Steve Murray - Page 4

There’s a strong history of outrageous drag performance art in San Francisco. Born of necessity as a weapon against homophobia, discrimination and vile hatred, the gay community developed an all-inclusive, often comic, in-your-face style of theatre that includes nudity, sexual innuendo, and social satire.

Who doesn’t love a good transformation story? Dowdy bookkeeper Loretta Castorini morphing into Cher in Moonstruck or the streetwise prostitute becoming the elegant Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman are contemporary examples.

Michael Gene Sullivan and his troupe may be secretly saying to us all- “See I told ya so.” For 66 years they have been to sole voice of the left in the Bay Area scene, and their continuous commitment to socially relevant, in-your-face politically resistant theatre in proudly realized in this year’s offering, Disruption.

Witty, funny, flashy, and eye-popping, & Juliet rides the wave of phenomenally successful jukebox musicals and succeeds not only with the familiarity of the pop songs it includes, but by its remarkably well-written book

Robinson’s adaptation sticks to the development of the characters and deletes some unnecessary filler. Set in Nina Ball’s excellently appointed 5 & Dime during a drought, the once thriving town is now a dried-up skeleton, and the women brought together for their reunion are all caught up in the divergence between present realities and memories of 1955.

Marin Theatre concludes its 24-25 season with Mara Nelson Greenberg’s Do You Feel Anger?, about an empathy coach hired to train workers at a debt collection agency facing major lawsuits for their abusive communication skills.

Developed during the COVID pandemic lockdown, this one-man show has Fisher playing about a dozen characters and running the technical aspects of the show as well.

There was a palpable buzz pre-show at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater for the world premiere of a new hip-hop musical, a buzz that turned to excitement and joy once the curtain rose and the opening number commenced. Wildly creative, bristling with kinetic energy, beautifully staged and excellently acted, Co-Founders successfully merges the sounds and movements of hip hop with an engaging story of AI entrepreneurship.

A musically gifted daughter feeling neglected and invisible. A dutiful husband struggling to cope, and the ghost of a dead child waiting for recognition before ascending. These are the emotionally devastated characters orbiting Diana Goodman, wife, and mother coping with mental illness.

Before JVB was a sensation in New York City ( Tony-nomination (2007) GLAAD (2000), Obie (2001), Bessie (2004), Ethyl (2007), and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists (2012) awards, and 2024  MacArthur Fellow), they were a cherished counterculture  icon in San Francisco.

A true story of unspeakable injustice is beautifully realized in Parade, deservedly winner of the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Like its dramatic courtroom cousins Inherit then Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird, Parade brings humanity to a tragedy, faces to the pictures projected on a huge backdrop screen, and a heightened emotional realism through Jason Robert Browns’ Tony winning score. Gorgeously stage by Michael Arden, its huge cast is always in motion, amazingly lit to create an atmosphere of hot and dusty 1913 Georgia.

JC Lee’s 2022 To My Girls continues the tradition of a group of gay guys getting together to trade snarky barbs, renew friendships and uncover hidden grudges.

Andrew Bergh’s The Radicalization of Rolfe, winner of a 2016 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award, might have had its germination by observing the naïve American white males joining the MAGA movement of our current president.

San Francisco Producing Director and co-founder Susi Damilano has done a remarkable job of imagining the world of fifteen-year-old mathematics genius Christopher who just happens to be autistic.

The San Francisco Mime Troupe, founded in 1959, started with movement 'Events' with visual art elements and music, segued to commedia dell’arte, and now presents fully fledged outdoor political musical theatre with a decidedly “left” bent.

Jiehae Park’s World Premiere of her memory play the aves is gorgeously presented with a remarkable scenic design by visual artist Marsha Ginsberg. That the setting, and some fanciful avian puppetry by Erik Sanko becomes the focal point of the play is problematic. The story, set in a number of vignettes, involves two elders (Bill Buell, Mia Katigbak), apparently partners for fifty years, sitting on a park bench having a mundane conversation about pigeons and the weather.

It’s hard not to be swept up in the Mamma Mia juggernaut. Since its Broadway premiere in 2001, it’s grossed over $4.5 billion,  been seen by 70 million people, turned into two record-breaking movies with productions in 16 different languages.