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SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA THEATER REVIEWS

The latest reviews and critic recommendations from San Francisco / Bay Area
BWW Review: SPANKING MACHINE at The Marsh Offers a  Painfully Funny Exploration of Ou

BWW Review: SPANKING MACHINE at The Marsh Offers a Painfully Funny Exploration of Our Collective Fear

by Jim Munson — October 7, 2021
'Spanking Machine' at The Marsh is Marga Gomez' latest theatrical memoir, a funny-scary tale of growing up brown and queer in Washington Heights....
BWW Review: CHESS IN CONCERT at 42nd Street Moon

BWW Review: CHESS IN CONCERT at 42nd Street Moon

by Steve Murray — September 26, 2021
....
BWW Review: STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW at SF Playhouse

BWW Review: STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW at SF Playhouse

by Steve Murray — September 12, 2021
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...
BWW Review: Transcendence Theatre's 'Broadway Under the Stars' Celebrates 10 Years wi

BWW Review: Transcendence Theatre's 'Broadway Under the Stars' Celebrates 10 Years with a 'Road-Trip!'

by Christina Mancuso — August 11, 2021
There’s something truly extraordinary that happens when you step onto the grounds of Jack London State Historic Park.  It’s not just any park.  You are whisked away into a magical land of beauty, passion, exuberance -- and immersed in spellbinding talent that is known as the Transcendence Thea...
BWW Review: TALES OF THE RESISTANCE : VOLUME 2 PERSISTANCE at SF Mime Troupe

BWW Review: TALES OF THE RESISTANCE : VOLUME 2 PERSISTANCE at SF Mime Troupe

by Steve Murray — July 12, 2021
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....
BWW Review: DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL: DC & PETER'S GLORIOUS ROMP THROUGH THE GOLDEN AGE

BWW Review: DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL: DC & PETER'S GLORIOUS ROMP THROUGH THE GOLDEN AGE OF TV THEME SONGS at 42nd Street Moon Delivers a Fizzy Celebration of Pop Culture

by Jim Munson — June 21, 2021
42nd Street Moon is concluding its online Moonbeams series on a rather deliciously demented high note with Don’t Touch That Dial: DC & Peter’s Glorious Romp through the Golden Age of TV Theme Songs. Just like the timeworn sitcoms that generated most of its songs, Don’t Touch That Dial wants no...
BWW Review: HOLD THESE TRUTHS at SF Playhouse

BWW Review: HOLD THESE TRUTHS at SF Playhouse

by Steve Murray — June 14, 2021
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....
BWW Review: SWAN LAKE at San Francisco Ballet Offers a Welcome Opportunity to Revisit

BWW Review: SWAN LAKE at San Francisco Ballet Offers a Welcome Opportunity to Revisit an All-Time Classic

by Jim Munson — May 26, 2021
San Francisco Ballet brings its extremely successful 2021 Digital Season to a close by revisiting that all-time classic, Swan Lake, in a production choreographed by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson back in 2009, and captured on video in 2016. Swan Lake is a particular favorite of mine, so I was sinc...
BWW Review: ROMEO & JULIET at San Francisco Ballet Delivers a Beautiful Production of

BWW Review: ROMEO & JULIET at San Francisco Ballet Delivers a Beautiful Production of the Timeless Romantic Tragedy

by Jim Munson — May 10, 2021
San Francisco Ballet's revisiting of Helgi Tomasson's 'Romeo & Juliet' is, in a word, gorgeous. The dancing, the design and especially the music – all gorgeous. The penultimate program of its 2021 Digital Season is available for streaming through May 26th in a top-notch 2015 video capture featurin...
BWW Review: SHOOT ME WHEN at SF Playhouse

BWW Review: SHOOT ME WHEN at SF Playhouse

by Steve Murray — May 7, 2021
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 effec...
BWW Review: PROGRAM 05 at San Francisco Ballet Highlights the Talents of Its Superb D

