Sonoma Arts Live Announces 2018 – 2019 Season

Sonoma Arts Live has announced their 2018 – 2019 season under the heading “A Toast to the Classics”.  Their six-show season will consist of three musicals, two comedies, and a one-woman show. Here’s what’s will be playing on the Rotary Stage of Andrews Hall in the Sonoma Community Center in the coming year: Hello, Dolly!…

Review: “Hands on a Hardbody” in Napa

Ten down-on-their-luck Texans gather on a car lot to compete for a cherry red Nissan pickup. They must lay their gloved hands upon the truck and, except for scheduled breaks every six hours, never let go. The last person standing wins. That’s the premise behind Hands on a Hardbody, a 2012 musical now in its…

Review: “Mamma Mia!” on Mount Tamalpais

High atop Mt. Tamalpais, at about the 2,000 foot level,  sits the Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre where the “great outdoor theatre adventure” known as The Mountain Play has been produced for the past 105 years. Your all-day adventure includes a slow, winding ride up the mountain, a hike to the 4,000 seat amphitheatre and a trek…

Review: “Peter Pan” in Rohnert Park

J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan has been seen on stage in one form or another for well over 100 years. It’s survived being Disney-fied and even Christopher Walken-ized in a disastrous live television spectacle. The most popular adaptation is the 1954 musical starring Mary Martin. It’s that version that takes flight in a well-mounted production…

Review: “La Cage aux Folles” in Santa Rosa

  It’s been 35 years since La Cage aux Folles took Broadway by storm. What began in 1973 as a French stage farce followed by a series of films, the Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman musical was considered daring for its time with its portrayal of a happily domesticated male couple thrown for a loop by a…

Review: “Into the Woods” in Santa Rosa

The Santa Rosa Junior College theatre season ends with a production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. It’s a fairy tale mash-up with elements of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood set to a classic Sondheim score.  As in the original tales – and not like most…

Review: “Amadeus” in Petaluma

In Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, Count Franz Orsini-Rosenberg assesses Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with the criticism that it has “too many notes.” Cinnabar Theater’s current production suffers from the opposite—it’s missing a few. Amadeus is actually the story of Antonio Salieri (Richard Pallaziol), the most celebrated composer of his time. Salieri has dedicated his life to God and mankind in…