Jim Munson - Page 10

It is time for Robert Kelley to take a richly-deserved curtain call. June 30th will be his last day as Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley after a mind-blowing 50 years in that role. It is not hyperbole to state there isn't another individual who has had a more profound influence on the Bay Area theatre landscape. Kelley founded TheatreWorks as a scrappy, community theater company in April, 1970 and guided its transformation over the years into a Tony-winning powerhouse and nationally-recognized incubator of new works. BroadwayWorld had the pleasure of speaking with Kelley earlier this spring to discuss his half-century history with TheatreWorks.

More than 30 Bay Area theatres are joining forces to present a reading on Juneteenth, encouraging donations to support a bold Go Fund Me Campaign that aims to fundraise one million dollars for Black theatre projects in America. Spearheaded by PlayGround, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and Planet Earth Arts, these Bay Area theatres (including TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Berkeley Rep, A.C.T, Cal Shakes, and many more) are co-presenting a livestreamed Zoom reading of Vincent Terrell Durham's Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids at 7pm PT on June 19 as part of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project, a national theatre movement to produce this reading of Durham's play to commemorate anniversary of the freeing of enslaved Black people. BroadwayWorld spoke with Aldo Billingslea, the longstanding pillar of the Bay Area theatre community who is producing the livestream and also leads the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project. Billingslea is well-loved throughout the Bay Area as a man of many talents, including actor, professor, producer, collaborator and mentor.

PlayGround, San Francisco's renowned theatre development lab, is currently in the midst of hosting the nation's largest fully digital new play festival, PlayGround Zoom Fest. Already running and continuing through June 14, 2020, the ambitious five-week online event gathers leading voices in American Theatre including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Kent Nicholson, acclaimed actors, theatre journalists, designers, and more from across the country, to present and discuss a panoply of new works and celebrate PlayGround's 25th anniversary. BroadwayWorld caught up this week with PlayGround's Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann and the much-in-demand playwright Lauren Yee in separate phone conversations. Yee is just coming off a huge success with the New York run of her newest play, Cambodian Rock Band. She participated in PlayGround's Writers Pool as a young playwright and will be part of the festival's Zoom Town Hall panel on June 8th.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has the perfect Mother's Day entertainment for you! On Sunday May 10th at 5pm PDT, they will band together with a number of theaters across the country to present a livestream of the hit show 'Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin,' a tribute to America's greatest songwriter. Tickets to the livestream are available on TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's website (www.theatreworks.org) with proceeds to benefit TheatreWorks while the Tony-winning regional theatre remains dark due to COVID-19. BroadwayWorld recently caught up with TheatreWorks Artistic Director Robert Kelley to chat about the company's ongoing relationship with Felder, and also to check in on how they've been managing to juggle so many unknowns in planning their 2020-21 season. Kelley remains steadfastly upbeat and enthused about future possibilities even as he winds down his astounding 50-year tenure as Artistic Director under decidedly different circumstances than he had originally envisioned.

The Marsh San Francisco has long been known as the city's breeding ground for new performance. Like theater companies the world over, The Marsh is also having to invent new ways of engaging with audiences while in-person performances are suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their creative solution is called MarshStream, which offers a mind-boggling variety of programming seven days a week, including game nights, live performance readings, performance development classes, and archived performance streams. Content is being offered via Zoom, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, Google Podcasts and iTunes. For weekly event schedules and additional information, visit www.themarsh.org. BroadwayWorld recently caught up with Stephanie Weisman, The Marsh's Founder/Artistic Director, to learn more about MarshStream and check in on how she and The Marsh are weathering the pandemic.

Theater companies all over the world are rising to the challenge of staying connected to their audiences and continuing to serve them while in-person performances are suspended for an indefinite period. San Franciso's storied Magic Theatre has come up with a creative solution by instituting 'Far Apart Art,' a podcast series composed of brief, daily audio journals from a host of Magic's family of playwrights. BroadwayWorld recently spoke with Loretta Greco, Magic's Artistic Director, about 'Far Apart Art' and how she and Magic are weathering the pandemic.

