Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd is an exceedingly difficult show to produce. More opera than musical (San Francisco Opera actually did a production in 2015), the vocal demands alone create a significant casting challenge for most theatre companies. The complexities of Sondheim’s score and the requirements of the set design add to the…
North Bay theatre was well represented at the 6th Annual TBA Awards held Monday night at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The TBA Awards are designed to honor excellence in professionally oriented theatre through a peer-based, Bay Area-wide adjudication process of artists and productions from companies who are members of Theatre Bay Area and…
With the Kincade fire no longer posing an imminent threat and with PG&E enlisting a full contingent of wheel-running squirrels to power up the area, North Bay theatre companies that were forced to shutter their productions last week are looking forward to resuming their runs this weekend. Here’s the status of all Sonoma and Marin…
It’s been more than two decades since 21-year-old college student Matthew Shephard was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, tied to a fence and left to die in a remote area near Laramie, Wyoming. The savageness and “How could it happen here?” nature of the crime grabbed the world’s attention and Shephard’s funeral and subsequent trials of the…
If being hit on the head by a piece of sponge form toast or across the face by a flying condom isn’t your cup of tea, then perhaps you’ll want to avoid Marin Musical Theatre Company’s The Rocky Horror Show, which has two remaining performances at The Playhouse in San Anselmo on All Hallows’ Eve.…
With PG&E suspending power service through much of the North Bay, the Kincade Fire raging through northern Sonoma County, and multiple communities under a mandatory evacuation order, most North Bay theatre companies have cancelled their weekend performances in the interest of their patrons’ and artists’ safety. Here is the current status of all North Bay…
Planning to see a live theatre performance this weekend? Not so fast. Multiple theatre companies are reporting that they have been notified by PG&E that their venues may be in the area designated for a massive Public Safety Power Shutoff scheduled for early Saturday evening. Also, nearby mandatory evacuation orders are leading companies to make…
The term “MacGuffin” was popularized by film director Alfred Hitchcock to describe objects or events that took place in his films that were necessary to begin the plot and motivate the characters but were essentially irrelevant. It may be harsh to refer to a baby as a MacGuffin, but the title character in Luna Gale,…
My guest on the Thursday, October 17 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon was Sheri Lee Miller, Artistic Director of the Spreckels Theatre Company, to discuss their current production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Click below to listen: **********
Intense drama. Complex characters. Challenging themes. You won’t find any of these in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, running through Oct. 27 at Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Performing Arts Center. What you will find is a very entertaining, macabre musical that is a perfect theatrical compliment to the Halloween season. Upon his mother’s passing,…
