Jim Allen

IN CHARM’S WAY Turning a beloved French film into an American stage musical is a dicey proposition at best, but that’s precisely what Berkeley Rep has done with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 Oscar-nominated film, Amélie. It is  charming, visually appealing and succeeds on numerous levels, calling for just a bit of tweaking before it heads for the…

MAY THIS SHOW NEVER BE  FROZEN One of the first rules of etiquette I ever learned was: if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Were I inclined to heed that sage advice, my review of Call Me Miss Birdseye: A Celebration of Ethel Merman would end right here. However, as a journalist…

MY KINGDOM FOR SOME INSULIN Known by many as “the most wonderful time of the year,” Christmas has richly earned its reputation for gooey sentimentality, decking the halls with mucho kitsch, and spreading good cheer to all of those people you’ve managed to ignore all year. Despite its questionable source material, Elf, Will Ferrell’s hit…

NOT ONLY WILL YOU FLOAT OUT OF THE THEATER, YOU MAY EVEN FLY Have you ever wondered how the original “lost boy” became Peter Pan and what his life was like before flying out the Darling’s nursery window with Wendy, Michael and John in tow? Adapted by Rick Elice, with musical interludes by Wayne Barker,…

COOL RACH TAKES BACK SEAT TO HOT BARTí“K It’s a strange thing about expectations. San Francisco Symphony made it clear who the headliner was for last night’s program, but Slovakian guest conductor Juraj Valčuha’s rendition of Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin outdid pianist Garrick Ohlsson’s Rach III. Valčuha kicked-off the first half with Steven Stucky’s brief,…

SWAN IN A MILLION Featuring a live performance by the Berkeley Symphony with guest conductor Nicolette Fraillon, The Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake comes to Zellerbach Hall this weekend, October 16-19, 2014. While this is one of the world’s favorite ballets, expect this rendition’”created by Australian choreographer Graeme Murphy’”to be unlike any that have come before….

DO I FEAR A WALTZ? Musicals are generally “lost” for any one of a number of reasons: the libretto may be filled with once topical socio-political humor now meaningless to contemporary audiences; it’s too expensive to produce; the score may have gone out of fashion; or the show itself just doesn’t work. The latter is…

THE GREATER GOOD When is “enough” enough? Where do you draw the line? How far would you be willing to go for the “Greater Good”? These are some of the difficult questions posed by playwright Aaron Loeb’s darkly hilarious and deeply disturbing satire, Ideation, which opened San Francisco Playhouse’s 12th season.   Originally developed and produced…