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San Francisco
(Bay Area)
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Theater Review: ONCE (Berkeley Playhouse)
Few musicals capture the intimacy of music-making quite like Once, and Berkeley Playhouse’s new production reminds us why the show became a Broadway sensation in 2012, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. Adapted by Enda Walsh from John Carney‘s 2007 Irish film, the story blends romance, melancholy, and folk-infused songwriting by Glen Hansard and…
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Theater Review: ALL MY SONS (Berkeley Rep)
A POSTWAR MORAL RECKONING INSIDE A FAMILY HOME Arthur Miller’s classic still asks uncomfortable questions about responsibility and denial Jimmy Smits Berkeley Repertory Theatre is reviving Arthur Miller’s 1947 postwar classic All My Sons, a heavy family drama whose themes of duty, guilt, and moral responsibility still resonate today. We meet the Keller family: Joe, the…
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Theater Review: M. BUTTERFLY (San Francisco Playhouse)
A REAL-LIFE ESPIONAGE SCANDAL BECOMES A MEDITATION ON POWER, IDENTITY, & ILLUSION A gripping, well-acted drama that explores gender, fantasy, and cultural collision M. Butterfly, the 1988 Tony Award–winning play for Best Play, is currently playing at San Francisco Playhouse. It is loosely based on a real-life espionage scandal between a French diplomat and a…
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Theater Review: HANDS ON A HARD BODY (Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park)
A WORKING-CLASS ENDURANCE CONTEST TURNS INTO A MUSICAL OF HOPE AND DESPERATION A spirited, heartfelt production that balances humor with grit Victory by attrition is the name of the game in the musical Hands on a Hard Body at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center’s Codding Theatre in Rohnert Par, through March 1. Mark Bradbury, Shannon…
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Dance Review: EUGENE ONEGIN (San Francisco Ballet World Premiere)
A PUSHKIN ROMANCE REIMAGINED THROUGH DANCE A handsome and emotionally direct adaptation that prioritizes storytelling and visual appeal San Francisco Ballet opens its 2026 repertory season with the world premiere of Eugene Onegin, choreographed by Resident Choreographer Yuri Possokhov and based on Alexander Pushkin’s 1833 novel. The story, perhaps best known through Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s…
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Theater Review: IMPROBABLE FICTION (Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond)
WRITERS RUN AMOK WHEN IMAGINATION TAKES OVER THE ROOM A nimble, high-energy ensemble comedy that turns creative frustration into gleeful theatrical chaos As hilarious today as it was when it debuted 21 years ago, Alan Ayckbourn’s Improbable Fiction is enjoying a terrific run at Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond. Director Angela Mason draws a crisply…
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Theater Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD (Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley)
A RADICAL MASTERPIECE Chekhov’s final play blossoms with emotional clarity and grace Renowned Russian writer Anton Chekhov’s final play, The Cherry Orchard, may be set more than a century ago, but its themes feel strikingly contemporary. Now playing at Marin Theatre in a handsomely mounted, emotionally attentive production, the story centers on a once-aristocratic, formerly…
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Theater Review: HOW SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE (Berkeley Repertory Theatre)
SHAKESPEARE AS LIFELINE Jacob Ming-Trent turns the Bard into a blazing solo tour de force at Berkeley Rep We are all on our personal journeys of living and being in the world. Everyone encounters setbacks, roadblocks, and moments of doubt. How does one persevere when life feels uncertain? In the 21st century, we have become…
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Theater Review: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (The Streetcar Project Tour at A.C.T. in S.F.)
