by Barry Willis * Sonoma Arts Live continues its ambitious and mostly successful run of boy-meets-girl favorite The Light in the Piazza through May 10. A tale about an American woman and her daughter on a tour of Italy, with book by Craig Lucas and music by Adam Guettel, the stage show, based on the…
by Harry Duke * Dramatic plays in the sci-fi/horror genre are few and far between. Whether it’s budgetary restraints or the difficulty in getting audiences to suspend their disbelief that much, folks interested in seeing that stripe of show usually have limited opportunities to do so. 6th Street Playhouse’s recent production of Marjorie Prime and…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Sonoma Arts Live invites the audience to join a mother and daughter as they sightsee in Florence, Italy in this musical with lyrics by Adam Guettel based on Craig Lucas’s book. The stage, designed Laurynn Malilay and Sandra Ish, overflows with statuary, fountains, lush plantings, and a live band directed…
by Harry Duke * Community theaters love Ken Ludwig. Since he first hit it big with his Tony-winning farce Lend Me A Tenor, Ludwig’s farcical takes on the world of Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Baskerville, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery), and even George and Ira Gershwin (Crazy for You)…
by Harry Duke * There is no more quintessential Broadway musical than Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! Theatre companies large and small have been producing it regularly since its debut more than 50 years ago including productions over the last decade by the Raven Players, Sonoma Arts Live, and the Mountain Play. Santa Rosa Junior College…
by Barry Willis * A corrupt businessman lands in Washington DC, intent on buying a Senator as part of an effort to get legislation passed to improve his fortune. Currying favor among the ruling class is one of humanity’s oldest tales, one that will never go away. The stage play of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Conceived by Jeff Whitty and based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney, Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse tackles the jukebox musical Head Over Heels with gusto. The Go-Go’s, the all-girl band whose music is featured, give us quite a music collection to enjoy. This mash-up of Shakespearean patois with…
by Harry Duke * After a series of lightweight comedies and Broadway musicals, Cinnabar Theater gets serious with a production of Lucas Hnath’s The Christians. The theological drama runs in the Warren Theater on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park through April 26. Folks walking into the usually sterile Warren Theater may…
by Harry Duke * Two hapless, small-time crooks hit the roads of South Carolina in search of their next “big” score in T-Bone n Weasel. The John Klein comedy is the latest theatrical presentation at The 222 in Healdsburg and concludes its short run with three performances through April 5. Pals T-Bone (Aldo Billingslea) and…
by Cari Lynn Pace * If you expect this rock music show to be loud and in-your-face, you are correct. What you may not expect is how Alanis Morissette’s emotional songs resonate in today’s angry world. Drug use? Sexual predators? Political privilege? Color bias? Lover infidelity? They’re all here, exploding from the intimate Novato Theater…
North Bay Stage and Screen 