BWW Review: PROGRAM 05 at San Francisco Ballet Highlights the Talents of Its Superb Dancers

by Jim Munson — April 28, 2021
The latest offering of San Francisco Ballet's 2021 Digital Season shows off the wondrous artistry of the company's dancing more than anything. This mixed rep program of 3 very different ballets originally made on the company provides a dazzling showcase for the dancers' versatility, technique and mu...
BWW Review: San Francisco Opera's Drive-In BARBER OF SEVILLE at The Marin Center In S

BWW Review: San Francisco Opera's Drive-In BARBER OF SEVILLE at The Marin Center In San Rafael

by Maria Nockin — April 24, 2021
On April. 23, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented its first drive-in opera, Rossini’s rollicking comedy, The Barber of Seville. As the boisterous Spanish hair stylist, baritone Lucas Meachem opened the show with a vigorous, rousing version of his famous “Largo al Factotum”. California COVID re...
BWW Review: LOVE AND SECRETS, A DOMESTIC TRILOGY Now Streaming to Computers Everywher

BWW Review: LOVE AND SECRETS, A DOMESTIC TRILOGY Now Streaming to Computers Everywhere

by Maria Nockin — April 17, 2021
On April 15, 2021, Opera San Jose premiered its digital stream of Love and Secrets: A Domestic Trilogy: Il Segreto di Susanna (The Secret of Susanna), Four Dialogues, and The Husbands. Wolf-Ferrari’s buffa comedy presents a wife with an addiction that she tries to keep secret. Thus, her husband su...
BWW Review: San Francisco Playhouse Streams Julia Brothers' I WAS RIGHT HERE

BWW Review: San Francisco Playhouse Streams Julia Brothers' I WAS RIGHT HERE

by Derek McCracken — April 13, 2021
Minutes into the train trip that propels the play I WAS RIGHT HERE, author/actor Julia Brothers reflects on the reflection of an across-the aisle passenger: “It’s like I’m watching a movie of his heartbreak.” Although simple, this cinematic analogy sets the entire kaleidoscopic 70-minute seq...
BWW Review: JEWELS at San Francisco Ballet Offers a Treasure Trove of Spectacular Dan

BWW Review: JEWELS at San Francisco Ballet Offers a Treasure Trove of Spectacular Dancing

by Jim Munson — April 5, 2021
The latest program in San Francisco Ballet’s 2021 digital season is the glorious return of George Balanchine’s Jewels. BroadwayWorld reviews the thrilling production now streaming through April 21, 2021....
BWW Review: San Francisco Opera's Stream of GÖTTERDÄMERUNG

BWW Review: San Francisco Opera's Stream of GÖTTERDÄMERUNG

by Maria Nockin — March 28, 2021
On March 27, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented an online stream of its 2017-2018 production of Götterdämerung, the fourth opera of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Stage Director Francesca Zambello has shown us a rapidly deteriorating world in Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried, so the openi...
BWW Review: Merola Opera Program: ANYTHING FOR LOVE AND HONOR

BWW Review: Merola Opera Program: ANYTHING FOR LOVE AND HONOR

by Maria Nockin — March 24, 2021
On Sunday, March 21, 2021, tenor Issachah Savage and collaborative pianist Laurie Rogers gave a half-hour recital called Anything for Love and Honor for the Merola Opera Program. Savage, a former member of Merola, won three prizes at Seattle’s International Wagner Competition in 2014: First Prize...
BWW Review: San Francisco Opera Streams SIEGFRIED

BWW Review: San Francisco Opera Streams SIEGFRIED

by Maria Nockin — March 22, 2021
On March 20, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented a free stream of Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried as part of Francesca Zambello’s 2017-2018 American Ring. Forest projections set the mood for Runnicles and Zambello’s nature-friendly, quasi-impressionistic rendering of the opera. Lighting Desi...
BWW Review: [HIEROGLYPH] at SF Playhouse

BWW Review: [HIEROGLYPH] at SF Playhouse

by Steve Murray — March 15, 2021
BWW Review: [HIEROGLYPH] at SF Playhouse...
BWW Review: San Francisco Opera Presents Virtual DIE WALKUERE

