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Theater Review: THE BEDWETTER – A NEW MUSICAL (Arena Stage in D.C.)
URINE LUCK WITH THIS NUMBER ONE MUSICAL Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter splashes onto Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater with a gleeful irreverence that belies its emotional depth. Adapted from Silverman’s 2010 memoir, this musical—co-written with Joshua Harmon, with music by the late Adam Schlesinger—turns childhood mortification (incontinence, self-acceptance, and family dysfunction) into comedy gold. Under Anne…
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Theater Review: OKLAHOMA! (Valley Opera and Performing Arts at El Portal in North Hollywood)
WHAT A RELIEF: OKLAHOMA! IS OK WITH VOPA The real stars of Oklahoma!, presented for two weekends only by Valley Opera and Performing Arts (VOPA) at the El Portal Theatre, are—no surprise—Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein’s 1943 book remains solidly funny and sweet, avoiding the pitfalls of age with its lack of overt sentimentality,…
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Theater Review: THE ODYSSEY (American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square, Cambridge)
A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON A FAMILIAR JOURNEY Playwright Kate Hamill takes Homer’s Odyssey and gives it a sharp, contemporary spin, transforming the tale of wily and deceitful Odysseus (Wayne T. Carr) into a meditation on PTSD, accountability, and the shifting tides of power. In this bold reimagining at American Repertory Theater, Odysseus isn’t just a…
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Theater Review: THE HEART SELLERS (Aurora Theatre)
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART Two young immigrant women find joy and hope in a budding friendship in Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers, at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre through March 9. The show moves to TheatreWorks in Mountain View for a three-week run in April. Adroitly directed by Jennifer Chang, the two-actor 90-minute one-act, an uproarious comedy…
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Theater Review: CIRCUS QUIXOTE (Lookingglass Theatre)
KNIGHTS AND ACROBATS AN ODD PAIR AT LOOKINGGLASS Circus Quixote—Lookingglass Theatre’s fun spectacle best suited for a family crowd—is an ambitious attempt to merge Miguel de Cervantes’ timeless tale, Don Quijote of La Mancha, with impressive circus artistry. While the production offers tantalizing talents, it ultimately feels like an unfinished work. Michel Rodríguez Cintra The…
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Theater Review: ANNIE (2024/2025 NationalTour)
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE SUN DOESN’T COME OUT, SEE THIS NATIONAL TOUR OF ANNIE If the sun will come out tomorrow, somebody better tell this production. The national tour of Annie, playing at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts through February 23, is a two-and-a-half-hour exercise in endurance, proving that while…
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Theater Review: LOVE GAME (Last Call Theatre at The Virgil)
MEET MARKET Have you ever gone to a speed dating event where singles meet, spend a few minutes talking to one person, and then move on to the next person, each for a pre-arranged chat session time? For those who have, and especially for those who never tried it, Last Call Theatre is presenting Love…
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Theater Review: NOISES OFF (Geffen Playhouse)
ONE COULD GO ON AND ON, EVEN THOUGH IT’S A LITTLE OFF Ah, Noises Off, the ever-reliable theatrical farce that’s been delighting us for decades with its impeccable timing, pratfalls, and, of course, an ungodly number of sardines. Presented at L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse in cahoots with Steppenwolf Theatre—where Geffen’s new Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney…
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Theater Review: FRIDA … A SELF PORTRAIT (Writers Theatre in Glencoe)
Frida … A Self Portrait Enlightens and Beguiles with Impressive Force You’d have to go a long way to find someone with as potent a life force as Frida Kahlo’s. She left this branch of existence just over 70 years ago, in 1954, and still, there’s something about her spirit that continues to enthrall the…
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Theater Review: FROGGY (Center REP in Walnut Creek)
FANTASTIC FROGGY Jennifer Haley’s audacious graphic novel Froggy comes roaring to life on the Margaret Lesher Theatre’s big stage in Walnut Creek, and it’s one of the freshest theatrical offerings anywhere. Jamella Cross (Froggy) At its core a tale of a young woman who falls for a flaky third-tier actor, Froggy is a dark comedy spoofing…