Good news for musical theater lovers! TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's recent, acclaimed production of Paul Gordon's Pride and Prejudice will now be available to stream. Presented by Streaming Musicals, Pride and Prejudice will receive a a?oevirtual opening nighta?? on Friday, April 10 at 3:30pm PT/ 6:30pm ET, with an encore presentation at 7:00pm PT/10:00pm ET. Tony Award winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom) and Julie James, Program Director/ Curator of SiriusXM's a?oeOn Broadwaya?? channel, will host the a?oevirtual opening night,a?? which will include an intermission discussion with the creative team members including TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, who directed the new romantic musical comedy. Streaming during the April 10 a?oevirtual opening nighta?? will be free. Pride and Prejudice will then be available to stream on StreamingMusicals.com for a minimal fee. BroadwayWorld recently caught up with Robert Kelley to learn more about his production of Pride and Prejudice and also to touch base with him on how TheatreWorks was weathering the current health and economic crisis.

It's a sad scenario that has been playing out in theaters all over the world for the past several weeks. How to reach the heart-breaking decision to cancel a show, knowing that you're about to put a team of people out of work and deprive your audience of some much-needed solace at this critical time? BroadwayWorld spoke with Robert Kelley, Artistic Director of the Tony-winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley on March 13th, the morning after the company had decided to postpone their much-anticipated production of RAGTIME until Spring 2021 and prematurely end the run of THEY PROMISED HER THE MOON. The good news, at least for now, is that TheatreWorks is still moving ahead with its final play of the season, Lauren Gunderson's THE BOOK OF WILL, set to open in early June. Kelley describes it as a love letter to the theater.

Opening night of San Francisco Ballet's triumphant production of George Balanchine's a?oeA Midsummer Night's Dreama?? was both a thrilling and heartbreaking occasion. Thrilling because SFB gave a masterful performance of this Balanchine classic that has gone missing from its repertoire for far too long. Heartbreaking because mere moments after the final curtain came down, a notice was issued that all subsequent performances of a?oeMidsummer'sa?? scheduled run had been cancelled due the Mayor's efforts to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Of course, health concerns must take precedence, but it was still incredibly sad to think that others would not be able to experience this glorious production, at least for the time being. I also couldn't help feeling for the dancers and artistic staff who had clearly poured their hearts and souls into this huge endeavor. In the meantime, though, let's not let current events dim the glowing memories of opening night.

Sherry Glaser is bringing her one-woman a?oeOh My Goddess!  A Comedy of Biblical Proportionsa?? to The Marsh Berkeley for a 6-week run. To say she has had an unorthodox career would be an understatement. After spending her formative years in the early 80's San Diego improv scene alongside other young upstarts like Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Najimy, she shot to prominence with a?oeFamily Secretsa?? which remains the longest-running female solo show in Off-Broadway history. Shortly thereafter, tragedy struck with the disappearance of her husband and creative partner. Stunned by that turn of events, Glaser focused on raising her two daughters while also developing new works and playing smaller venues close to her northern California home. She is now back, feisty and funny and political as ever.

There are some plays, even enjoyable ones, that you forget almost instantly after seeing them. There are others you find yourself thinking of for days afterwards, still mulling them over, savoring their certain moments from them, revisiting their ambiguities and unlocking their mysteries. a?oeDon't Eat the Mangosa?? by Ricardo Pérez González is just that kind of play. In its gorgeous world premiere production at the Magic Theatre, a?oeMangosa?? slowly and subtly grabs hold of you, and has you constantly rethinking your assumptions about the characters and even the nature of the play itself. It is definitely a comedy, but it is also a kitchen sink drama, complete with an actual kitchen sink upstage center. It is grounded in the mundane details of family life, yet there are also occasional flights of poetry and imagery that are more akin to magic realism. It is sometimes tender and lyrical, yet there are startling flashes of darkness and violence as well. Family secrets are unearthed that make you re-evaluate relationships you thought you already knew, but it's never about the surprise factor of those secrets so much as it is about how the characters choose to act on their newfound knowledge. In the end, it's about transcending the effects of an ugly legacy that's been passed from one generation to the next.

Sometimes it IS enough just to be entertained, ya know? I don't care how socio-politically engaged you are, I think everyone needs at least an occasional break from all the angst and mishegas out there, and that's exactly what Foothill Music Theatre provides with its antic musical comedy 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood.' With book, music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes (yes, he of 'The Pina Colada Song' infamy. Apologies for implanting that deathless ear worm in your head for the rest of the day!), 'Drood' is truly sui generis. Based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name, the show reimagines it as performed by a veteran troupe of British Music Hall performers circa 1895. When they reach the point in the story where Dickens left off, the audience is asked to vote on how it ends - who the murderer and secret detective are and - since this is a musical comedy a?' the pair they'd most like to see end up as lovers. The cast then plays out the concluding scenes and songs accordingly. Apparently, there are close to a mind-bogglingly thousand possible combinations, which just adds to the fun and unpredictability of the whole endeavor.

