by Cari Lynn Pace * Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, now running at 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa through Sep. 20, debuted 75 years ago. Even though it harkens back to a simpler and more sanitized time, it still resonates today with romantic songs and a powerful message. Its strengths leads one to forgive…
My guests on the second of two 08/20/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were director/choreographer Malia Abayon and assistant director/choreographer HarriettePearl Fugitt from the 6th Street Playhouse production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. The show runs on the GK Hardt stage at 6th Street Playhouse through September 20. Click HERE…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Several Broadway stars escaped New York’s scorching heat to join a sensational cast of 24 and show up on the bucolic Sonoma stage under the stars in Transcendence Theatre Company’s Mamma Mia! The show features twenty-two songs and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, two members of the wildly…
by Harry Duke * Transcendence Theatre Company closes out their 2026 Broadway Under the Stars series with the popular ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia! It’s the show’s first Sonoma County appearance after a couple of Marin County mountings including a 2018 production by The Mountain Play atop Mt. Tamalpais and a season-closing production just this…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Ray of Light Theatre’s Urinetown: The Musical opened on July 31 in San Francisco and has been filling The Barbary Stage with wildly enthusiastic audiences ever since. This show, with music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, has everything going for it: dazzling staging,…
My guest on the 08/06/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM was Lori Haley Fox from the upcoming Transcendence Theatre Company presentation of Mamma Mia! Lori appeared in the original West End production, the National Touring company, the Broadway production, and the Meryl Streep movie version of the musical! The ABBA musical…
by Barry Willis * San Francisco’s Ray of Light Theatre is giving Urinetown, the Musical a lot of love. Both a spoof of its own musical genre and an exploration of persistent social and environmental problems, the Tony winner by Mark Holmann and Greg Kotis is a tremendously engaging sharp-edged but blunt-force production running through…
by Cari Lynn Pace * It’s no secret that many actors, singers, and performers are the “working poor” in our arts culture. Rarely can they sustain their livelihood if they don’t have a backup job, particularly if illness strikes. In 1994 two mothers lived through the deaths of their struggling actor sons from AIDS. Barbara…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Sonoma Arts Live’s season-closing Once Upon a Mattress holds plenty of delights. This Tony-award nominated 1959 musical with a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller & Marshall Barer and lyrics by Barer and music by Mary Rogers runs through August 2. Based on the ageless fairy tale The Princess and…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Hairspray is the Tony Award-winning, Broadway-busting musical based on the same-titled 1988 movie by John Waters now running at San Francisco Playhouse. With a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray soars with music by Marc Shaiman and clever lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Whittman. Masterfully directed by Bill…
North Bay Stage and Screen 