When contemplating the ending of things, we often feel compelled to look back to the beginning. This being my final column as the Bohemian‘s theater reviewer, I thought I’d do the same. When I first started writing for the Bohemian, I was mainly known as a film writer. Though I’d had a fair amount of…
It’s that time of year again for the usual “Best of…” lists where critics review their picks for the best (and sometimes worst) in music, movies, fashion, etc. and give people at holiday parties something to argue about. For the past three years my approach has been a little different as I prefer to offer…
Another year of theater has passed, and I’ve got a cigar box filled with torn ticket stubs. It’s time to reflect on the shows that moved me most to laugh, cry and change my view of the world. I present, once again, my 10 favorite theatrical experiences of the last 12 months. ‘Bondage’ (AlterTheater) Gorgeously written by…
In most modern musical revues, much of the drama and emotion springs from the nostalgic hit an audience gets at hearing beloved and familiar old songs. That’s certainly the case with My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, now playing in a cozy, cabaret setting at Cinnabar Theater. Anyone who feels their pulse quicken at…
To Margot Robbie, Tonya Harding was a pit bull. That’s not just a metaphor. It’s how the fast-rising Australian actor (Suicide Squad, Goodbye, Christopher Robin) elected to play the real-life figure skater in the just-released movie I, Tonya. The film, which is already appearing on many end-of-year top 10 lists, screened on December 2 at…
“I love performing at holiday time,” says composer-musician David Arkenstone. “People are almost always in a great wintery mood during the holidays. If they’re not, it’s our job to put them in the mood.” Shepherding busy, stressed-out people into a warm, wintery frame of mind. That’s the primary goal of “David Arkenstone’s Winter Fantasy,” an…
“Frank Sinatra’s voice, his stage presence, his whole Sinatra ‘thing,’ it was one-of-a-kind,” says director Jennifer King. “There was a time when I might not have thought Sinatra was my thing, but now, I love him. I could listen to his songs forever and never get tired of them.” King is currently helming “My Way:…
Some plays, not surprisingly, get a little old after a decade of repetition. Others, miraculously, get better. The key, as evidenced by David Yen’s 10th annual performance of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries, at Left Edge Theater, is changing things up from time to time. Adding a fully stocked bar to the set one year, and using…
In comedy, timing is everything, and the timing is so off in 6th Street Playhouse’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, the fact that it manages to extract any laughs from its audience is somewhat of a Christmas miracle. Plagued with pre-production challenges ranging from a change in director to the untimely passing of its lead…
“The human voice,” composer Richard Strauss once said, “is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.” He could have added the words, “at Christmas time,” and few would have blinked an eye, because it’s true. At Christmas time, there’s nothng more beautiful than the human voice lifted in…
North Bay Stage and Screen 