SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA THEATER REVIEWS

Three tender stories of human relationships, presented through the lens of Appalachian culture, are beautifully captured in Ron Rash’s Hard Times now at Z Below. We first get a comedy, then a touching tale about sadness, to the amazingly hyperreal story of deprivation and hopelessness....

What did our critic think of MURDER FOR TWO at Hillbarn Theatre?...

What did our critic think of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at SF Oasis? D’Arcy Drollinger, artistic director and owner of SF Oasis, plays her swan song appropriately as Frank-N-Furter, the mad transvestite scientist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Show....

Billy Stricht made his Feinstein’s at the Nikko solo debut an auspicious evening, stepping into center stage, commanding the Yamaha keys, and mesmerizing his fans with a nearly two-hour set of two dozen musical gems....

What did our critic think of NOISES OFF at SF Playhouse?...

It was family night at the intimate Feinstein’s as Broadway stage star Norm Lewis asked us to think of his show as a cozy living room affair with friends. The sold-out audience certainly acted like friends, singing along when required and eating up his often-humorous anecdotes about his storied ca...

Theatreworks Silicon Valley opens its 55th season in spectacular fashion with some familiarity and something quite new and extraordinary....

What did our critic think of KIM'S CONVENIENCE at American Conservatory Theatre? A.C.T. launches its 2025/26 season with the charming 2011 dramedy Kim’s Convenience written and performed by Ins Choi as the title character and a solid supporting cast....

Travel back in time to the days of Georgian England with the Orinda Starlight Village Players’ production of Jane Eyre. With bonnets and corsets and riding boots, the audience is swept into an era where propriety and etiquette ruled, and women had few choices. Jane Eyre reminds us of the power of ...

Emma, the well-intentioned matchmaker from Jane Austen’s first published novel is brought to life on the stage as the closing show for the 2025 Summer Repertory Sanborn Park Series. Kate Hamill’s fresh adaptation retains all the classic features of the story while using humor and physical comedy...

GOOD PEOPLE is a good story with good acting. Class struggle, opportunities and societal constraints are all on display. Ultimately, it all comes down to choices, the ones you make and ones you allow others to make for you. What makes a good person good? How does a good person react when faced with...

It’s no coincidence that Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite opens Hillbarn’s historic 85th season, for it was 85 years ago that the comedy opened on Broadway. Since 1968, Hillbarn and Simon have created an artistic bond, being the most produced playwright in their history....

What did our critic think of CHAIN OF LOVE (A BROADWAY ALBUM) ALBUM RELEASE PARTY AND CONCERT WITH CARLY OZARD AND FR at GRNHS Gallery + Studio?...

Hend is an adorable Palestinian five-year old giddy about attending her Jewish best friend’s Purim party. Dressed as a pretty princess, she can’t wait for the poppyseed hamantaschen, the ubiquitous pastry of the holiday....

A Black queer teen longs to be touched, to be held and squeezed tight. His expression of love is hampered by generations of stoic, toxic masculinity unable to express tenderness or self-expression. ...

Liberace & Liza: Pier Pressure (A Tribute), which rolls back into Feinstein’s for a return engagement, is one of the finest acts of this genre, featuring two extraordinary performers combining their talents to bring Liberace and Liza Minelli to life. ...

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...

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 yea...

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 ...

The Transcendence Theatre Company welcomed in their 14th season with ‘Broadway’s Best Night Ever,’ featuring some of the greatest songs from favorite musicals spanning multiple generations.  From old classics such as CAROUSEL, GYPSY, and A CHORUS LINE to more modern shows like WICKED, THE NOT...

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, ...