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.…
by Cari Lynn Pace The sleepy little wine tasting hamlet of Sonoma has a real rockin’ blues concert with Sonoma Arts Live’s latest production. A Night with Janis Joplin, originally produced on Broadway in 2013, is a stage full of classic blues re-enacted by powerhouse singers. They’re backed up with a 7-piece band raising the…
by Cari Lynn Pace Every star has a story to tell as she worked her way to the Broadway stage. Transcendence Theatre Company, the Sonoma home for stage and screen luminaries, realized these stories are fascinating for their fun and failures. They built a show around seven women who spanned seven decades of singing and…
My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on 09/04/25 on The Drive on 95.5 were Jaime Love and Libby Oberlin for a discussion about the Sonoma Arts Live production of An Night with Janis Joplin. The show runs on the Rotary Stage at the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma through September 21.…
by Cari Lynn Pace A Chorus Line opens with a backstage look at dozens of dancers trying out for a part in a new show. The live music is energizing and brassy; the director of the audition is pushy and demanding. After dance eliminations, only seventeen remain onstage. They’re exhausted and nervous as they urgently…
My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on 08/28/25 on The Drive on 95.5 were director Lorenzo Alviso and choreographer Hannah Woolfenden from the 6th Street Playhouse production of A Chorus Line. The show runs in the G.K. Hardt Theatre at 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa through September 28. Click below…
by Harry Duke It’s been fourteen years since the Transcendence Theatre Company landed and took root in the Sonoma Valley with their Broadway-caliber musical revues. They added the occasional fully-produced Broadway show to their repertoire in 2018 with A Chorus Line and in 2023 they showed The Full Monty in Glen Ellen. After a few…
By Cari Lynn Pace When I was 20, I listened to Carole King’s album Tapestry so often it’s a wonder the phonograph needle didn’t cut through to the other side. I sang along with the gusto of youth and the emotion of young love. I was nurtured by all the heartfelt lyrics to “It’s Too…
Fans of the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will be pleased to hear that the Broadway musical adaptation sticks pretty close to the Steve Martin/Michael Caine comedy. Sonoma Arts Live has a production directed by Carl Jordan running on the Rotary Stage at the Sonoma Community Center through July 27. Suave and debonair con man Lawrence…
My guest on the July 17 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 was Daniel Savio, composer/lyricist/musician and Musical Director for the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s latest production, Disruption. The show is playing at various venues throughout Northern California, including at La Plaza Park in Cotati on July 27. Click below to hear the…
North Bay Stage and Screen 