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Theater Review: TAMING THE LION (Theatre 40 in L.A.)
I’M JUST A DANDY LION Homophobia may still be somewhat of a problem in today’s entertainment arenas, but it isn’t nearly as chaotic for queer artists who, nine decades ago, had to go undercover (so to speak) in order to continue with any kind of meaningful livelihood and/or physical safety. And that affected actors the…
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Theater Review: AN OCTOROON (The Fountain Theater in L.A.)
THE PLAY’S THE THING It’s no wonder that Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ brilliant adaptation of Dion Boucicault’s 1895 suspenseful melodrama The Octoroon is eight times better and more exciting than any other offering on America’s stages. It speaks to the current conversation of race in America while presenting a rather unknown actual nineteenth-century play that is rife…
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Theater Review: GOODS (Artemisia Theatre in Chicago)
GOODS AND READY Family. Waste. Refugees. Class. Climate Change. All these and more fly off today’s headlines, but like a genie in a magic lamp, playwright Lauren Ferebee has fit them all — and more — inside a tiny capsule moving through the universe, where two American women have been collecting space trash for twenty…
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Theater Review: THE STORY OF MY LIFE (Chance Theater)
A STORY WELL TOLD BY CHANCE THEATER The Story of My Life is a warm, intimate and sweet two-character musical about Alvin Kelby and his childhood friend, Thomas Weaver. A flop in its New York debut, the 2009 show — which tugs at the heartstrings far more than the intellect — has been a regional…
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Theater Review: WAITING FOR GODOT (The New Group Off Stage)
ZOOM AND DOOM AND GLOOM IN A ROOM Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is not an easy play to write about, let alone produce, act, or even watch. It’s challenging, opaque, and ambiguous. On the surface, it’s about nothing at all. Deep down, however, it’s about everything. It carries a multiplicity of meanings that accumulate like…
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Theater Review: FEEL THE SPIRIT (Shotgun Players in Berkeley)
THE SPIRIT OF THIS PIECE RESIDES IN PERFORMER VERO MAYNEZ What I left with from Feel the Spirit, which opened last night virtual-but-live from Shotgun Players, is the central performance of Vero Maynez (below) as Gabriella, a gay pastor at a Christian Church whose parishioners believe themselves to be tolerant but soon shy from liberalism…
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Theater Review: AMOUR (Art Lab and ShowTown Productions)
YOU’LL FALL IN LOVE WITH AMOUR “I wanted to write an opera-bouffe, an intimate evening with light, lyrical singing and delicate charm,” wrote composer Michel Legrand. “Marcel Aymé’s delightful story of an ordinary little man who suddenly finds himself gifted with extraordinary powers seemed to be the perfect material for such an amusement.” Kevin Massey, Kara Lindsay, Thom…
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Theater Review: TRYING (North Coast Rep)
NORTH COAST REP SUCCEEDS, BUT THE PLAY IS STILL TRYING The eagerness of youth; the decay of old age; cynicism in a world of injustice; literature; mortality; idealism; FDR; and timeless quotes. All of these wrapped in the contentious years of 1967 and ’68 is what you’ll find in Trying, based on playwright Joanna McClelland…
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Theater Review: [HIEROGLYPH] (San Francisco Playhouse and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre)
AS WITH A HIEROGLYPH, THIS PLAY IS DIFFICULT TO READ Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s [hieroglyph], now streaming from San Francisco Playhouse and and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, belongs to a genre known as Theatre of Identity, aka Social Issues Theatre. The idea is to call attention to a particular cultural identity or crisis – in this case, the…
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Theater Review: UNRAVELLED (Global Brain Health Institute / UC San Francisco / Trinity College Dublin)
BOLÉRO: BEAUTIFUL SYMPTOM OF A TERRIBLE DISEASE FOR BOTH PAINTER AND COMPOSER Based on true events and incorporating research and interviews conducted by playwright Jake Broder as a Hellman Visiting Artist at UC San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center, UnRavelled explores the fascinating connection between the work of Canadian painter Anne Adams (1940–2007) and French…
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Theater Review: HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? (Woolly Mammoth, IAMA)
