Milo Shapiro

TENSION, HUMOR, AND INTRIGUE IN BEGUILING WWII DRAMEDY There would be much better places to live in 1943 than on the German-occupied British island of Guernsey, especially if you are sheltering your Jewish daughter-in-law Lily (Lilli Passero), who is passing for gentile. Our protagonist Jeanne (Jessica John) is not fond of Lily, but has no…

WHO DOES HE THINK SHE IS? Him:Her:Them:Zir:Hir?   In the transgender and non-binary community, the struggle with pronouns almost rivals the struggle with civil rights.  Hir, now in a San Diego premiere, is both the title and a gender-neutral pronoun combining “his” and “her” (and pronounced “heer”).  Its world is the creation of singer/songwriter/ performance artist/playwright Taylor Mac…

LET THE SPIRIT MOVE YOU TO NORTH COAST REP Is it bigamy if you’re still seeing your first wife while married to your second? Does your answer change if the first wife has been dead for seven years? Herein lies the plot and fun of a séance that goes a bit too far, leaving Charles…

THE HOLY GRAIL OF SILLY MUSICALS The tales of King Arthur and his knights of the round table stand as icons of literature, leaving them ripe for outrageous parody in Monty Python’s 1975 cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Spamalot walks the line of being a musical version of Holy Grail and being (as…

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW AFTER A PLAY THIS GOOD “What’s in a name?” Juliet famously asks. A lot, if the name is Ruff Yeager. Yeager, co-founder of The Roustabouts Theatre Co., has been a long-time staple of fine directing and powerful acting in San Diego, particularly chilling as the central character in Roustabouts’ debut…

FROM ORANGE JUICE TO A PIE IN THE FACE “What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life.   I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.” − Anita…

SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, INDEED Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 Broadway hit South Pacific is so full of familiar, classic numbers that it almost feels like a Broadway review in itself − what a coup to have song after song that we recognize beyond its most familiar piece, Some Enchanted Evening. Overall, characters are likable and the…

ONE COULD GO ON AND ON FOR OFF Half the fun of theater is in the performance; the other half is in the rehearsal. Rehearsal is the time for experimenting, bonding, and watching everything come together. Except when it isn’t. On those occasions, perhaps not so rare, it’s a time of tongue-biting, panic, and blame….

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: A JOYFUL MESSAGE There is an ancient Chinese proverb: “The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher.” In the musical Soul Doctor, the Jewish Orthodoxy apparently aren’t big on such Chinese wisdom. Based on the true story of Shlomo Carlebach, often known as “The Singing…

WOULD SHAKESPEARE BY ANY OTHER PLAYWRIGHT SMELL AS SWEET? If the title  King Charles III  sounds rather Shakespearean, yet you cannot recall a “Charles” among all his Henrys and Richards, there’s a good reason. Mike Bartlett’s homage to the “Bard of Avon,” written just over 400 years later than Richard III, is about a king that Shakespeare…

THREE GREAT MINDS MAKE FOR INTRIGUING THEATER There’s a game where you get to pick three famous people and go to dinner with all of them. In Mark St. Germaine’s   Camping with Henry and Tom, it’s kind of like that game, except it’s based on a true story. And you only get to watch the…

THE LAST WIFE GETS IT RIGHT Historical fiction can be a dicey game, let alone a modernization of historical figures. When the results are as captivating as Kate Hennig’s The Last Wife, be prepared for some stimulating theater while brushing up on your history lessons. When speaking of British History, Katherine Parr may not be…

THE FULL MONTY IS WORTH BARING IN MIND When the main factory in town shuts down and only menial work, far below previous pay grade, can be found, what’s a man supposed to do? For the two central men in The Full Monty, the answer is to create a one-night-only strip show to compete with…