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Theater Review: HOLIDAY FEAST (Christmastime Sitcom Scripts; Staged Readings at Front Porch Arts Collective in Cambridge)
FEAST ON THIS! For the second year, Front Porch Arts Collective offers its Holiday Feast of staged readings of scripts from the holiday episodes of Black sitcoms of the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. The brainchild of co-producing artistic directors Dawn M. Simmons and Maurice Emmanuel Parent and directed by Jackie Davis, this event is fast…
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Theater Review: A WHYNOT CHRISTMAS CAROL (World Premiere at A.C.T. in San Francisco)
A.C.T. ASKS US TO PONDER “WHY NOT” – BUT AFTER THIS UPDATED CAROL YOU’LL BE SCREAMING “WHY?!” Last holiday season, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced that, after over 40 years, they were ending their annual run of their popular holiday classic showing of A Christmas Carol. The original sets were to be struck and all…
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Theater Review: HOME ALONE-LY HEARTS CLUB BAND (The Troubies at the Colony in Burbank)
Accompanied by the rockin’ 4-piece Troubadorchestra led by music director Ryan Whyman, the always-entertaining, hip and sassy Troubadour Theater Company (The Troubies) is generating tons of fun with their latest mash-up, the world premiere of Home Alone-ly Hearts Club Band at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, areThe premise is familiar to fans of the group: The…
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Theater Review: DEATH ON THE NILE (Arena Stage, D.C.)
DEATH IS ALIVE AND BETTER THAN WELL Ken Ludwig’s stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile premiered to a packed house at Arena Stage, with the playwright himself attending the Kreeger Theater’s opening performance. The story follows 11 disparate passengers embarking on a six-day Nile River cruise. Along the way, relationships are tested, secrets are…
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Theater Review: PETER PAN (Panto in the Presidio)
WITH ROTIMI AGBABIAKA KILLING IT AS PIRATE CAPTAIN HOOK, IT’S NO WONDER WHY THIS PETER PAN IS SUCH A TREASURE This holiday season, The Presidio Theater presents the fourth incarnation of Panto in the Presidio with the world premiere of Peter Pan, written by Stephanie Brown and Richard Ciccarone, inspired by Peter and Wendy by…
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Theater Review: CABARET (Theater Rhinoceros in The Castro)
A CABARET IN THE HEART OF THE CASTRO Cabaret is a masterpiece of American musical theater that has been presented in a vast variety of musical and physical shapes and sizes since its premiere on Broadway in 1966. John Kander and Fred Ebb’s score and Joe Masteroff’s book has been cut, added to, and shifted…
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Theater Review: TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa/ San Diego)
THESE CREATURES ARE DEFINITELY STIRRING UP HOLIDAY SPIRT AT LAMPLIGHTERS Ken Ludwig’s story begins with a homey Uncle Brierly (Christopher T. Miller) wanting to read to us the famous poem that this play is named after. Unfortunately for the frustrated fellow, he is repeatedly interrupted by a mouse (Matt Sayre) named Amos who keeps questioning…
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Theater Review: I’LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (Cathy Moriarty at The Bent in Palm Springs)
MORIARTY MARVELOUSLY MIMICS MENGERS Virtually every Hollywood star has an agent but one of the only agents who was known by name is Sue Mengers, the Dragon Lady of movie casting in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. She was legendary for the lengths to which she would go to get her actors in major…
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Theater Review: MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY (TheatreWorks in Palo Alto)
AN AMUSING ROMANTIC ROMP ALL ‘SPRUCED’ UP With Christmas just around the corner, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley offers up a light-hearted, romantic comedy Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley through Dec. 29 at Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto. Mary (Elissa Beth Stebbins) and Arthur (David Toshiro Crane) Written by two local playwrights, Lauren Gunderson and Margot…
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Theater Review: COMPANY (Revolution Stage Company)
YOU’RE NOT JUST IN GOOD COMPANY; THIS IS GREAT COMPANY Mention the name Stephen Sondheim to a musical theatre devotee and first they will bow their head for a moment of reverence, and then assure you that except for Into the Woods and Forum, his works are definitely not to be attempted by community theatres….