BWW Review: San Francisco Opera Presents Virtual DIE WALKUERE

by Maria Nockin — March 14, 2021
On the weekend of  March 13 and 14, San Francisco Opera streamed its 2018 production of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre to opera lovers around the world. Director Francesca Zambello moved the story to a modern time in which Wotan was a captain of industry and Hunding was a hunter with a house full ...
BWW Review: INTERLUDE at New Conservatory Theatre Center

BWW Review: INTERLUDE at New Conservatory Theatre Center

by Steve Murray — March 9, 2021
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 ...
BWW Review: PROGRAM 03 at San Francisco Ballet Delivers Terrific Performances in Some

BWW Review: PROGRAM 03 at San Francisco Ballet Delivers Terrific Performances in Some Striking Ballets

by Jim Munson — March 9, 2021
There is a lot to love in San Francisco Ballet’s recently unveiled Program 03 of mixed repertoire, even if it takes a bit of a dip in the middle. The program gets off to a smashing start with Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphony #9, which is part of his justly celebrated Shostakovich Trilogy. Next up is ...
BWW Review: DAS RHEINGOLD at Home Computer Screens

BWW Review: DAS RHEINGOLD at Home Computer Screens

by Maria Nockin — March 8, 2021
On Saturday, March 6, 2021, San Francisco Opera did a wonderful thing. The company put the opening opera of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungen online, free to  the world of opera lovers and the universe of the curious. Anyone with access to the Internet can see the entire Ring on weekends in March, ...
BWW Review: PROGRAM 02 at San Francisco Ballet Shows How Thrilling Contemporary Dance

BWW Review: PROGRAM 02 at San Francisco Ballet Shows How Thrilling Contemporary Dance Can Be

by Jim Munson — February 17, 2021
San Francisco Ballet just released the second program of its 2021 digital season and it’s a knockout. The mixed-rep program of 3 very different contemporary ballets beautifully shows off the breadth and depth of the company’s artistry. Watching it, I kept saying to myself, “God, they’re good...
BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at San Francisco Ballet Enchants & Delights

BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at San Francisco Ballet Enchants & Delights

by Jim Munson — January 25, 2021
We may be in the doldrums of winter right now – with nippy temperatures, dark skies and some much-needed rain – but January also means that San Francisco Ballet (SFB) is back in season for the next several months and, to me, that signifies all’s right with the world. SFB is kicking off its 202...
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Videos


Anastasia the Musical in San Francisco / Bay Area Anastasia the Musical
Douglas Morrisson Theatre (5/22-5/31)
Macbeth in San Francisco / Bay Area Macbeth
Santa Cruz Shakespeare (7/12-8/30)
Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Sat June 13 8pm in San Francisco / Bay Area Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Sat June 13 8pm
Quinn's Lighthouse (6/13-6/13)
C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up and Further In in San Francisco / Bay Area C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up and Further In
Irvine Barclay Theatre (7/09-7/10)
An Evening with a Mentalist: Jay Alexander's Mind Tricks Live in San Francisco / Bay Area An Evening with a Mentalist: Jay Alexander's Mind Tricks Live
San Francisco Magic Theater (w/Jay Alexander) at the Marrakech (6/19-6/21)
Golden Gate Park Band in San Francisco / Bay Area Golden Gate Park Band
Golden Gate Bandshell (4/26-9/27)
An Evening with a Mentalist: Jay Alexander's Mind Tricks Live in San Francisco / Bay Area An Evening with a Mentalist: Jay Alexander's Mind Tricks Live
San Francisco Magic Theater (w/Jay Alexander) at the Marrakech (6/12-6/14)
Romeo and Juliet  in San Francisco / Bay Area Romeo and Juliet
Outdoor Forest Theater (6/11-6/28) PHOTOS
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD in San Francisco / Bay Area THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
ORINDA STARLIGHT VILLAGE PLAYERS (6/05-7/03)
JAD Experience presents LUNAE in San Francisco / Bay Area JAD Experience presents LUNAE
Tara Firma Farms (7/17-7/26)