To a vast number of local film fans, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival is like a 10-day-long Roman feast, a cinematic bacchanal in which roasted pigs and hand-peeled grapes have been metaphorically substituted with movies, movies and more movies. Running through mid-October, the 2018 MVFF—now in its 41st year—will screen more than 200 movies…
Popular Broadway musicals are often inspired by classic books. For example, next month’s Spreckels Theater Company production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” written by Mark Haddon and adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens. Kander and Ebb’s ‘Cabaret,’ opening August 31 at Cinnabar Theater, is based on John Van Druten’s…
It’s been a while since pianist Nancy Hayashibara – of the Santa Rosa Junior College – has appeared on stage in one of her semi-legendary stage shows, in which she alternates between stellar renditions of classical masterpieces and hilarious comedy bits, often playing over-the-top characters, including (sometimes) her own mother. On Saturday, July 28, she…
An eerie sense of discomfort and anxiety begins to arise roughly halfway through the remarkable, entertaining, gripping, and disturbing new documentary ‘Three Identical Strangers.’ Once it starts, it only builds, continuing till long after the credits roll. Directed by Tim Wardle (“One Killer Punch”), this surprise hit (from CNN Films and England’s Channel 4) related…
High-flying aerial acts. Breathtaking acrobatics. Gorgeous, ethereal music. Mesmerizing dance. A woman walking on glass bottles. And a whole lot of outrageous stuff with chairs. That’s “Levity,” a weirdly wondrous, tough-to-explain live touring show from LadyBeast Productions, of New Orleans. The company was formed five years ago, with the intention of putting a contemporary, highly…
On Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14, Novato Theater Company will host the popular Sonoma County-based touring show Cash & King, featuring singer-actor Steven Kent and a band of local musicians putting a highly personal spin on the traditional tribute show. During the two-act production – which has been playing to sold-out houses in…
The first dinosaur movie I ever remember seeing was Irwin Allen’s ‘The Lost World.’ I was five-years-old when I saw it at the Grove Theater in downtown Upland, in Southern California. From watching that film – about an expedition to a remote jungle where dinosaurs still exist – I learned a number of things. I…
