Review: “As You Like It” in Healdsburg

Summer used to be the season for Shakespeare ‘al fresco’ but with the shuttering of the Shakespeare in the Cannery Program last year it seems be in shorter supply these days. Still, interested patrons can find a couple of shows at opposite ends of the North Bay to satiate their seasonal appetite for the Bard.…

Review: “The 39 Steps” in Cloverdale and Santa Rosa

In comedy, timing is everything and two North Bay theatre companies have timed productions of the same comedy to run concurrently. The Cloverdale Performing Arts Center and SRJC’s Summer Repertory Theatre program are presenting Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of The 39 Steps. Based on the 1915 adventure novel by John Buchan and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock…

Review: “My Fair Lady” in Sonoma

Sonoma Arts Live concludes their “toast to the classics” with a production of My Fair Lady, running now through July 28. Lerner and Loewe’s musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion was a smash hit when it premiered on Broadway in 1956 but modern sensibilities have taken a toll on the tale of a Cockney…

Review: “Bonnie & Clyde” in Santa Rosa

After a one-year hiatus forced upon them by the renovation of Santa Rosa Junior College’s Burbank Auditorium, the Summer Repertory Theatre program returns with a full schedule of three musicals and two plays running in “rep”. The plays will continue to be performed in Newman Auditorium while the musicals are being done in the SRT…

Review: “Young Frankenstein” in Healdsburg

After filmmaker Mel Brooks took Broadway by storm with his musical adaptation of The Producers, he hoped lightning would strike twice with the same approach to Young Frankenstein. It didn’t. Young Frankenstein ran for about 2,000 performances less than its predecessor and while The Producers rang up a total of fifteen Tony nominations (winning a…

Review: “Drumming with Anubis” in Santa Rosa

Two world premiere works by North Bay theatre artists are about to conclude their runs on local stages. Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre is presenting the comedy Drumming with Anubis, while Sebastopol’s Main Stage West is hosting the musical Half Life – A Love Story. Both shows end their runs on June 30. Middle-aged male…