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Theater Review: BACON (Rogue Machine at The Matrix)
BACON SIZZLES If you’re in search of a play that simmers with tension before scorching the stage with raw, emotional fire, English playwright Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon, currently searing audiences at the tiny Henry Murray Stage upstairs at the Matrix, will leave you thoroughly singed—and perhaps a little brittle. Bacon is less a coming-of-age story and…
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Theater Review: SONDHEIM’S OLD FRIENDS (Pre-Broadway Engagement at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles)
SONDHEIM MERRILY ROLLS ALONG, BUT OLD FRIENDS DOESN’T ALWAYS BOUNCE When a show is billed as a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, expectations are sky-high. His music isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s a theatrical language of its own, intricate, intelligent, and deeply human. Undoubtedly a love letter to the late master, the revue-on-steroids Old Friends…
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Theater Review: WASTE (Marin Theatre in Mill Valley)
WHAT—OR WHOM—SHALL BE DISCARDED? Marin Theatre Company has never shied away from provocative material, and its current production, Waste, is no exception. Waste tells the story of politically ambitious and idealistic Henry Trebell (Lance Gardner) and the loss of his political dreams when his affair with Mrs. O’Connell (Liz Sklar), a married woman, becomes public…
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Theater Review: AVENUE Q (Revolution Stage in Palm Springs)
GUARANTEED HAPPINESS AWAITS It was just slightly over a year ago that the newcomer Revolution Stage Company staked its claim as one of The Valley’s top production companies with their presentation of Avenue Q (see Stage and Cinema‘s review) There was a bit of concern when the company announced that it would be restaged for this…
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Theater Review: DOODLER (The Marsh San Francisco, SAFEHouse & Theatre Rhinoceros)
A SUSPENSEFUL ONE-MAN MURDER MYSTERY The Gay community in San Francisco was shocked and terrified by a series of murders between 1974-75 committed by a serial killer known as “The Doodler.” Believed to have killed between six and sixteen men, most of whom were gay, he was known for meeting his victims in bars, and…
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Theater Review: FOOL FOR LOVE (Steppenwolf Theatre)
A BRILLIANTLY BRACING LOOK AT LOVE’S OTHER SIDE Romantic love is rarely easy. Even when a relationship progresses from first attraction to full commitment to picture-perfect nuptials, there are no guarantees. Since its 1983 debut in San Francisco, Sam Shepard’s hour-long one-act Fool for Love, written after a difficult divorce, has become a template for…
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Theater Review: THE BROTHERS ABELSON SINCE 1946 (Electric Lodge in Venice)
A TIME CAPSULE OF GENERATIONAL LOVE, PAIN, AND RESILIENCE Every family has a unique mix of personalities, every member knowing their place and how to maneuver others to get what they need. But universal truths define Jewish families of Eastern European descent, shaping a shared culture forged through eviction from their homeland and the necessity…
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Theater Review: EXOTIC DEADLY: OR THE MSG PLAY (San Francisco Playhouse)
WELL-SEASONED THEATER IS LOADED WITH FLAVOR Welcome to 1999, a time of hysteria over the impending Y2K crisis, widespread fear of monosodium glutamate (MSG), crude video games and crude popular culture. In the midst of all this wanders a Japanese-American high school girl named Ami (Ana Ming Bostwick-Singer), wrestling with her cultural identity, arguing with…
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Theater Review: FRANCIS GREY AND THE CASE OF HIS DEAD BOYFRIEND (New Conservatory Theatre Center)
Currently playing at The New Conservatory Theater, Francis Grey and the Case of His Dead Boyfriend is a whirlwind one-man mystery that fuses elements of classic whodunits, camp, film noir, and drag—all packed into a breakneck, one-hour experience. This world premiere, written, directed, and performed by the multi-talented Nathan Tylutki, is a theatrical high-wire act…
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Theater Review: HELLO, DOLLY! (San Diego Musical Theatre)
GOOD GOLLY, MISS DOLLY! Under Randy Slovacek’s direction for San Diego Musical Theatre, Hello, Dolly! festoons the theater with a cumulatively enchanting restoration of this infectious delight. So much that life fails to encourage, theater redeems—seldom more winningly than in Hello, Dolly! Charismatic matchmaker Dolly Levi (Heidi Meyer) arrives in Yonkers in the late 1800s,…
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