Lee Ann Payne News

Hillbarn Theatre, the Peninsula's premier theatre company, opens its 2019-20 season with the Beaumont 1987 version of the hilarious maritime musical, Anything Goes. The recipient of three Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards, Anything Goes will perform at Hillbarn Theatre (1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City) August 29-September 15, 2019.

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The Sound of Music and South Pacific, legendary songwriting team Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon presents its first 2019 production, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical FIORELLO! Based on the life of New York City's legendary mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, FIORELLO! features lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock (SHE LOVES ME, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) and a book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott (THE PAJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES).

BWW Review: FIORELLO! at 42nd Street Moon: a hero worth uplifting is presented in 1960's Fiorello!

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon presents its first 2019 production, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical FIORELLO! Based on the life of New York City's legendary mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, FIORELLO! features lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock (SHE LOVES ME, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) and a book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott (THE PAJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES). 42nd Street Moon's production of FIORELLO! runs from February 27 - March 17, 2019 and will perform at San Francisco's Gateway Theatre (215 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94111). The press opening will take place on Saturday, March 2 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets range from $30 - $75 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (415) 255-8207 or online at www.42ndstmoon.org.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon presents the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical FIORELLO! Based on the life of New York City's legendary mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, FIORELLO! features lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock (SHE LOVES ME, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) and a book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott (THE PAJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES).

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon (Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas, Co-Executive Directors) has announced the full cast and creative team for Moon's first 2019 production, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical FIORELLO!

Palo Alto Players continues its 2018-19 season with the Peninsula premiere of Lee Hall's stage adaptation of Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman's 1998 Oscar-winning film, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.  Set against the backdrop of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming, and backstage theatrics, the romantic romp imagines the fictional love affair between William Shakespeare and the woman that inspires him to write his first great masterpiece.  SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is directed by Theatre Bay Area Award-winning director Lee Ann Payne (Palo Alto Players' The Laramie Project), and features a cast of 21 local Bay Area actors.  SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE runs January 18 through February 3 at the Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.  For information or tickets, visit paplayers.org or call 650.329.0891.

Theatre Bay Area, the third-largest regional theatre service organization in North America, held its fifth annual TBA Awards Celebration on Monday, November 5. The event took place at the Herbst Theatre with almost 700 people in attendance.

Los Altos Stage Company proudly pulls out all the stops for the South Bay Premiere production of Matthew Lopez's sparkling The Legend of Georgia McBride. A stark contrast to other works in the award-winning playwright's repertoire, this sassy, charming 90-minute comedy takes the Bus Barn stage by storm September 6 through September 30.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon (Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas, Co-Executive Directors), currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary in continuous operation, has announced the full cast and creative team for the final production of the 2017-2018 season: ME AND MY GIRL, a hilarious and delightful 1930s West End smash hit (winner of three Tony Awards for the critically-acclaimed 1986 Broadway revival). ME AND MY GIRL features book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose & Douglas Furber, revised by Stephen Fry with contributions by Mike Ockrent, and music by Noel Gay. ME AND MY GIRL runs from May 2 - 20, 2018 and will perform at San Francisco's Gateway Theatre (formerly the Eureka Theatre). The press opening will take place on Saturday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets range from $25 - $75 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (415) 255-8207 or online at www.42ndstmoon.org.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon (Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas, Co-Executive Directors), currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary in continuous operation, has announced the full cast and creative team for the final production of the 2017-2018 season.

San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon (Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas, Co-Executive Directors), currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary in continuous operation, has announced the full cast and creative team for the final production of the 2017-2018 season: ME AND MY GIRL, a hilarious and delightful 1930s West End smash hit (winner of three Tony Awards for the critically-acclaimed 1986 Broadway revival). 

Theatre, at its best, can entertain you so much you forget all your troubles for a blissful two hours before remembering your dental appointment the next day. It can also cause you to delve deeply into questions about life, human nature and the gut-wrenching misery that human beings can visit upon one another. The Laramie Project eloquently, painfully and painstakingly belongs in the latter category. The powerful drama, as the Palo Alto Players' press release tells us, was originally developed by playwright Mois s Kaufman and members of his company, Tectonic Theater Project in the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming. Twenty years later it is still as powerful as ever.

Palo Alto Players continues its 2017-18 Season with THE LARAMIE PROJECT, the powerful drama originally developed by Mois s Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Project in the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming. The play chronicles the reactions of the town of Laramie, Wyoming in the year after the murder, bringing to life the real people who lived at the epicenter of one of the nation's most heart-wrenching anti-gay hate crimes. THE LARAMIE PROJECT is directed by Lee Ann Payne and features a cast of eight local Bay Area actors, portraying more than sixty characters on stage. THE LARAMIE PROJECT runs January 19 - February 4 at the Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. For information or tickets, visit paplayers.org or call 650.329.0891.

Coming off the success of its attendance record-setting production of The Crucible, Los Altos Stage Company is ringing in the holidays with a beloved blast from the past in The 1940s Radio Hour.

Coming off the success of its attendance record-setting production of The Crucible, Los Altos Stage Company is ringing in the holidays with a beloved blast from the past in The 1940s Radio Hour.

San Francisco Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) complete their fourteenth season of transformation with the rollicking musical La Cage aux Folles, featuring the bawdy humor of Harvey Fierstein and the melodic genius of Jerry Herman.

No, No, Nanette is musical theatre's equivalent to the perfect glass of champagne. It sparkles, tickles your taste buds, and you can't get enough of it.   San Francisco's acclaimed 42nd Street Moon has announced the tap spectacular No, No, Nanette to close their 24th season.

After a 2016-2017 season filled with iconic American stories and Theatre Bay Area Recommended Productions, Los Altos Stage Company is pleased to announce its 2017-2018 season of plays and musicals, continuing its proud tradition of presenting bold, entertaining, and thought-provoking theater.