Judith C. is an inveterate health care provider, even if her methods of practice have changed dramatically after being diagnosed several years ago with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. Working as a PT Clinical Specialist in Chronic Pain, Judith never imagined being on the other side of the provider-patient relationship. She now shares her journey in the hilarious and heartbreaking solo show a?oeWelcome to the Cancer Caféa?? at The Marsh Berkeley. Her goal is to share the profound lessons she has learned along the way to educate and hopefully bring some healing to others. Proceeds from each performance will be donated to a local cancer organization chosen by Judith.

Bay Area acting luminary Wilma Bonet is currently starring in the Magic Theatre's world premiere of a?oeDon't Eat the Mangos,a?? Ricardo Pérez González' wickedly funny drama about a Puerto Rican family confronting its own legacy. Bonet has had a remarkably long and varied theater career, including six years with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and stints with most of the top-tier Bay Area theater companies. BroadwayWorld spoke with her just a week before performances of a?oeMangosa?? were set to begin. In conversation, Bonet is plainspoken and quick to laugh, with an enduring passion for political theater underlying her responses.

Heather Orth stars as mysterious opium den proprietress Princess Puffer in Foothill Music Theatre's new production of Rupert Holmes' rollicking musical comedy a?oeThe Mystery of Edwin Drood.a?? A Tony Award winner for Best Musical, the show is based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. As the novel was left incomplete, so is the show - up to a point. When the cast reaches the part in the story where Dickens left off, they put a vote to the audience at each performance as to how the show will end. Ms. Orth has been gracing Bay Area stages with astonishing frequency as of late. She possesses a big, flexible voice and the ability to charm the pants off you or break your heart with her emotional transparency. BroadwayWorld caught up with her recently while she was still in the thick of rehearsals for a?oeDrood.a?? She has often played characters older than she is, and as she matures one gets the sense she may just be coming into her own as a musical theater performer, and even bigger opportunities may be on the horizon.

a?oeThe Full Montya?? in its stage musical incarnation is certainly a curious show. While largely a raucous comedy, it also touches on a host of seriously unfunny issues, including economic disparity, body image, parental rights, homophobia and suicide. The script contains countless f-bombs and much sexual innuendo, yet its central relationship is a rather sweet one between a dad and his adolescent son. And, of course, it all culminates in a big striptease that needs to be kinda sexy without going to the icky place. It's a tricky balance to pull off, but if done correctly the show has a lot of charm and heart, and the Bay Area Musicals production largely gets it right.

San Francisco Ballet's latest mixed repertoire program, a?oeDance Innovations,a?? covers a lot of territory thematically and choreographically, and has a wealth of transcendent moments. Two of the ballets were made expressly for SFB, and the other is a classic from the mid-20th century.

'In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.' Thus famously begins both F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby' and its stage incarnation 'Gatz' in the Elevator Repair Service (ERS) production currently running at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Wait, you mean Fitzgerald was addressing the notion of privilege way back in 1925? Yes, indeedy! In fact, so much of his novel resonates so deeply with our current state that it's a perfect time to revisit this classic. Which is exactly and literally what ERS is doing here. The text of 'Gatz' consists of every word in the novel and nothing more. So, yes, that means you're in for roughly six hours (plus 2 intermissions and a welcome dinner break) of Fitzgeraldian theatrical experience. If those last two sentences intrigue you at all, I highly recommend you take the ride.

How lucky we are to be living in the age of Mark Morris! My first thought watching San Francisco Ballet's opening night performance of their a?oeClassical (Re)Visiona?? program was a?oeGod, they're good!a?? SF Ballet presents a sparking and varied program of contemporary ballet that will leave you skipping down the steps of the Opera House on your way home.

If you're still looking for something special to do on Valentine's Day, why not attend some live theater? The Bay Area has an abundance of options, whether you're looking for a romantic evening out, hoping to spend time with a good friend, or just want to treat yourself to a night on your own and leave the Valentine's mishegas to others. The Bay Area has an abundance of options. Here are 7 shows to check out depending on your own tastes.