by Harry Duke * If you’re a fan of South Park and Team America: World Police, then the stage show Avenue Q should be right up your alley. It’s an adult send-up of Sesame Street, the children’s television classic where humans and puppets co-exist and life’s problems are acknowledged and solved with humor and song.…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Marin County’s Larry Sultan took photos of his parents over a decade, creating a loving tribute to them and an often-annoying pain in the neck for them. Sultan travelled to his childhood home in Southern California each month seeking conversations and photographing his parents’ lives in search of a deeper…
by Cari Lynn Pace * When a stage musical is made into a hit movie, can local singers, actors, and the painted scenery match the excitement of the film’s special effects and celebrity cast? If the production is Mamma Mia!, now being presented by the Novato Theater Company through June 7, the answer is “Yes,…
By Cari Lynn Pace & Barry Willis Where does embellishment belong in storytelling, if the goal is to create emotional truth? Theater veteran Libby Oberlin directs this extraordinary comedic drama filled with challenging questions on the Monroe Stage at 6th Street Playhouse. You won’t find better acting than this, with incisive dialog and a plot that took seven years to determine the outcome. The production…
by Harry Duke * Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? The works of Theodor Geisel (under his medical nom-de-plume) have been entertaining children (and their parents) for decades be they books (The Cat in the Hat), television specials (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), or film (The Lorax). Geisel, with a few notable exceptions, was reluctant to…
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…
North Bay Stage and Screen 