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…
My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on 10/02/25 on The Drive on 95.5 were Reed Martin and Gwen Nelson from the Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts production of The Comedy of Hamlet! (a prequel). The show runs in the Frank Chong Studio Theatre on the Santa Rosa Junior College campus…
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.…
My guests on the 09/25/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Maddi Scarbrough and Megan Bartlett from the Spreckels Theatre Company production of Into the Woods. The show runs in the Codding Theatre at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park through October 12. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE…
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.…
My guests on the 09/18/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Amanda Claiborne and Nick Charles from the Curtain Call Theatre production of Exit, Pursued by a Bear. The show runs at the Russian River Hall in Monte Rio through September 27. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE for more information…
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…
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.…
North Bay Stage and Screen 