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Theater Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Berkeley Playhouse)
THE SOUND OF FAMILY Berkeley Playhouse has a reputation for doing family-friendly musicals right, and their latest production, The Sound of Music, hits that sweet spot again. With a cast that blends seasoned pros and impressively talented young performers, this production serves up all the charm and heart you remember—minus the commercial breaks. The true…
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Theater Review: CHARMIN THE MUSICAL (Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre; Hollywood Fringe Festival)
SQUEEZABLE THEATER Those dark days all seem so long ago. The face masks, drive-thru testing, fear of crowded indoor spaces, and some idiot assuring us, “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” Yes, I’m talking COVID-19, which in 2020 spread worldwide, causing global shortages in ventilators, vaccines,…
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Theater Review: MIKE BLAHA: INTERNATIONAL JOKE (Broadwater Studio, Hollywood Fringe Festival)
Unlike his previous shows at The Hollywood Fringe — Spank the Monkey and Shagadelic: The Origins of Slang Words for Doing It — Michael Blaha has shed his stage persona of Professor Richard Fondler and presents himself in the aptly named Mike Blaha: International Joke. In taking this step, Blaha has proven what was already obvious:…
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Theater Review: 42 BALLOONS (North American Premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre)
A MUSICAL COMEDY TO REMIND YOU WHY YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH THE ARTFORM IN THE FIRST PLACE “In 1982 a man called Larry put himself in a lawn chair, got some 42 balloons, and went to sixteen thousand feet up in the air. This actually happened. You can look it up,” creator Jack Godfrey…
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Theater Review: BECKY’S NEW CAR (Theatre 40)
Have you ever wanted to run away from your own life? In Becky’s New Car, now playing at Theatre 40, playwright Steven Dietz takes that midlife fantasy and drives it straight into a quirky, comedic romp filled with detours, breakdowns, and a few surprisingly sharp turns. Becky Foster (a charming and wonderfully grounded performance by…
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Theater Review: HOLY, HOLY: THE BIRTH OF DISCO (The Broadwater; Part of The Hollywood Fringe Festival)
FEMINIST CLOWNS COLLIDE WITH CAPITOLISM Clownish perfection poses a unique problem for reviewers in that the blend of Da-Da slapstick and rib-tickling existentialism tends to defy easy description, in that they tell stories that go beyond language. I’ve always suspected the reason for this is that in our evolution, “clowning†preceded language. Holy, Holy: The…
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Theater Review: HITCH*COCKTAILS (“Summer of Suspense” at Annoyance Theatre & Bar in Chicago)
DIAL M FOR MURDEROUS LAUGHTER Chicago is the city of improv, but excellent improv can still be hard to come by. Yet the magnificent company Hitch*Cocktails always delivers, and they do it while under the influence. Hitch*Cocktails has been a staple of the mainstage at The Annoyance Theatre & Bar for over a decade, and…
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Theater Review: MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION (Central Square)
REVENUE AND RESPECTABILITY George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) knew about cancel culture long before the term came into vogue. The first New York production (1905) of Mrs. Warren’s Profession was shut down by police due to charges of obscenity, and while we aren’t seeing police shut down theaters today, funding cuts may have a similar effect….
