Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 parable play/farce about the dangers of complacency and appeasement is, as is said much too frequently today, as timely as ever. It’s a shame eight U.S. Senators haven’t had a chance to see it. It’s the second show in the first full season for Petaluma’s Mercury Theater, the newest theatrical kid on…
by Cari Lynn Pace Sweeney Todd is the malevolent plot likely inspired by the campfire song “Dunderbeck’s Machine” which my Dad sang to us as youngsters. We boisterously sang along as mean old Dunderbeck turned critters into sausages, ultimately getting his just reward. Stephen Sondheim created an amped-up plot of human gruesomeness in this entertaining…
by Harry Duke Much has been said and written about the (then) Marin Theatre Company’s 2017 production of Thomas Bradshaw’s Thomas and Sally. Bradshaw’s historical fiction used a conversation between college students as the framing device to explore the possible relationship between Founding Father Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings. To say the Jasson…
by Cari Lynn Pace Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks weaves historical facts with imagined emotions in this play-within-a-play about Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress Sally Hemmings. It’s a powerhouse story that digs deep into the consciousness of today’s sense of propriety. A present-day small theatre troupe rehearses and wrestles with their unfinished period play…
When I see a show late in its run, or the run itself is short, I’ll take some time and provide a short take on the production… Bad Seed – 6th Street Playhouse Pluses: performances, technical work Minuses: dated storyline often plays as camp To truly appreciate just how shocking William March’s The Bad Seed…
When I see a show late in its run, or the run itself is short, I’ll take some time and provide a short take on the production… Into the Woods – Spreckels Theatre Company Pluses: cast, live orchestra, costumes, puppetry work Minuses: show length, repetiveness, audio issues Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe started to…
by Cari Lynn Pace Noises Off is a door-slamming winner from the curtain to backstage. Director Bill English must be an expert at herding cats, as this chaotic comedy written by Michael Frayn is a three-ring circus. Frayn was inspired to write the farce while observing a frantic rehearsal in Britain and observing “What went…
by Harry Duke If there’s one thing this divided nation can agree on, it’s this: Dolly Parton is a national treasure. Consequently, anything affiliated with Ms. Parton automatically starts out with a heap of goodwill. So it is with 9 to 5: the Musical. The Novato Theater Company has a production running through October 12.…
by Cari Lynn Pace You won’t need any coffee to get fired up for this outrageous office comedy. With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, and direction by Larry Williams, this show is an overtime winner. Novato Theater Company put in long hours to hire three female leads with confident voices and pencil-sharp acting skills.…
Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day is a play with deep Bay Area roots. Originally commissioned by Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre and performed in 2018, it won the 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Original Script and Theatre Bay Area’s Will Glickman Award for best new play to premiere in the Bay Area. It…
North Bay Stage and Screen 