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Theater Review: FUNNY GIRL (National Tour)
KATERINA MCCRIMMON IS A BRIGHT NEW FUNNY GIRL BUT THE TOUR IS LIKE BUS-AND-TRUCK Funny Girl is a captivating musical that tells the story of Fanny Brice, a renowned comedienne and entertainer during the early 1900s. This production delves into her journey to fame, her tumultuous relationship with gambler Nick Arnstein, and her remarkable resilience…
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Theater Review: BURN THIS (Hub Theatre Company of Boston)
FLAMES CAN BURN IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE Last weekend, Hub Theatre Company of Boston began its own smoldering revival of Lanford Wilson‘s Burn This, a show filled with intertwined emotion, unanswered questions, and refusals to see and accept answers. In the aftermath of a tragic accident that has killed Robbie, a gay young dancer/choreographer…
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Theater Review: THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE (Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado)
THE LOVE CHILD OF LAURA INGALLS AND ANNE OF GREEN GABLES In this novel-turned-musical, it’s 1899 and the world, even in rural Texas, is changing. Just not nearly fast enough for Calpurnia Tate (Aubriella Navarro), who is “age 11-3/4, practically 12!”, as she mentions (and sings) quite often. The Cast Calpurnia isn’t quite a tom-boy,…
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Theater Review: THE WITNESS ROOM (The Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks)
WITNESSES FOR THE PROSECUTION Taking place within the confines of a witness room in Manhattan Criminal Court, four obdurate NYPD officers who have “done all this before and know what to say” are coached by the Prosecuting Attorney, who is fact-checking their testimony prior to a drug suppression hearing. She has instructions on what they…
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Theater Review: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (Lyric Stage)
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A MUSICAL Adore Broadway musicals? Hate Broadway musicals? Either way, you will love Lyric Stage’s flip and frothy production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Director and choreographer Larry Sousa maximizes the intimate yet perfectly appointed Lyric stage to present what feels like a full-scale Broadway musical with singing, dancing, skating, and tap-dancing from…
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Theater Review: DAMN YANKEES (Desert Theatricals)
DAMN, IT’S GREAT Desert Theatricals hits another home run this weekend with their contagiously joyful production of Damn Yankees at Rancho Mirage Amphitheater running through Sunday, April 7th. I must confess, I never fully embraced the Damn Yankees phenomenon. Up until last night, I had not seen a full stage production. I had only seen…
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Theater Review: RIDE (American Premiere at the Old Globe)
RIDE ON! Annie Cohen Kopchovsky was a late 19th-century young English working-class woman who wanted to upgrade her life. So she tried to earn money and recognition as well as elevating her status as a woman. To that end, in 1894 and 1895, she gained fame as the first woman to ride a bicycle solo…
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Theater Review: ALADDIN (Broadway San Diego at the Civic Theatre)
I DREAM OF GENIE Ready to spend a little time in the ancient Arabian town of Agrabah? It’s the classic story with Aladdin (Adi Roy), Jasmine (Senzel Ahmady), and of course the genie (Marcus M. Martin). Disney’s 1992 hit animated musical movie became an instant classic, in part because of Robin Williams’ unforgettable voicing of…
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Theater Review: SIGN MY NAME TO FREEDOM (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company at Z Space)
FREEDOM WRITER San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) is presenting a terrific production that tells the amazing true story of Bay Area icon Betty Reid Soskin, known to residents in the Bay Area as being the oldest ranger in National Park Service who retired two years ago at the age of 100 (she became…
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Theater Review: A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Theatre Palisades)
A VIEW TO GREAT THEATER Theatre Palisades has a hit on their boards with a true-to-life production of Arthur Miller’s landmark drama from 1955, A View from the Bridge, sharply directed by Cate Caplin. What stands out in 2024 about this primal script is how much Miller anticipates today’s xenophobic anti-immigrant witch hunts ’” rancor…
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Theater Review: THE BESPOKE OVERCOAT (Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice)
FOR THEATERGOERS DESIRING A COAT OF LOVE, THIS SHOW IS BESPOKEN FOR Sometimes friends or even co-workers can become more like family than your relatives. Such is the case in Wolf Mankowitz’s The Bespoke Overcoat, inspired by Nikolai Gogol’s famous short story “The Overcoat“ about a long-suffering, poor warehouse clerk who seeks to obtain a…
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Theater Review: THE 39 STEPS (San Francisco Playhouse)
THE STEPS TO SUCCESS They say that timing is everything. Timing certainly is everything in The 39 Steps, the English spy spoof that occupies a delightful, often amazing, and even suspenseful two hours at the San Francisco Playhouse. A fun-filled comedy slapstick farce based on the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps takes place in pre-WWII…
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Theater Review: PIPELINE (African-American Shakespeare Company, San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center)
A PIPELINE TO GREAT THEATER Theater can do more than entertain. A good drama can not only pull at your heartstrings, it has the ability to educate, influence and inform. Pipeline, now playing in San Francisco at the Taube Atrium Theater, is the story of Nya, (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) an inner-city public school teacher, dedicated to…
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Theater Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Shotgun Players in Berkeley)
Some consider A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tributes to love: both romantic and platonic. “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” Veronica Renner and Jamin Jollo At Shotgun Players, there is a lot of love for humanity in all…
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Theater Review: FOOTLOOSE (Wildsong Productions, San Diego)
YOU’LL BE DANCING IN THE SHEETS ALL OVER AGAIN Sitting in a movie theater, in 1984, we teens were spellbound by the original film version of Footloose — and not because it was an amazing story or full of brilliant acting performances (spoiler alert: it wasn’t). Recall that MTV had begun to mesmerize us less…
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Theater Review: THE FAR COUNTRY (Berkeley Rep)
THE DEMONS ON ANGEL ISLAND We’ve all heard stories about coming to America through Ellis Island. We’ve read the books and seen the movies set in the early 1900s about the immigrants sailing over the Atlantic Ocean, traveling in steerage on a packed ocean liner. We’ve seen the smiling faces of hope as the ships…
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Theater Review: THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR (Revolution Stage Company in Palm Springs)
You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul. — George Bernard Shaw With Avenue Q, Mid-Century Moderns, and The Boy Band Project, Palm Springs’ newest professional theater group, Revolution Stage Company (RSC), has been knocking it out of the ballpark since it launched its inaugural…
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Theater Review: HAND TO GOD (Roustabouts Theatre Company at Diversionary Theatre)
OUR PUPPET, WHO ART IN HELL, HALLOWED BE THY BLAME When a newly widowed mom tries to lead three teens in a wholesome, Lutheran, extra-curricular church class, tasked with creating a Christian puppet show, what could go wrong? Thankfully for us, plenty, in Robert Askins’ gripping, darkly-comic drama which premiered Off-Broadway in 2011. Adam Daniel…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (The Old Globe Theatre)
WINNING ASSIST Big hits can come in small packages. The wonderful production of King James — which opened last night at the Old Globe Theatre — has only two characters and runs only about 1 hour and 45 minutes (plus one intermission), but it has enough humor, drama, and warmth to stoke a play twice…
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Theater Review: COST OF LIVING (SpeakEasy Stage Company at Calderwood Pavilion in Boston)
FINDING NEW ABILITIES Cost of Living is full of surprises, and I don’t mean inflation or unexpected banking fees. Speakeasy Stage Company brings the Pulitzer-winning play from playwright Martyna Majok to Boston in an affecting and satisfying production directed by Alex Lonati that made an hour and three-quarters of intermission-free time fly by. Cost of…
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