Let There Be LoveKwane Kwei-ArmahAmerican Conservatory TheatreSeemingly unbridgeable gulfs exist aplenty in Kwane Kwei-Armah’s Let There Be Love. Divisions due to race, age, sex, sex orientation, immigrant status, and class along with serious parent-child conflicts threaten at times to keep each of our three principles islands unto themselves and at other times to pit two … [Read more...] about “Let There Be Love”
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“Head of Passes”
Head of PassesTarell Alvin McCraneyBerkeley Repertory TheatreHead of Passes is both the title of rising playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s newest play and the part of lower Louisiana where three passages of the Mississippi join in shifting swamps and sands into turbulent currents of the Gulf of Mexico. It is in this sparsely populated, often stormy and flooded setting … [Read more...] about “Head of Passes”
“Fire on the Mountain”
Fire on the MountainRandal Myler & Dan WheetmanTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyWith relatively few spoken words but instead with three dozen songs and several score of projected, vintage photographs, Fire on the Mountain tells a moving, powerful story of the Appalachian coal miner. The might of the media used in this timeline history that covers much of the twentieth … [Read more...] about “Fire on the Mountain”
“The Last Five Years”
The Last Five YearsJason Robert Brown (music & lyrics)American Conservatory TheatreThe widely popular, much-produced, two-person musical The Last Five Years (music and lyrics by Broadway veteran Jason Robert Brown) came recently to San Francisco in a concert version for three performances only. Even after just one performance, social media sites lit up with “You have … [Read more...] about “The Last Five Years”
“Tartuffe”
TartuffeMoliere, Adapted by David BallBerkeley Repertory Theatre A 350-year-old farce about blind, religious fanaticism and the corruption of religious leaders, Moliere’s Tartuffe is one of the those beloved, funny, and biting classics that most avid theatre-goers have seen at least once in their careers as audience members. However, it is doubtful any of us has seen … [Read more...] about “Tartuffe”
“The Lake Effect”
The Lake EffectRajiv JosephTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyAs the lights go down and the scene on the stage illuminates, much has already happened involving the threesome we are soon to meet that they themselves do not totally know. Just as the snow-covered ground outside the little Indian, family-owned café before us will get deeper as it snows vigorously for the play’s … [Read more...] about “The Lake Effect”
“The Convert”
“The Convert”Danai GuriraMarin Theatre Company When a three-hour production feels like a play half that length, it happens not by chance but as a direct result of plot intrigue, well-clipped direction, and masterful acting. Jasson Minadakis directs Marin Theatre’s The Convert with both fervor and respect for its historically important subject: the early clash of … [Read more...] about “The Convert”
“How the World Began”
How the World BeganCatherine TrieshmannCustom Made TheatreEscaping personal issues in New York to come teach high school science in a small, tornado-devastated Kansas town, a pregnant, husbandless Susan comes hoping to renew her life and to help this traumatized community. A flippant remark to a class of sophomores, describing theories of “spontaneous creation of the … [Read more...] about “How the World Began”
“Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical”
Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester MusicalAnthony Wayne & Kendell BowmanBrava Theatre Center (AnthonyKen, LLC, Producer)Entering Brava Theatre lobby, audience members feel an electricity and excitement that continues its meteoric rise once inside the auditorium up until the moment the first blast of overture music finally erupts from the onstage band. The big … [Read more...] about “Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical”
“Tree”
TreeJulie HebertSan Francisco PlayhouseWalking into the auditorium, all eyes immediately notice the scores of multi-sized, tied cardboard boxes that litter the entire two-level, modest home before us. We then notice a front porch with a rowboat docked in what appears to be the dry road in front. Mystery? Secrets? Revelations? What else could be in … [Read more...] about “Tree”
“Candide”
CandideMusic, Leonard BernsteinBook Adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler in New Version by John CairdLyrics by Richard Wilbur (& Sondheim, Latouche, Hellman, Parker & Bernstein)Lamplighters Music TheatreAfter being worked and re-worked for 33 years with many collaborators coming and going (and some now dead) and with some 97 total musical numbers/revisions having been … [Read more...] about “Candide”
“Indian Ink”
Indian InkTom StoppardAmerican Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.)When there is a deep, emotional bond created between the artist and the spectator, third century Hindu sages termed that bridge rasa. A..C.T.’s Indian Inknot only explores in a beautiful, moving symphony of words and scenes what it takes to create a state of rasa; but as directed by Carey Perloff and acted by a … [Read more...] about “Indian Ink”
“Our Town”
Our TownThornton WilderShotgun PlayersPerformed every day somewhere in the world, Our Town to me is the quintessential American play, is the play I have seen performed the most times in my life, and is the play that still moves me to tears each time I see it. I try not to miss a chance to see it performed, especially when done so by a group as consistently excellent and … [Read more...] about “Our Town”
