Stacy Trevenon

A HOWLINGLY FUNNY BASKERVILLES SPOOF IS MORE THAN ELEMENTARY It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, proven by TheatreWorks’ contemporary stage-spoof treatment of the 1901 Sherlock Holmes classic The Hound of the Baskervilles. Initially, as a longtime fan of Holmes and Watson and of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literature, I…

SPIRITS MATERIALIZE A SPIRITED CHRISTMAS IN SONG AND DANCE Anyone with a soft spot for holiday song and dance through history must attend the California Revels lofty production of The Christmas Revels: Spirits of Haddon Hall at Oakland’s Scottish Rite Theater. Don’t look for polished theatrical sophistication here. Rather, enjoy what you’ll find instead: High-spirited…

A STIRRING MENTAL EXERCISE WELL DONE In reviewing A.C.T.’s Arcadia, I feel compelled to begin with a caveat: It is a highly cerebral work – a tapestry of threads connected by bloodlines, theories, and time that requires constant focus. Those with a literary turn of mind, who revel in being made to think, will find…

DETROIT COMES TO BERKELEY The Berkeley Playhouse production of Guys and Dolls is just the thing for a theater lover, a fan of this timeless musical, or a family to kick back and enjoy. The show, directed by Jon Tracy, is meant to be pure entertainment, with well-executed catchy and hummable songs, fun and lively…

A PERFECT CHILDREN’S STORY FOR OPERA, BEAUTIFULLY STAGED…BUT IS IT READY FOR CHILDREN? I confess to being passionately attached to the score for the successful stage musical, The Secret Garden by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman (1991), but translating Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel – the story of Mary, a spoiled 19th-century 11-year-old sent…

INSPIRATIONAL, THOUGHTFUL, DARING What if Dr. Martin Luther King was a down-to-earth, simple, vulnerable human being like the rest of us? What if human existence could be viewed from another dimension, one that allowed the viewer to weigh the pluses and minuses of the greater good versus personal choice, or the math of one human…

MAY THE WONDERFUL FOURTH MESSENGER BE A HARBINGER OF GOOD THEATER TO COME Enter a flight of fancy and imagine the scenario if a deity on the scale of a Buddha were a woman living today, where she and her disciples grapple with modern-day challenges. That is the setup of the exceptional new musical The…

GROWING UP AND GROWING OLD Engaging, comfortable, realistic, gripping, and heart-tugging – all these tags apply equally to story, language, script and performances in American Conservatory Theater’s 4000 Miles, graciously directed by Mark Rucker. Billed as a “comic drama,” 4000 Miles is indeed an engrossing human drama spiced with down-to-earth humor. 21-year-old Leo arrives unexpectedly…

A SOBERING AND SUBSTANTIAL CAT Why do we tend to stick with the intolerable? When slashing at those closest to us becomes our way of filling inner emptiness or expressing a family bond, even love, what extremes are we capable of? Is it possible that webs of deceit can serve as a strong familial glue…