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Theater Review: ANASTASIA (Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City)
ANASTHESIA A sold-out opening night audience Dec. 6 was likely entranced with the lovely costumes, fine acting, solid choreography and strong vocal performances in Anastasia at Hillbarn Theater in Foster City. But younger members of the audience who were expecting the play to more closely follow the 1997 animated film might have also felt disappointment….
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Theater Review: THE GOLDEN GIRLS LIVE: THE CHRISTMAS EPISODES (Curran Theatre)
This perennial favorite is back for its 19th year. This “drag” version of classic holiday-themed Golden Girls episodes seems to grow in popularity every year. Since its inception in 2005 when it was originally performed to a select crowd of friends informed by email, it has outgrown the living room and 2 subsequent South of…
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Theater Review: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN (Northlight Theatre in Skokie)
A HEARTWARMING ADAPTATION The world premiere of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women adapted by Lauren Gunderson as a co-commission from Northlight Theatre, City Theatre, People’s Light, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a delightful yet imperfect exploration of the beloved classic novel. By framing the story with Alcott herself as a narrative presence, Gunderson offers audiences a meta-theatrical…
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Theater Review: THE THANKSGIVING PLAY (Moonbox Productions at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge, MA)
A PLAY TO BE THANKFUL FOR Director Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma/Mvskoke) leans into the challenge of bringing the satirical comedy The Thanksgiving Play to the stage with “a full cast of Native and actors of color.” The casting note for the published play, by Larissa FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation…
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Theater Review: YOUR LOCAL THEATER PRESENTS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, BY CHARLES DICKENS, AGAIN (La Jolla Playhouse)
ACTORS LOOKING FOR WORK: GOD BLESS THEM, EVERYONE! La Jolla Playhouse is presenting the world premiere of a play for the holiday season, and beyond, with the extensively titled Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again. The playwright is Anna Ouyang Moench, an MFA graduate of the UC San Diego’s Department…
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Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL (Los Altos Stage Company at Bus Barn Theater)
NOSTALGIC, SAPPY FUN If you’re in the mood for a night of campy humor with a Christmas-y theme, head to Bus Barn Theatre in Los Altos for its production of A Christmas Story: The Musical. This old chestnut of a story is based on the motion picture of the same name that came out in…
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Theater Review: CAT KID COMIC CLUB (Tour at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City)
EVERYONE BELONGS IN THIS CLUB Last year at this time, I saw the family-friendly and totally entertaining Dog Man: The Musical, in which comic book hero Dog Man, with the head of a dog and the body of a policeman, does his best to save the city from Flippy the cyborg fish. And now Flippy…
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Theater Review: WAITRESS (San Francisco Playhouse)
IF THE HEAT IN AMERICA’S KITCHEN IS GETTING YOU DOWN, HEAD TO WAITRESS AT SF PLAYHOUSE San Francisco Playhouse has delivered an incredible gift for the winter holiday season: Waitress, Jessie Nelson’s stage adaptation of Adrienne Shelly’s popular 2007 film of the same name, with a compelling rock score by singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles. The show…
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Theater Review: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING (Berkeley Repertory Theatre)
WEAVING TOGETHER THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE With our post election blues, and immigration becoming a hot button issue again, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding sends a message of love, hope and family of choice at Berkeley Rep. Debuting on Broadway last year, this traveling show is making its West coast debut. Original director Whitney White is still…
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Theater Review: FALSETTOS (Court Theatre & Timeline Theatre)
AN INCREDIBLE SCORE; A FINE PRODUCTION; A FUNNY AND POIGNANT FRACTURED FAMILY PORTRAIT; WHY, THEN, DOES THIS REVIVAL NOT EMOTIONALLY RESONATE? Court Theatre and Timeline Theatre‘s joint production of the sung-through musical Falsettos offers a technically superb exploration of a family in flux during the cusp of the AIDS crisis with exceptional vocal talent and…
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