Review: “Freaky Friday, the Musical” in Napa

by Cari Lynn Pace * Lucky Penny Productions really delivers on Freaky Friday, the Musical, a hilarious stage musical based on Mary Rodgers novel and the two Disney movies from 1976 and 2003. This huge show features 19 actors of all ages, and the surprising thing is they all fit splendidly on Lucky Penny’s small…

Review: “Mary Poppins” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke * An upside-down family gets right-sided with the help of a practically perfect nanny in P.L. Travers classic Mary Poppins. In between the 1964 Disney film adaption and its belated 2018 sequel, Cameron Mackintosh put together a Broadway musical that featured elements of the Disney film along with new material. Santa Rosa’s…

Review: “Soul”

Soul is a beautiful film of incredible depth, more depth than we’ve become used to from animated films – even Pixar’s. Gorgeously animated, wonderfully voiced (with contributions from some recognizable Bay Area theatre talent), and vibrantly scored, I think it would have been the least financially successful Pixar film to date had it been released…

Review: “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in San Francisco

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was originally scheduled last season at the Spreckels Theatre Company. The musical, whose development started in Germany and ended in New Jersey (having never made it to Broadway), is an atypical Disney production. More Les Misérables than Little Mermaid, it’s an interesting amalgam of Victor Hugo’s gothic novel and music from…