Review: “Ride the Cyclone: The Musical” in Santa Rosa

by Cari Lynn Pace Ride the Cyclone: The Musical is a dazzling theatrical event directed by Sarah Wintermeyer. The Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts program impresses with this professional quality show. Enter the lobby and be surrounded with clowns, sequined dancers, tarot readers, costumed dancers, and hanging streamers. Take a cushy seat in the…

Review: “Wait Until Dark” in Ross

by Cari Lynn Pace In a departure from their typical productions, Ross Valley Players delivers the complex and tense thriller Wait Until Dark. Based on the 1966 Broadway cliffhanger which led to the famous Audrey Hepburn movie, this script has been adapted by Jerry Hatcher from Frederick Knott’s original play. Knott wrote spine-tingling plots, including…

Review: “Deathtrap” in Healdsburg

Reviewing a mystery/thriller is always a challenge. One wants to leave a play’s twists and turns for the audience to discover on their own, but in evaluating the play one can’t but help give a bit away. This is my way of saying this entire review should be prefaced with a ‘spoiler alert’. You have…

Review: “War of the Wills”

Several North Bay theatre artists move to the big screen (well, a big television screen, at least) with War of the Wills. It’s the hoary old “spend the night in a haunted house and inherit a million dollars” plot with a few adjustments. The Sonoma County-lensed thriller is now available for rent on Amazon Prime.…

Review: “Deathtrap” in Ross

Mysteries and thrillers present interesting challenges for critics. We want to give audiences enough of an idea of the plot to pique their interest without giving away any of the twists, turns and surprises audiences should discover for themselves. Well, here goes. Playwright Sidney Bruhl, once a successful writer of theatrical thrillers, is tired of…