If there’s one word to describe North Bay theatre companies’ choices for their 2025 holiday productions, it’s “familiar”. One company is repeating their selections from last year while two others bring back chestnuts whose memories still linger from their successful mounting on other local stages. Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Theatre Company is the company with two…
My guests on the 11/06/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Sarah Wintermeyer and Chase Thompson from the Santa Rosa Junior College Theater Arts production of Ride the Cyclone: The Musical. This rollercoaster of a show runs in the Burbank Auditorium on the SRJC campus from November 14 through November 23.…
When I see a show late in its run, or the run itself is short, I’ll take some time and provide a short take on the production… Into the Woods – Spreckels Theatre Company Pluses: cast, live orchestra, costumes, puppetry work Minuses: show length, repetiveness, audio issues Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe started to…
by Harry Duke * If there’s one thing this divided nation can agree on, it’s this: Dolly Parton is a national treasure. Consequently, anything affiliated with Ms. Parton automatically starts out with a heap of goodwill. So it is with 9 to 5: the Musical. The Novato Theater Company has a production running through October…
by Cari Lynn Pace * You won’t need any coffee to get fired up for this outrageous office comedy. With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, and direction by Larry Williams, this show is an overtime winner. Novato Theater Company put in long hours to hire three female leads with confident voices and pencil-sharp acting…
by Harry Duke * It’s been 50 years since Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line took Broadway by storm. The musical tale of the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of those who seek a life in the theatre won nine Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize and held the record for longest running Broadway musical for 14…
by Harry Duke * Jukebox musicals, with few exceptions, are not known for their intricate plots or dramatic surprises. They exist to provide their audiences with musical comfort food. Case in point, the Sonoma Arts Live production of A Night with Janis Joplin. The show is heading into its closing weekend on the Rotary Stage…
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…
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…
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…
North Bay Stage and Screen 