Review: “9 to 5 the Musical” in Novato

by Cari Lynn Pace You won’t need any coffee to get fired up for this outrageous office comedy. With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, and direction by Larry Williams, this show is an overtime winner. Novato Theater Company put in long hours to hire three female leads with confident voices and pencil-sharp acting skills.…

Review: “Eureka Day” in Healdsburg

Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day is a play with deep Bay Area roots. Originally commissioned by Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre and performed in 2018, it won the 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Original Script and Theatre Bay Area’s Will Glickman Award for best new play to premiere in the Bay Area. It…

Review: “A Chorus Line” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke It’s been 50 years since Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line took Broadway by storm. The musical tale of the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of those who seek a life in the theatre won nine Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize and held the record for longest running Broadway musical for 14 years.…

Cinemas at True West to open in Healdsburg

True West Film Center, the non-profit film organization, today announced its opening dates for the Cinemas at True West, the newest destination for North Bay movie goers. The cinemas are the focal point of the film center’s James Redford Campus located at 371 Healdsburg Avenue. Cinema doors will open to the public on Friday, October…

Review: “A Night with Janis Joplin” in Sonoma

by Harry Duke Jukebox musicals, with few exceptions, are not known for their intricate plots or dramatic surprises. They exist to provide their audiences with musical comfort food. Case in point, the Sonoma Arts Live production of A Night with Janis Joplin. The show is heading into its closing weekend on the Rotary Stage in…

Review: “Tartuffe” in Ross

by Cari Lynn Pace Ross Valley Players now rehearse a play that’s spoken all in verse. Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’ is a sensation; French to English script translation. Richard Wilbur uses rhyme to set the play in 60’s time. Tartuffe the hypocrite has power. He will take and all devour. Manipulating son and mother, They are warned…