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Theater Review: HAIRSPRAY (San Francisco Playhouse)
GOOD MORNING, SAN FRANCISCO The songs, the dancing, and the joy remain impossible to resist The summer’s most fun musical has arrived at the San Francisco Playhouse: Hairspray is here, and it has something for everyone. There’s singing, dancing, comedy, and drama, all performed by a talented cast. Hairspray was first introduced to audiences in…
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Opera Review: LA TRAGÉDIE DE CARMEN (Merola Opera Program / San Francisco)
TRAGEDY, DISTILLED Peter Brook pares Bizet’s masterpiece to its emotional essence Since 1957, the San Francisco Merola Opera Program, in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera Center, has offered an extensive training program for talented opera singers, conductors, and directors. Every summer, it showcases its emerging artists in a series of public performances. This season…
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Theater Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (JK Entertainment / Chicago)
STILL ANGRY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS A daring revival proves the musical’s power endures, even when one major directorial gamble doesn’t When people think of musicals, the stereotype is a show with a large cast, lots of singing and dancing, an orchestra, and usually an elaborate set. And that’s not entirely untrue. But there is…
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Off-Broadway Review: 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (New World Stages)
SPELLBOUND This warm, witty revival reminds us that growing up is never easy—but it can be hilarious Bee-lieve the hype. The Off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, choreographed and directed by Danny Mefford, is pretty close to letter-perfect. The one-act musical comedy portrays the agonies of adolescence, along with a few…
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Theater Review: ABSOLUTE SCIENCE FICTION! (Word for Word / San Francisco)
PRESS BUTTON. REGRET LATER. Word for Word pairs two visions of the future with mixed results Z Space, known for developing original and experimental theater, is also home to Word for Word, a resident company that transforms works of fiction into stage productions by performing short stories exactly as written. This summer, they presented Absolute…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE PIANO AND ME: A NEW PLAY WITH MUSIC (59E59 Theaters)
A LIFE IN THE KEYS Hershey Felder’s deeply personal journey proves as compelling as the music that shaped it Hershey Felder steps onto a stage with a grand piano surrounded by piles of old suitcases (the kind without wheels). In other words, lots of baggage. On top of one stack of luggage sits an old…
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Theater Review: & JULIET (North American Tour / Chicago)
POP GOES THE BARD A jukebox musical that thrilled its fans while leaving this critic wishing the story mattered as much as the songs As I was settling into my seat at the gorgeous Auditorium Theatre, awaiting the start of the touring production of & Juliet, I noticed the person next to me watching a…
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Opera Review: FELLOW TRAVELERS (San Diego Opera / Balboa Theatre / San Diego)
SEXY, SINCERE… AND SLIGHT Outstanding chemistry can’t quite compensate for an opera that compresses too much Andy Acosta has sung Timothy Laughlin enough that the role has started to feel like autobiography. Miami-raised, Cuban American, and publicly out before he was out to his parents, Acosta sang as though it belonged to him. San Diego…
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Theater Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Long Beach Shakespeare Company)
MORE VICTORIAN THAN NEW ROMANTIC Long Beach Shakespeare Company delivers Wilde’s classic with clarity and charm, even if its concept never fully blossoms Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest hardly needs reinvention. More than a century after its premiere, its razor-sharp epigrams, social satire, and exquisitely constructed farce remain as funny as ever. Long…
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Theater Review: F**KING STRANGERS (Echo Theater Company / Los Angeles)
NO STRINGS ATTACHED? THINK AGAIN Erik Patterson’s provocative world premiere boasts superb performances but mistakes repetition for depth In F**king Strangers, receiving its world premiere from Echo Theater Company, playwright Erik Patterson begins with an arresting image: a terrified young man stranded beside a freeway, begging his mother to stay on the phone until help…
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Theater Review: TWELFTH NIGHT: OR WHAT YOU WILL (Shakespeare & Company / Lenox, MA)
THE RAIN IT RAINETH A downpour doesn’t stop the cast from shining Heavy rains forced the July 18 performance of Twelfth Night indoors, but the cast and crew more than rose to the occasion. The change in venue meant that Shakespeare & Company‘s production, directed by Kate Kohler Amory with wit and verve, had little…
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Off-Broadway Review: CAFÉ D’AUTOMATIQUE (The Chain Theatre Summer One-Act Festival)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Dave Hanson’s clever one-act turns awkward honesty into comic gold First dates can be anxiety-inducing to begin with, but what if your first impression became a Tower of Babble? Welcome to Café d’Automatique, where candor is always the order of the day—and perhaps the only order you’ll receive. When Erin (Katie Aldhizer)…
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Theater Review: OCTET (Goodman Theatre)
A PERFECT EIGHT Dave Malloy’s singular a cappella musical proves just as spellbinding in its Goodman transfer Theatrical sensations happen when audiences find themselves captivated by something utterly unique. Stories resonate not only because they’re piercingly relatable, but because they’re presented in a way unlike anything else onstage. That, in essence, is Octet. Dave Malloy’s…
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Theater Review: THE WIZARD OF OZ (Palm Canyon Theatre / Palm Springs)
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE PCT A radiant Dorothy leads an enchanting journey down the Yellow Brick Road The 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz is part of our cultural DNA, so whenever it’s brought to the stage, the inevitable question is: How will they pull it off? Miss Gulch on her bicycle, the…
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Theater Preview: PROOF (El Portal Theatre / North Hollywood)
THE PROOF IS IN THE FAMILY Ed Begley Jr. and daughter Hayden Begley bring David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama to the stage for a four-performance benefit supporting Parkinson’s research Jason Jeske presents a special four-performance engagement of David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof at the El Portal Theatre, starring Ed Begley Jr. and his daughter, Hayden…
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Theater Review: TREASURE ISLAND (Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum / Topanga)
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARRRR A spirited cast and an unforgettable setting help this classic weather a few rough seas in Ellen Geer’s adaptation Driving up the twisty road along Topanga Creek to Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum for the first time and walking into the sprawling wooded compound, I was already halfway charmed before the…
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Theater Review: SAFE LANDING: COYOTE EMBRACE (Authentic Chicago Ensemble / Theater Wit / Chicago)
COYOTES, KILLERS, AND SECOND CHANCES Tim Kough’s unconventional thriller finds surprising humanity beneath its violence Theater comes wrapped in all manner of trappings, and it’s often the works that stray furthest from convention that linger longest in the memory. Safe Landing: Coyote Embrace, now playing at Theater Wit, is one of those productions. Written by…
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Theater Review: NORTH BY NORTHWEST (The Old Globe / San Diego)
DIAL M FOR META Emma Rice’s inventive adaptation is an enjoyable ride; just don’t expect to be transported The movies lie to us in ways the stage cannot. Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest works because the camera goes where Roger Thornhill goes, feels what he feels, and cuts away before we notice the seams. A…
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Off-Off-Broadway Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (Shakespeare, Entirely / La MaMa)
A CLASSIC THAT STILL DELIGHTS Strong performances and lively staging carry the day Small Boat and kotto Productions bring Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Taming of the Shrew to life in La MaMa‘s downstairs Club Space. An onstage bar before curtain sets the tone for the evening, and by the end of the night, you may have…
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Off-Off-Broadway Review: PORTRAITS OF GAYS IN DESPAIR (HB Playwrights Theatre)
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS FIVE GAYS Paul Kubicki’s wildly inventive cycle of short plays finds humor, heartbreak, and humanity in unexpected places If Tennessee Williams and Cole Escola had an artistic progeny, the result might look something like Paul Kubicki’s Portraits of Gays in Despair: A Cycle of 5 Plays. Beginning with a vignette…
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