San Francisco
(Bay Area)

THE PLAY WITH (CHEESE) BALLS Originally scheduled to close on August 11, the advance ticket sales for The Book of Liz, Amy and David Sedaris’ hilarious comedy, are going so fast for Custom Made Theatre Company that the show has already been extended before opening. This is no doubt because audiences already know that the…

COME OUT TO THE SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS In 1978, on the night of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone’s assassinations, an unprecedented candlelight march brought mourners to San Francisco’s City Hall. The newly formed San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus canceled a rehearsal for their upcoming debut concert and opted to perform at the…

THE ISHTAR OF OPERA What if the real historical Jesus was someone quite different from what we’ve been told?   What if he was born a bastard, kept a lover and then married her? What if Mary Magdalene, his faithful disciple, was not the legendary prostitute turned penitent? What if we had the chance to meet…

THEATER TO THE MAX What’s to love about the 1970s?   As SF Playhouse’s presentation of Mike Leigh’s acclaimed Abigail’s Room shows, quite a bit.   Director Amy Glazer offers a cornucopia of delights greater than a Nixon-era basket of waxed fruits.   Right from the start, the design team hurls us back to the Me Decade faster…

OFFENBACH’S REQUIEM Just as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in the middle of writing his famous Requiem so did Jacques Offenbach die composing his fantastical opera Tales of Hoffmann. Both works have been seen as highly personal compositions: Mozart writing his own requiem and Offenbach standing in for Hoffmann, his protagonist. The similarities do not end…

RAY OF LIGHT FINDS THE HUMANITY WITHIN FRACTURED FAIRY TALES Into the Woods has been produced many times since its 1987 Broadway premiere, but it is unlikely to have benefited from as ebullient a cast as the one seen at the Eureka Theatre last Friday. Ray of Light Theatre’s high-energy ensemble conveyed enthusiasm and an…

PIXIE DUST TO PIXIE DUST After a funeral many years ago, a group of my buddies all declared their desire to be cremated when the time comes. Shockingly, however, all four of us avowed to have our ashes scattered in the same place: The Magic Kingdom. There was no talk of illegality, just an acknowledgement…

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…

SHIPSHAPE Imagine a boat named “Utopia” launched in the 1830s, floating towards Moscow. As the boat sails onward, it becomes heavier, taking on cargo, passengers, and the weight of the future. As it nears Moscow, the name changes, and we are now watching the approach of “Socialism.” You’ve officially, if metaphorically, boarded Tom Stoppard’s trilogy…

A VERY MERRY MATCH Once upon a time in San Francisco there were two beloved icons of the city’s music scene.   They were practically the same age, enormously talented, and lionized by legions of fans who adored them both; but by some trick of fate their paths had never crossed. The slightly older but very…

AN APPETIZER FOR THE REAL LIFE OF ORIANA FALLACI At the top of Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Fallaci, Italian opera soars as the chiaroscuro image of Oriana Fallaci is illuminated by only her cigarette lighter. It is a fitting introduction to a play which sheds light on a character but fails to fully illuminate the life…

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…

MIGHT AS WELL FACE IT, WE’RE ADDICTED TO, WELL, EVERYTHING In the tragicomedy The Motherfucker with the Hat, every character has something painful in their lives that they are self-medicating. Bronx couple Jackie and Veronica are alcohol and drug addicts, trying hard to get their lives together but continually slipping up. After being imprisoned for…