by Harry Duke It’s been 50 years since Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line took Broadway by storm. The musical tale of the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of those who seek a life in the theatre won nine Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize and held the record for longest running Broadway musical for 14 years.…
by Harry Duke Jukebox musicals, with few exceptions, are not known for their intricate plots or dramatic surprises. They exist to provide their audiences with musical comfort food. Case in point, the Sonoma Arts Live production of A Night with Janis Joplin. The show is heading into its closing weekend on the Rotary Stage in…
by Cari Lynn Pace Ross Valley Players now rehearse a play that’s spoken all in verse. Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’ is a sensation; French to English script translation. Richard Wilbur uses rhyme to set the play in 60’s time. Tartuffe the hypocrite has power. He will take and all devour. Manipulating son and mother, They are warned…
by Cari Lynn Pace Lucky Penny Productions always seems to have such fun shows, with non-stop energy and over-the-top characters. This one is a real zinger! La Cage aux Folles is a madcap romp with zippy dancers in trippy costumes. It’s a drag nightclub, where genders are blurred by shiny costumes and lots of mascara.…
by Cari Lynn Pace The sleepy little wine tasting hamlet of Sonoma has a real rockin’ blues concert with Sonoma Arts Live’s latest production. A Night with Janis Joplin, originally produced on Broadway in 2013, is a stage full of classic blues re-enacted by powerhouse singers. They’re backed up with a 7-piece band raising the…
by Cari Lynn Pace Every star has a story to tell as she worked her way to the Broadway stage. Transcendence Theatre Company, the Sonoma home for stage and screen luminaries, realized these stories are fascinating for their fun and failures. They built a show around seven women who spanned seven decades of singing and…
by Cari Lynn Pace In Eureka Day, a multiculturally sensitive school set in Berkeley, enlightenment is virtuous and facts are probably suspicious. A mirror could reveal other hamlets where this theme reigns supreme. Whether you put your trust in the CDC, where RFK Jr. is the chief mountebank selling snake oil, or the medical professionals…
by Harry Duke If a dearth of penises and flatulence on North Bay stages has kept you from returning to live theatre, Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre has got a show for you. It’s Taylor Mac’s Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus and it’s currently covering the stage of The California with blood, guts, and…
by Cari Lynn Pace A Chorus Line opens with a backstage look at dozens of dancers trying out for a part in a new show. The live music is energizing and brassy; the director of the audition is pushy and demanding. After dance eliminations, only seventeen remain onstage. They’re exhausted and nervous as they urgently…
by Cari Lynn Pace Where do playwrights come up with the ideas for such laughable plots? Featherbaby, David Templeton’s latest play, features a young woman and her foul-mouthed and aggressively possessive parrot, a bird who schemes to separate its owner from her suitors. Just imagine Spreckels Theatre Company having a casting call to audition actors…
North Bay Stage and Screen 