EVEN MORE TO DESIRE A stripped-down Streetcar that proves Tennessee Williams needs no scenery. Since struggle for power among the classes is one of the central themes in Tennessee Williams’ still-shocking A Streetcar Named Desire, it makes perfect sense that director and co-creator Nick Westrate would strip the Pulitzer Prize winner down to its rawest…
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Cabaret Interview: JASON BROCK (Appearing in IF THIS IS LOVE, “Help Is on the Way” REAF Benefit)
REAF’S IF THIS IS LOVE — A ONE-NIGHT CABARET VALENTINE Big voices, big heart, and Jason Brock right in his element Since 1995, REAF (Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation) has been bringing amazing voices to San Francisco for decades to raise money and awareness on HIV and AIDS, but this year’s Help Is on the Way: San…
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Theater Review: RUTHLESS! (New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco)
KILLER KIDS, STAGE MOMS, AND CAMP TO DIE FOR NCTC revives a deliciously wicked cult musical Just in time for some holiday mischief, New Conservatory Theatre Center brings back the 1992 Off-Broadway cult favorite Ruthless!, the gleefully unhinged musical comedy with book and lyrics by Joel Paley and music by Marvin Laird. Directed by Dyan…
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Theater Review: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (Shotgun Players in Berkeley)
DOTS, DEDICATION, AND THE ART OF BEGINNING AGAIN Shotgun Players takes on Sondheim and Lapine’s most painterly meditation with exquisite results Shotgun Players presents Sunday in the Park with George, James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s singular, sometimes daunting, often ravishing meditation on art, obsession, and the human cost of creation. Directed by Susannah Martin with…
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Theater Review: CABARET (Oakland Theater Project)
ESCAPISM AT THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE A Kit Kat Club that feels uncomfortably close to home Since its founding in 2012, Oakland Theater Project has set out to create theater experiences that inspire compassion, embracing radical inclusivity and diversity while reflecting the dynamic communities of Oakland. Sally Bowles (Sharon Shao) Since its Broadway debut in…
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Theater Review: THE GOLDEN GIRLS LIVE: THE CHRISTMAS EPISODES (Curran Theatre)
THANK YOU FOR BEING A QUEEN Four drag icons, two episodes, and twenty years of perfectly timed shade Now celebrating its 20th consecutive year, The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes has become one of San Francisco’s most reliable holiday traditions. This drag reinvention of classic sitcom episodes is now a full-scale theatrical event. The…
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Opera Review: THE MONKEY KING (World Premiere by San Francisco Opera)
THE MONKEY KING LANDS WITH A ROAR A dazzling, design-driven premiere expands what opera can be Every now and then an opera house unveils something that doesn’t just premiere — it shifts the whole conversation about what new opera might be. San Francisco Opera’s The Monkey King is exactly that kind of event: vibrant, imaginative,…
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Theater Review: PETER PAN (Panto in the Presidio)
HOOK, LINE & SEQUINER Presidio’s Peter Pan Panto soars on camp, color, chaos, Christmas cheer, and unapologetic silliness ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ This holiday season, the Presidio Theatre brings back its beloved Panto in the Presidio for a fifth year — that joyful British pantomime tradition where audiences shout…
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Theater Review: INTO THE WOODS (SF Playhouse)
STILL CASTING ITS SPELL Sondheim and Lapine’s fractured fairytales find fresh magic at San Francisco Playhouse Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods may be one of the most beloved titles in the modern musical-theatre canon, but San Francisco Playhouse’s holiday-season staging makes a strong case for why it keeps earning its place. From…
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Theater Review: BEFORE I FORGET (World Premiere at The Marsh in San Francisco)
MISERY LOVES COMPANY — BUT WE DIDN’T BUY TICKETS FOR THAT A solo show so full of angst it forgets to entertain. I mean, there’s baring your soul… and then there’s burying the comedy Since 1989, The Marsh has hosted hundreds of performance artists launching their personal stories, usually through spoken word. The small stages…
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Theater Review: MOTHER OF EXILES (Berkeley Repertory)
MOTHER OF EXILES BAFFLES AT BERKELEY REP Jessica Huang’s world premiere Mother of Exiles has posted a closing date of December 21. The lengthy run may not be a blessing for a disjointed production said to have been in re-writes up to the night before the opener. Michele Selene Ang On a simple two-level set that takes advantage…
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Theater Review: ANNIE (Berkeley Playhouse)
THE RED-HEADED OPTIMIST IS BACK Just in time to nudge everyone into the holiday spirit, The Berkeley Playhouse is presenting Annie through most of December. This classic musical has been part of American pop culture for nearly half a century. Since the 1977 Broadway debut, the irrepressible redhead and her fellow orphans have marched through…
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