Popular Broadway musicals are often inspired by classic books. For example, next month’s Spreckels Theater Company production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” written by Mark Haddon and adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens. Kander and Ebb’s ‘Cabaret,’ opening August 31 at Cinnabar Theater, is based on John Van Druten’s…
Guests on the Thursday, August 9 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon with guest host David Templeton included director Diane Bailey and actors Bohn Connor, Troy Evans and Kelly Considine from the Raven Players production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Click below to hear that interview: *** For more…
Relationships are front and center in two very different shows now running on North Bay stages through August 19. Healdsburg’s Raven Players have converted the cavernous Raven Theatre into an intimate black box performance space and are presenting an updated version of 1996’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. The Joe DiPietro and Jimmy…
Transcendence Theatre Company’s seventh season of “Broadway Under the Stars” continues with a dance-centric production entitled, appropriately enough, Shall We Dance. The show runs through August 19 at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen. Transcendence imports Broadway and national touring professionals to populate their productions so the caliber of performance is always quite…
My guests on the Thursday, August 2 segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon were Transcendence Theatre Company Co-Executive Director Stephan Stubbins and performer Lori Haley Fox from the Broadway Under the Stars production of Shall We Dance. Click below to hear that interview. *** For more information, go to bestnightever.org Photos by Ray Mabry
My guests on the Thursday, July 26 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon were playwright/composer/co-director/actor Brett Mollard and co-director/actor Ezra Hernandez from the Redwood Theatre Company’s original production of The Super Trio. Click below to hear that interview. *** For more information, go to redwoodtheatrecompany.com
Jukebox musicals have become the bread and butter for a lot of community theatres. Minimal casts, simple sets and the built-in audience that comes with a show about a popular singer or musical group are tough for an artistic director to resist. In 1988, playwright Ted Swindley took 27 songs recorded by Patsy Cline and…
My guests on the Thursday, July 12 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon were director Michael Ross and actress Karen Pinomaki from Sonoma Arts Live’s Always… Patsy Cline. Click below to hear that interview. *** For more information, go to sonomaartslive.org
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…
One might think that the talents behind Downton Abbey and Phantom of the Opera would be odd choices to make a Broadway musical out of a 2003 movie starring Jack Black. One would be correct. School of Rock, now on the San Francisco stop of its national tour, is Julian Fellowes’ and Sir Andrew Lloyd…
North Bay Stage and Screen 