by Harry Duke * Despite being adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel, The Secret Garden, the Musical isn’t really a “children’s show” in the modern sense. It opens with the death of a young girl’s parents in a cholera epidemic and then focuses on a father’s inconsolable grief at the death of his…
by Barry Willis * This coming weekend (June 26-28) closes Cinnabar Theater’s sumptuous production of The Secret Garden, an operetta of hope and triumph by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Norman. It’s 1906 and an orphan girl named Mary Lennox (Violet Spears) has returned to England from India, where…
My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM on 06/04/26 were cast members Syona Ayyankeril and Zachary Hasbany from the Cinnabar Theater production of The Secret Garden. The family musical runs through June 28 in the Warren Auditorium on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert…
by Harry Duke * Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? The works of Theodor Geisel (under his medical nom-de-plume) have been entertaining children (and their parents) for decades be they books (The Cat in the Hat), television specials (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), or film (The Lorax). Geisel, with a few notable exceptions, was reluctant to…
My guests on the second of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM on 04/30/26 were director Kim Bromley and cast member Tina Traboulsi from the Spreckels Theatre Company production of Seussical. The family musical comedy runs through May 17 in the Codding Theater at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert…
by Harry Duke * After a series of lightweight comedies and Broadway musicals, Cinnabar Theater gets serious with a production of Lucas Hnath’s The Christians. The theological drama runs in the Warren Theater on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park through April 26. Folks walking into the usually sterile Warren Theater may…
My guests on the 04/02/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Jared N. Wright and Andrew Patton from the upcoming Cinnabar Theater production of The Christians. The provocative drama runs in the Warren Auditorium in Ives Hall on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park from April 10 – 26.…
by Cari Lynn Pace * Ten contestants vie for a shiny red pickup, a publicity gimmick by a car dealership in Longview, Texas. Whoever can keep a hand on the truck the longest wins the keys to drive off with it. Hands on a Hardbody keeps you guessing how long the contestants will last and…
My guests on the 02/12/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Jake Druzgala and Orion Pudoff from the Spreckels Theatre Company production of Hands on a Hardbody. The show runs in the Codding Theater at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park through March 1. Click below to listen: ********** Click…
My guests on the 01/15/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Brittany Law and Trevor Hoffmann from the Cinnabar Theater production of My Fair Lady. The show runs in the Warren Theater on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park from January 23 through February 8. Click below to listen:…
North Bay Stage and Screen 