Adaptations of the works of Stephen King for film and television have been hit or miss over the years. For every The Shining or ‘Salem’s Lot, there’s a Firestarter or The Langoliers. Mainstream theatrical adaptations have been limited to a 2018 musical version of Carrie (a major Broadway flop but cult hit) and Misery, which…
American musical theatre doesn’t get any more old-fashioned than it does with The Music Man. Broadway is currently hosting a revival of Meredith Willson’s melodic tale of con man Harold Hill and Marian the Librarian but North Bay audiences looking to travel back to turn-of-the-century River City, Iowa need only head to Rohnert Park. The…
If you’ve ever glanced at a flyer hanging from a community center bulletin board that offers an acting course and worried about the time commitment required, playwright Annie Baker’s got you covered. In Circle Mirror Transformation, now running at the Novato Theater Company through September 25, Baker covers in two hours what most courses do…
Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses is a difficult play to categorize. Is it a drama or a comedy? Realistic or surrealistic? Life-affirming or death-obsessed? The answer to all these questions is “yes”. You can decide for yourself by attending the Jolee & Too Soon Old production that’s running at the Playhouse in San Anselmo through…
The California Theatre, the North Bay’s newest entertainment venue, hosts Left Edge Theatre’s season-opening production of Fun Home. The musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir of the same name took home five Tonys, including Best Musical, for its 2015 Broadway run. The show is scheduled to run through September 18. Bechdel’s original work,…
Marin County’s venerable Curtain Theatre returns to the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre in Mill Valley for their more-or-less annual offering of Shakespeare al fresco. This year it’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, what many consider the Bard’s first (but still lesser-known) play. If you find Shakespeare difficult to follow, fear not! The plot is fairly simple…
Jane Austen’s Bennet sisters have enjoyed something of a theatrical renaissance in the last few years courtesy of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s Christmas in Pemberley triptych. For those unfamiliar with those works, they took the characters and plot line from Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and continued the story by moving the focus off of…
“I hate theatre.” No, that’s not the long-suspected confession of a theatre critic. It’s the opening line from Sonoma Arts Live’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone. The show runs through July 31. That line, followed by a litany of complaints about modern theatre (shows are too long, actors shouldn’t interact with the audience, Elton John,…
It’s been over 40 years since Dolly Parton made her film debut in 9 to 5 and the title tune topped the charts. The film and song (which garnered Parton an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song) became markers in the struggle for parity in the workplace for women. Thank goodness it was achieved…
Audiences who don’t mind leaving a theatre a bit unsettled would do well to check out the West Coast premiere of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside at Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre Company.The Jasson Minadakis-directed show runs through June 19. The lights come up on a solitary female figure. “A middle-aged professor of undergraduate Creative Writing…
North Bay Stage and Screen 