Treasure Island  ★★★★ Amélie: the Musical   ★★★★½ Spreckels Theater Company & Berkeley Repertory Company A story is an illusion, a series of events that are not really taking place, presented in a way that fool an audience into believing they’re really happening. Telling that story in a book or movie is a certain kind of…

★★★★ Lucky Penny Productions Through Oct. 4 “A lovely, occasionally very moving, splendidly put-together musical adaptation of the classic novel. The script by Marsha Norman takes a few creative liberties with the book, but without harming the tone of the original, and the songs, by Norman and composer Lucy Simon (Carly’s sister) are lush, emotional, and haunting. Speaking…

★★½ Cinnabar Theater  If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, than perhaps disappointment is the purest reflection of respect. There are few theater companies in the Bay Area that have earned the level of respect and admiration that Cinnabar Theater has over its 43 years of presenting quality theater, opera and musicals. So maybe…

★★★★ You don’t need to have seen Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew to know what it’s about. More than 400 years after Shakespeare invented them, Kate and Petruchio, the feisty and ferocious fiancée and her would-be “tamer,” are among the most famous characters in dramatic literature. In Curtain Theatre’s rollicking new outdoor production—free to the…