Review: “Shirley Valentine” in Sonoma

by Harry Duke A middle-aged British woman, wife, and mother wonders whatever became of herself and sets out to rediscover life in Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine. Jennifer King stars in the one-woman show now running on the Rotary Stage in the Sonoma Community Center through Feb. 22.     We meet Shirley in her Liverpool home kitchen…

Review: “Mary Poppins” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke An upside-down family gets right-sided with the help of a practically perfect nanny in P.L. Travers classic Mary Poppins. In between the 1964 Disney film adaption and its belated 2018 sequel, Cameron Mackintosh put together a Broadway musical that featured elements of the Disney film along with new material. Santa Rosa’s 6th…

Interview – “Love Lettters” at LBC

My guests on the 01/29/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were YWCA of Sonoma County Chief Executive Officer Madeleine Keegan-O’Connell and Press Democrat columnist Chris Smith to talk about their upcoming benefit performance of A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters. The one-night-only performance will be held Friday, February 13 in the Carsten Cabaret…

Review: “The Outgoing Tide” in Cloverdale

by Harry Duke Two men are conversing while one of them fishes off of a Chesapeake Bay dock. The fisherman regales the stranger with tales of fishing with his son. The stranger seems somewhat confused by the conversation. A woman soon approaches. As they converse, we learn they’re not strangers at all. They’re a family.…