since 1976, with few gaps until COVID, changing up the production on a regular basis to keep it from getting stale. Right along…

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A RUTHLESS CHILD? (ON STAGE, THAT IS) Just in time for some holiday fun, New Conservatory Theater presents the 1992 Off-Broadway smash hit Ruthless. With Book and Lyrics by Joel Paley and Music by Marvin Laird, it’s a dark comedy about a 1950s bored housewife living in the suburbs with her talented…

GUYS AND DOLLS IS A SAFE BET Just in time for the holidays, San Francisco Playhouse presents a Broadway favorite, Guys and Dolls. It’s amazing. Were this masterpiece from Broadway’s golden age an actual guy or doll, he or she would be scoring Social Security. But make no mistake, this 1950 hoofer is no worse…

AS GOLDEN AS EVER This perennial favorite is back for its 18th year. This “drag” version of classic holiday themed The Golden Girls episodes seems to grow in popularity every year. Since its inception in 2005 when it was originally performed to a select crowd of friends informed by email, it has outgrown the living…

ENCHANTED, INDEED Now playing at the Berkeley Playhouse, just in time for the holidays, it’s the classic story of Cinderella. This version began as the now-famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical in 1957, with Julie Andrews playing the heroine in black and white. The ’65 version starred a young Lesley Anne Warren, Stuart Damon (General Hospital),…

GEORGIA MCBRIDE AIN’T NO DRAG Definitely worth the drive out to the suburbs, Center Rep’s The Legend of Georgia McBride is fun, irreverent and empowering. Alan Coyne Matthew López (The Inheritance) created this original story of Casey (Joe Ayers), who works as an Elvis impersonator in Cleo’s, a dive bar in Florida, where most of…

East Berlin expat Hedwig was forced to leave a rather important bit of himself’”later herself’”behind the Wall in order to pass physical exams and immigrate to America with the G.I. of her dreams. Move ahead one year: impoverished, divorced and the casualty of a distortedly bungled gender removal procedure, creator John Cameron Mitchell’s counterculture hero(ine)…

A PLAY WITH WATER AS A THEME WILL HAVE YOU FLOATING OUT OF THE THEATER Now playing at the inimitable Berkeley Rep, Eisa Davis’s lyrical, fascinating, humorous and gorgeous play Bulrusher — a 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist — is set in 1955, 110 miles north of San Francisco in Boonville, California. Founded in 1890, the…

COMING OUT AS A CONTINUANCE New Conservatory Theater’s Fall offering is the West Coast Premiere of a new play by Harrison David Rivers (The Bandaged Place, This Bitter Earth, a semi autobiographical journey. we are continuous examines how we change with the times and how our definitions of love and family can evolve. Alicia Stamps…

TURNING SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES British author Terence Hanbury “Tim” White (1906-1964), better known as T.H. White, is best-known for The Once and Future King (1958) a collection of four novels — three previously published — based on the Arthurian Legends, stories which had already been around for over a thousand years when, in 1938, White…

RAY OF LIGHT ROCKS! The Bay Area’s Ray of Light Theater is known for putting fresh interpretations on classic shows, most notably musicals that push boundaries, such as Kinky Boots and The Full Monty. Their latest production is Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, and it’s a winner. Based on Roger Kumble’s campy 1999 movie starring…

A LOTTA SOUL IN THIS EXPRESS TRAIN TO JOY Officially starting A.C.T.’s 23/24 Season is the Broadway-bound world premiere musical based on the iconic TV Show Soul Train, which opened last Wednesday at the Toni Rembe Theater. Several years in the making, the jukebox musical Hippest Trip — The Soul Train Musical traces the story…

HEATED PUMPS Now playing at The Marsh Theater, San Francisco’s independent theater for new performances, writer and director Dirk Alphin’s original production, Reciprocating Pumps, is a riveting, emotionally intense drama. On an intimate set of a living room and bedroom, this family (both chosen and genetic) drama takes place over the course of a single…

SHINING A RAY OF LIGHT ON PUBERTY This past weekend, San Franciscans were treated to a special treat with Ray Of Light Theater’s version of Spring Awakening — yet while it was subtitled “In Concert,” performers had parts memorized and the lighting by Weili Shi was Broadway caliber. My only disappointment with this production is…