The good ol’ USA has never had a lock on corrupt, windbag politicians as evidenced by Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector. Originally published in 1836, Gogol’s takedown of the dishonesty, greed, and stupidity that runs rampant in government is considered by many to be one of the world’s greatest comedies. Director Lisa Morse…
The Borscht Belt comes to wine country with the Sonoma Arts Live presentation of Saturday Night at Grossinger’s. The musical with book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by Claibe Richardson runs in Sonoma through May 8. It’s co-directed by Larry Williams and SAL Artistic Director Jaime Weiser Love. The Borscht Belt is an…
To some in the theatre world, the sourcing of an Adam Sandler movie as the basis for a musical was the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. Needless to say, American musical theatre did not come to an end with the arrival of The Wedding Singer on Broadway. The show managed to snag five Tony nominations,…
Playwriting is often a form of artistic exorcism. Many a play have been written to bring a form of closure to unresolved conflicts, strained relationships, or traumatic experiences and to release the hold that personal demons have on their authors. For playwright Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), that demon happened to be his…
Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre Company has been presenting top-notch productions of often provocative plays for years, so color me a bit surprised by their latest offering. They are currently hosting the world premiere co-production (with Seattle’s ACT) of Yussef El Guindi’s Hotter Than Egypt. Selected by MTC’s new Associate Artistic Director Nakissa Etemad, the John Langs-directed…
“Good fences make good neighbors” is an aphorism whose origins are debated but whose truth is generally accepted. Where the fence actually runs, though, can be a test of neighborly relations as it is in the Left Edge Theatre production of Karen Zacarias’ Native Gardens. The Jenny Hollingworth-directed comedy runs in Santa Rosa through April…
Jukebox musicals tend to be happy, peppy shows where the hits of an artist or a genre are strung together with a minimal story to create a fan-pleasing production. But what do you do with a story that ends with its star dead in the back seat of a Cadillac? Well, if you’re Randal Myler…
Welcome to Almost, Maine. You won’t find it on a map as its citizens were never organized enough to get it declared an official town. The almost-town has a mill, a bar, a snowmobiling club, and a couple of dozen residents whose main activity is falling in (or out) of love. That’s the premise behind…
Every thirty years or so, musical theatre manages to produce something to which the younger members of a generation latch onto. From Hair in the 1960’s through Hamilton today, composers and lyricists’ use of the music of their time has been an effective way to entice younger audiences into theaters. The 1990’s brought Jonathan Larson’s…
Santa Rosa’s Roustabout Theater is best known as one of the leading theatrical training and performance programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a focus on youth ages 11 to 20, their Apprentice Program and Summer Theater Camp productions lean toward lighter fare, like this summer’s scheduled production of The SpongeBob Musical. Roustabout also…
