Review: “Avenue Q” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke * If you’re a fan of South Park and Team America: World Police, then the stage show Avenue Q should be right up your alley. It’s an adult send-up of Sesame Street, the children’s television classic where humans and puppets co-exist and life’s problems are acknowledged and solved with humor and song.…

Review: “Mamma Mia!” in Novato

by Cari Lynn Pace * When a stage musical is made into a hit movie, can local singers, actors, and the painted scenery match the excitement of the film’s special effects and celebrity cast? If the production is Mamma Mia!, now being presented by the Novato Theater Company through June 7, the answer is “Yes,…

Review: “Seussical” in Rohnert Park

by Harry Duke * Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? The works of Theodor Geisel (under his medical nom-de-plume) have been entertaining children (and their parents) for decades be they books (The Cat in the Hat), television specials (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), or film (The Lorax).  Geisel, with a few notable exceptions, was reluctant to…

2nd Review: “The Light in the Piazza” in Sonoma

by Barry Willis * Sonoma Arts Live continues its ambitious and mostly successful run of boy-meets-girl favorite The Light in the Piazza through May 10. A tale about an American woman and her daughter on a tour of Italy, with book by Craig Lucas and music by Adam Guettel, the stage show, based on the…

Review: “The Light in the Piazza” in Sonoma

by Cari Lynn Pace * Sonoma Arts Live invites the audience to join a mother and daughter as they sightsee in Florence, Italy in this musical with lyrics by Adam Guettel based on Craig Lucas’s book. The stage, designed Laurynn Malilay and Sandra Ish, overflows with statuary, fountains, lush plantings, and a live band directed…

Review: “Hello, Dolly!” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke * There is no more quintessential Broadway musical than Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! Theatre companies large and small have been producing it regularly since its debut more than 50 years ago including productions over the last decade by the Raven Players, Sonoma Arts Live, and the Mountain Play. Santa Rosa Junior College…

Interview – “Hello, Dolly!” at SRJC

My guests on the second of two 04/16/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Laura Downing-Lee and Matthew Quezada-Cortes from the SRJC Theatre Arts production of Hello, Dolly! The show has eight performances from April 17 through April 26 on the Burbank Auditorium Main Stage on the campus of Santa Rosa…