Steve Murray - Page 8

This Bay Area premiere of Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub's musical adaptation of Twelfth Night is both the first Shakespeare play in nineteen seasons at SF Playhouse and director Susi Damilano's first attempt at the bard. Given those possibly daunting circumstances, this production is an exhilarating triumph and Damilano's best work since her brilliant Cabaret in 2019.

Charles Dicken's beloved holiday chestnut is the ultimate feel-good vehicle beautifully staged in this 5-time Tony Award winning production sure to pack em in at the Golden Gate Theatre. The feel-good theme of second chances in life that lead to happy endings resonates strongly in the timeless story of a Ebeneezer Scrooge's transformation from cold, bitter miser to generous, giddy philanthropist.

Who doesn't enjoy a good farce? The genre's been around since recorded history, and playwright Charles L. Mee is a whiz at incorporating his influences throughout Wintertime, his comedy of the heart that sparkles with wit, charm and superb ensemble acting opening Berkeley Rep's first in-person performance in twenty long, long months.

There's a brief appearance by a group of protest sign carrying suffragettes during a street scene in this Lincoln Center 2018 revival of Lerner and Loewe's classic musical My Fair Lady, and it may be the only bridge between this distinctly old-fashioned early 20th century Edwardian perspective and today's post-feminist world. This revival, nominated for 10 Tony Awards and directed by award winning director Bartlett Sher is a beautiful looking opportunity to experience one of musical theatre's greatest chestnuts.

A traumatized black teen works his way through buffoonish white liberalism, racist oppression, a protective mother, and his desire to fight the good fight against his repressors in Michael Gene Sullivan's well-crafted, fully realized fantasia. Opening their 19th season with this collaboration with the SF Mime troupe, director Darryl V. Jones turns Sullivan's witty cross millennial odyssey into a universal polemic on racism and stereotypes.

After an almost two-year Covid shutdown, Shotgun Players open their 30th season with Tim Cowbury's dark, absurdist comedy The Claim, a smash hit at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In a nod to Kafka's The Trial, Cowbury shines his searing focus on Serge, an asylum seeker trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare that begins innocently enough, but quickly morphs down a rabbit hole of horrific miscommunications with dire circumstances.

Harrison David Rivers continues his characterization of Jesse Howard, first introduced four years ago in This Bitter Earth, who has now returned home to conservative Manhattan, Kansas, and his childhood home full of unresolved memories and a welcome chance at redemption and closure.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic rock opera celebrates its 50th Anniversary with a spectacular re-staging of the 2017 Olivier Award-winning Best Musical Revival production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Re-imagined through the eyes of director Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You, Into the Woods) and choreographer Drew McOnie (King Kong, Strictly Ballroom) this JCS dazzled with religiously frenetic choreography and wonderful supporting performances.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley opens its much-anticipated 51st season with a sensational production of Lizard Boy, first time playwright-actor-composer Justin Huertas' quirky mythological hero journey that is both a universal and deeply individual story of accepting oneself.

Those of us too young to have identified with the Rat Pack of the 50's and 60's, a group of Hollywood A-listers including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, can easily resonate with the themes of the 1980's teen-oriented coming of age films whose soundtrack defined the era. Excellently crafted and superbly performed, this all-new production-built specifically for Feinstein's at the Nikko by the original creative team, crackles with energy and timeless emotional catharsis.

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Re-starting theatre after the pandemic shutdown is a bit of a challenge; theatregoers are still wary of live performances and seating is limited. Not a sustainable outlook, but it is encouraging that companies are proceeding and hopefully the outlook will improve. SF Playhouse's choice of presenting a reworking of David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jrs. 1976 musical revue Starting Here, Starting Now is successful in its modern gender bending embellishments and economy of scale.

As I reported last year, SF Mime Troupe has revived the good old days of episodic radio serials, a perfect genre for shelter in place entertainment. In the comfort of your home, you can listen to these funny, left-leaning, provocative broadcasts that allow your imaginations to soar.

The story of Gordon Hirabayashi's five-decade struggle for justice for the forced detention of Japanese-Americans during WWII is powerfully recreated in Jeanne Sakata's lovingly researched historical drama buoyed by a stellar performance by Jomar Tagatac.

I can't remember how many times I've joked 'Shoot Me if.... Shoot me if I ever wear my pants below my underwear. Shoot me if I eat this entire pint of Haagen-Dazs, etc. Writer Ruben Grijalva uses this usually non-actionable catchphrase as the catalyst for this untypically light drama about the effects of dementia on both the victim of the disease and the family.

BWW Review: [HIEROGLYPH] at SF Playhouse

It's the dark ugly days of August 2020 and COVID isolation and the specter of a 2nd Trump election loom large over writer Jesse Howard who's hunkered down at his childhood home in Manhattan, Kansas with his conservative Christian parents. What transpires in this beautifully written and spoken audio drama is a rumination on where he's bound existentially and practically.

Ah the simple holiday joys of benevolent capitalism! Probably the most popular of the Xmas productions, Dicken's novella A Christmas Carol has been praised by socialists for its anti-capitalist sentiments.

Chicago-based Loy A. Webb's The Light is much more than a sweet proposal tale between African American couple Rashad (Kenny Scott) and Genesis (Leigh Rondon-Davis). Their two-year anniversary and gift giving evening is a jumping off point for a very heavy socio-political didactic on domestic violence and the plight of Black women. Not your typical holiday fare you'd think, but there is an uplifting denouement that provides hope for not just this couple, but for society at large.