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Off-Broadway Review: JULIA MASLI: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (Public Theater)
HA-LLELUJAH! HELP IS JUST A “HA” AWAY Julia Masli makes a slow, focused entrance onto the stage of the Anspacher Theater at The Public. Despite the surrounding moody blues, her face is lit by a pin spot attached to her arm. She pronounces “ha” in several different ways: drawn out, deliberate, hushed, questioned. She approaches…
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Theater Review: OH, FUCK! AN ICEBERG! ONE WOMAN TITANIC (Part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival atActors Space
TITANIC SINKS AGAIN Mallie McCown‘s madcap reimagining of Titanic, James Cameron’s $220 million epic, is ambitious beyond words, which is the source for most of the problems that plague this production. Issues aside, however, Oh, Fuck! An Iceberg remains staggeringly clever and more fun than a barrel of monkeys in a lifeboat. I am in…
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Theater Review: BIRTHDAY CANDLES (North Coast Rep)
NINETY YEARS IN NINETY MINUTES Playwright Noah Haidel compresses 90 years of story into his 90-minute one-act comedy-drama Birthday Candles at North Coast Rep. However, that’s sufficient time to portray Ernestine Ashworth’s five-generation journey through her life in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Matthew Grondin, Emelie O’Hara, Margot White Specifically, we observe Ernestine spending much of her…
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Theater Review: NICE GIRL (Rogue Machine at The Matrix)
SMALL LIVES, BIG TRUTHS What’s a nice girl to do? Upstairs at The Matrix, Rogue Machine Theatre is putting on another winner of a show, Nice Girl by Melissa Ross. It’s a small drama, just four actors, but a deep study of people whose lives don’t go the way they thought they would. And it’s done beautifully….
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Theater Review: THE WEDDING SINGER (Colony Theatre)
Synthwave Romance: The Wedding Singer Grooves on Camp, Chemistry, and Crimped Hair If you still belt out “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” in your car or secretly miss the days when big hair was in fashion, The Wedding Singer—which opened last night at The Colony Theatre—has your number. This show doesn’t flirt with…
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Theater Review: NEXT TO NORMAL (Ray of Light Theatre at San Francisco’s Victoria Theater)
A PRESCRIPTION FOR GREAT THEATER Ray of Light Theatre has once again delivered a production that hits hard and sings even harder. With 25 years of tackling socially relevant musicals—whether a classic, a pop culture hit, or something in the current zeitgeist— the 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal is a perfect fit for the…
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Theater Review: LIFE OF PI (National Tour at Segerstrom Hall)
TIGERS, TRAUMA, AND THEATRICAL MAGIC: LIFE OF PI ROARS TO THE STAGE Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel’s story has found enormous commercial success — first in Yann Martel’s Booker Prize–winning novel, and then in Ang Lee’s visually stunning film adaptation. Now, in its national tour, Life of Pi makes an ambitious leap to the stage at…
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Theater Review: THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NAPA VALLEY (Lucky Penny Productions in Napa)
MUSICAL SATIRE SUPREME Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions closes out its 2024-25 season with a screamingly funny spoof of an inexplicably popular TV franchise, in which five rich boozy women can’t stop bickering when their reality show is threatened with cancellation. A reboot – and rewrite – of a show that debuted last year, The Real…
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Theater Review: UNNECESSARY FARCE (Scripps Ranch Theatre)
UNNECESSARY, PERHAPS, BUT DELICIOUS! Wikipedia defines farce as “a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable.” Director Robert May and his cast at Scripps Ranch Theatre make sure that is exactly what we’re getting from playwright Paul Slade Smith’s enchanting Unnecessary Farce. Danny Lovelle…
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Theater Review: PARADISE BLUE (Studio Theatre in D.C.)
A NIGHT OF MUSIC, MEMORY, AND MADNESS: PARADISE FOUND The Studio Theatre’s Victor Shargai stage has been strikingly transformed into a 1949 jazz club for Paradise Blue, Dominique Morisseau’s haunting and lyrical drama. Director Raymond O. Caldwell’s bold concept places the audience right inside the Paradise Jazz Club of Black Bottom, Detroit — immersing us…
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Theater Review: RUMORS (Sonoma Arts Live)
THE RUMOR THAT RUMORS IS A SCREAM IS NO RUMOR The late playwright/screenwriter Neil Simon remains one of America’s most beloved creators of comedy. His plays often hinge on ludicrous setups, as in his classic Rumors, directed by Larry Williams at Sonoma Arts Live. Covering up evidence of poor judgment is a foolproof gambit that…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland)
KING JAMES SCORES BIG AT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE Rajiv Joseph’s King James—which opened last night at Round House Theatre—isn’t a revival of the 1611 Bible translation, but a contemporary comedy named for a different kind of king: LeBron James. Structuring the play like a basketball game in four quarters, Joseph uses the rise and fall…
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