JUDGING RYAN Ryan J. Haddad opens his autobiographical solo play Hi, Are You Single? with a funny, sexy, and sweetly awkward phone masturbation scene. His search for sex and intimacy as a queer man with cerebral palsy is by turns seductive and acerbic. And he is not coy about wanting to get laid. Haddad pushes…
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Theater Review: BOLLYWOOD KITCHEN (Geffen Playhouse)
CURRY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CURRY About a week prior to virtually attending Bollywood Kitchen, Sri Rao’s inventive solo memoir and home cooking experience, a beautiful box arrives containing seven jars of curated Indian spices, a Bollywood popcorn kit, a chocolate chai affogato kit, basmati rice, coconut powder, recipe cards, and a shopping list…
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Theater Review: BORDERS AND CROSSINGS (Public Theater’s Under the Radar)
PERSONALIZING DIASPORA Perhaps one of the reasons more people aren’t wearing masks in the U.S. to protect themselves and others during the COVID pandemic is that, even with 369,000 deaths to date, many still don’t know someone personally who has passed, and therefore do not know the stories of the deceased. Within the obfuscation of…
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Theater Review: RICH KIDS: A HISTORY OF SHOPPING MALLS IN TEHRAN (Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival)
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND LAYS AHEAD If you think Carl Sagan’s Cosmos is mind-blowing, or the way Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. could put history into context is dumbfounding, or Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat is so accurate about globalization as to be disturbing, or that Julia B. Schor’s take on consumerism, The Overspent America…
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Theater Review: SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD (SF Playhouse)
A WORLD APART FROM TYPICAL VIRTUAL FARE Like a breath of fresh air, Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World far exceeded my expectations of both virtual theater and Brown’s uneven song cycle. This is an early work from the Tony-winner for Parade and Bridges of Madison County. “It’s about one moment,” Brown said. “It’s about hitting the…
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Theater Review: THE FUTURE (Geffen Playhouse)
I HOPE THE FUTURE IS MORE EXCITING THAN THIS The Geffen Playhouse is forging ahead as Geffen Stayhouse, offering another magic show disguised as theater. Following the phenomenal success of The Present, the Geffen has now mounted a fairly similar one-man-show written and performed by master illusionist Helder Guimarí£es. While theaters around the country have…
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Theater Review: THE JEWELRY BOX (San Francisco Playhouse)
A JEWEL OF A PLAY Forgive me dear reader for the terse review, but I discovered something yesterday that turned out to be the holiday present you never expected but later realized it was something you needed quite badly. In this case, it’s a one-man show offered by The San Francisco Playhouse through December 25, 2020….
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Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (starring Jefferson Mays)
SINGING THE PRAISES OF A CAROL At this time of year, productions about dear old Scrooge are ablaze as usual, even in streaming mode. One-man shows, radio plays, and reruns on film. What’s your favorite? The first widely successful sound version (there were many silent ones) starred Reginald Owen in 1938?; Alastair Sim following in…
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Theater Review: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Williamstown Theatre Festival on Audible starring Audra McDonald)
THIS STREETCAR ROLLS AND HUMS WITH AUTHENTICITY Since struggle for power among the classes is one of the main themes in Tennessee Williams’ still-shocking A Streetcar Named Desire, it makes perfect sense that director Robert O’Hara would choose to update the Pulitzer Prize winner for modern times with a multicultural cast, including Audra McDonald as…
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Theater Review: THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER (Lookingglass)
STEADFAST THEATER This “soldier” is well worth saluting: There’s an enchanting Christmas Pantomime streaming from Michigan Avenue in Chicago ’” Lookingglass Theatre Company’s jewel-box of a holiday divertissement. Transformed by music, dance and spectacle more than by words and lyrics, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale from 1838, is the perfect recipient for director…
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