Steve Murray

It’s March 2020 and the country is shutdown by a new, mysterious virus called COVID-19. Broke, newly unemployed performance artist Kristina Wong is in full crisis mode. She’s got no audience, no kids, and no prospects, but she’s got a plan.

What did our critic think of THE PRIDE OF LIONS at Theatre Rhino? The trans community is saying “enough is enough.” They will not be the sacrificial lambs to hatred, bigotry, and discrimination. Roger Q. Mason’s The Pride of Lions is a story of taking action against oppression and standing up to ignorance. That it’s set in 1928 makes it even more prescient to today’s movement. It opens with a man-on-man sex scene, beautifully staged behind a sheer curtain with careful lighting – a revolutionary and highly illegal act in 1928.

What did our critic think of SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS PRESENTS DRAG ME TO THE MOVIES! at Davies Symphony Hall?

What did our critic think of VENETIAN EVENINGS - A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO THE FAIRMONT'S VENETIAN ROOM at Venetian Room?

What did our critic think of THE GREAT LEAP at Center Repertory Company? Center Rep tackles Playwright Lauren Yee’s basketball/cultural drama and with a well-crafted staging of her 2017 powerhouse The Great Leap. Renowned for deftly combining her San Francisco roots, Chinese culture and global politics, Yee puts it all together is this often humorous, yet emotionally stirring piece of theatre.

Broadway Bares SF is coming back to the city with the highly anticipated return to stage on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at 1015 Folsom. The theme for this year’s Broadway Bares/SF Strips show is FilmStrips. Featuring 60 San Francisco dancers, this year's production, promises an unforgettable evening of entertainment and philanthropy.

What did our critic think of THE 39 STEPS at SF Playhouse? Director Susi Damilano and a superb cast spin comic gold out of Patrick Barlow’s parody of Hitchcock’s spy caper filled with chase scenes, female bombshells, and Nazi villains

What did our critic think of QUEEN at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley?

For two Dominican millennials in Washington Heights, the love of their cultural Bachata music draws them together and into a whirlwind romance and marriage. Inspired by the Juan Luis Guerra song “Como Abeja Al Panal,' (“Like a Bee to the Honeycomb”), Bees & Honey is a slice of ethnic life following their romance and its disillusion as they struggle with marital pressures both internal and external.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is THE hot topic of the day, touted as the panacea for societies’ ills and capable of providing more leisure time and making life easier. The flip side is getting equal play time – we’re being overrun with technology, ostensibly losing our identity to algorithms, and reducing us to big data.

What did our critic think of MYSTIC PIZZA at Lesher Center For The Arts?

Almost four years after his COVID delayed Bay Area Cabaret appearance, Broadway star Max von Essen made it to the historic Venetian Room with selections from his 2019 CD of Broadway interpretations on which he was joined by Grammy winning composer and famed musical director, Billy Stritch who backs Essen for this show as well.

The World Premiere of Mina Lee’s At Home on the Moon is much more than a touching perspective on the love of one’s ethnic food which is handled lovingly. Lee taps the more disturbing issue of gentrification and neighborhood decimation to introduce an AI fantasy posing far more important concerns and elevating the play’s social import.

Fifteen years after MJ’s sudden death and his legacy continues strong with MJ The Musical, winner of four Tony’s. A sure-fire crowd pleaser, this jukebox musical includes Jackson’s biggest hits stunningly directed and choreographed by Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon.

A Christmas eve family get together turns into a didactic skirmish on many fronts; religious, familial guilts, gay equality, sibling rivalries and moral choices. It’s a lot to present, but playwright Leslye Headland manages to corral her characters idiosyncrasies with a well-crafted script and director Trip Cullman’s deft staging and casting. I

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the world’s premier queer chorus, heads to Hollywood and the silver screen with DRAG ME TO THE MOVIES!, a cinematic extravaganza that’s more dazzling than any Tinsel Town premiere. Featuring the 300-member San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, under the baton of Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, DRAG ME TO THE MOVIES! will premiere on Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 PM at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco). Tickets are currently on sale at sfgmc.org.

TheatreWorks opens 2024 with a super trifecta winner with August Wilson’s deeply personal and revelatory How I Learned What I Learned: a brilliant, bravura performance by Bay Area legend Steven Anthony Jones, excellent direction by Wilson interpreter Tim Bond, and of course, the profoundly poetic and incisive words of Wilson that resonate just as clearly today as when written and performed by him in 2003.

What did our critic think of EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Center Repertory Company? Individual thoughts, moments and actions help define the lead characters evolving and ever-growing list in this poignant and uplifting one man performance piece starring  William Thomas Hodgson with direction by award-winning Jeffrey Lo (Vietgone, Chinglish, The Great Leap).

What did our critic think of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Golden Gate Theatre? That Harper Lee’s 1960 novel of racial prejudice and social justice is just as prescient today is a sad indictment of American culture. Academy award winner Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and Director Bret Sher (Tony Award winner, South Pacific) have crafted a beautifully staged and wonderfully acted production that has taken the nation by storm and hauntingly illuminates the social rifts as seen through the eyes of three children representing the innocence of youth.

What did our critic think of RUTHLESS at New Conservatory Theatre Center?