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BWW Review: ERMELINDA at the ODC Theater
On November 23, 2019, the San Francisco Baroque opera company Ars Minerva, presented the modern world premiere of composer Domenico Freschi and librettist Francesco Maria Piccioli's 1680 comedy ERMELINDA. The opera gave local San Francisco audiences a chance to enjoy the diverse talents of mezzo-so...
BWW Review: MOTHER OF THE MAID at Marin Theatre Company is dramatization of the life of Joan of Arc as seen through the eyes of her mother.
BWW Review: MOTHER OF THE MAID at Marin Theatre Company is dramatization of the life of Joan of Arc as seen through the eyes of her mother....
BWW Review: GYPSY at Bay Area Musicals Gives Us a Welcome Chance to Revisit This All-Time Classic
a?oeGypsya?? is undeniably one of the all-time great achievements of the American musical theater. It possesses a thrilling combination of showbiz razzmatazz and dramatic intensity, grounded in Arthur Laurents' complex book and wrapped in an incomparably tuneful and stirring score by Jule Styne & St...
BWW Review: GYPSY Sizzles Now Through December 8 At Bay Area Musicals
The heyday of Vaudeville may have come to an abrupt end in the 1930s, but it is alive and well in Gypsy, Bay Area Musical's fifth season opening act. And what a doozy of a show. Based on the 1957 memoirs of famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, the musical came to Broadway in 1959 and was promptly...
BWW Review: A BOX WITHOUT A BOTTOM at The Marsh Berkeley Conjures Magic out of Japanese American Histories
David Hirata has got quite a lot to offer with his multi-layered 'A Box Without a Bottom (Soko-nashi Bako).' He combines elements of a magic show with his own personal narrative as he also tells the surprising history of Japanese magicians in 19th-century America, all in a tight 55 minutes. It's a t...
BWW Review: NASSIM at Magic Theatre Utilizes an Unorthodox Structure to Find What Connects Us
Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's eponymous play a?oeNassima?? currently enjoying an all-too-brief run at the Magic Theatre adheres to an unorthodox format. Its sole actor, a different one at each show, does not see the script until it is unsealed onstage at the beginning of the actual perfor...
BWW Review: AMALUNA at The Big Top At Oracle is a wondrous and enchanting night at the circus that will be enjoyed by all ages.
Cirque du Soleil has produced a staggering number of shows in its 35-year history--there are no less than seven currently running on the Las Vegas strip alone--so one must marvel at the company's ability to ensure its quality matches its quantity. First seen in 2012, Amaluna is a breathtakingly beau...
BWW Review: LIVING THE SHUFFLE at The Marsh Berkeley Tells Entertaining Tales from Robert Townsend's Hollywood Roller Coaster Ride
Filmmaker Robert Townsend is a born entertainer, and his solo show a?oeLiving the Shufflea?? is perhaps more than anything about the pleasure of his company. He seems so comfortable onstage, knowing precisely how to scale his performance to the size of the room, how to punctuate a laugh line for max...
BWW Review: TESTMATCH at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater lobs questions of race, gender, sexuality, and class across the centuries, but ultimately misses the wicket.
It may be an unfamiliar sport to most American audiences, but in Kate Attwell's ambitious new play Testmatch, cricket becomes a prism in which she explores the lasting legacy of British colonialism in the Commonwealth countries that regularly compete against their former rulers. Attempting to lob qu...
BWW Review: NOCHE FLAMENCA'S 'ENTRE TU Y YO' at Z Space Showcases Legendary Dancer Soledad Barrio
The first thing you notice as the lights slowly rise on Noche Flamenca's a?oeEntre Tú y Yoa?? is its astonishing lead dancer, Soledad Barrio. Not that she's doing anything to call undue attention to herself, mind you. She is just one of the company's seven dancers and singers, all seated on bistro ...
BWW Review: THE CAKE at New Conservatory Theatre Center Is A Smart Dramatization Based On A True Story
BWW Review: THE CAKE at New Conservatory Theatre Center is a smart dramatization based on the true story of a baker who refused to bake a same-sex cake....
BWW Review: SINGLE BLACK FEMALE at Buriel Clay examines the hardships of finding Mr. Right for two successful, single Black females.
The trials and tribulations of two thirty-something middle class Single Black Females (SBFs) is presented in a series of comedic vignettes in Lisa B. Thompson's 1999 effort that is being simultaneously being produced here and in Ft. Worth, Texas. Starting with the premise that their niche is invisib...
BWW Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at Ray Of Light Theatre Totally Rocks the House
Ray of Light's (ROL's) production of The Rocky Horror Show filled me with hope for the youth of America. Lest that sound a bit strange, allow me to explain. Yes, ROL's a?oeRockya?? delivers in spades on the sexy entertainment value of this transgressive, go-for-broke show. But a?" it is also grounde...
BWW Review: NINE Is A 'Ten' at At 3Below In San Jose
Holding court on a corner in downtown San Jose is 3Below Theaters and Lounge. It would be easier to say what they don't do but to use their own words they're 'downtown San Jose's social spot for stage, screen, music, comedy, family fun and events.' I'll just add that the complex is indeed a veritabl...
BWW Review: THE CHINESE LADY At Magic Theatre Dramatizes the Life of Afong Moy, The First Chinese Woman In America
BWW Review: THE CHINESE LADY at Magic Theatre is a dramatization of the life of Afong Moy, the first Chinese Lady to set foot on American soil....
BWW Review: THE CHINESE LADY at Magic Theatre Brings to Light a Fascinating Piece of Cultural History
Magic Theatre kicks off its 2019-20 season with Lloyd Suh's intriguing a?oeThe Chinese Lady.a?? Suh's point of departure is one of those fascinating a?oetruth is stranger than fictiona?? tales that are so compelling it's hard to believe they aren't more widely known. His play tells the story of Afon...
BWW Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at San Jose Stage Company Does the Time Warp Again
Watching Richard O'Brien's a?oeThe Rocky Horror Showa?? at San Jose Stage Company, I was struck by what an odd duck the show is. There really is nothing else even remotely like it in the musical theater canon. At this point in its stage-to-screen-back-to-stage evolution, it invites you not just to e...
BWW Review: PUPPETS AND POE: DEVISED DEFIANCE at Theatre Of Yugen is a Halloween ode to Edgar Allan Poe's macabre themes.
BWW Review: PUPPETS AND POE: DEVISED DEFIANCE at Theatre Of Yugen is a Halloween ode to Edgar Allan Poe's macabre themes....
BWW Review: MARK TWAIN'S RIVER OF SONG at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a Musical/Historical Ride Down the Mighty Mississippi Guided by Famed Chronicler Mark Twain
BWW Review: MARK TWAIN'S RIVER OF SONG at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a musical/historical ride down the mighty Mississippi guided by famed chronicler Mark Twain...
BWW Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at San Jose Stage Company
A time warp opens to a provocative dimension at The Stage in San Jose, with The Rocky Horror Show. This production is filled with juicy morsels delicious enough to whet ones uninhibited appetite. This slice of pop culture is still succulently scintillating and fresh today as it celebrates the indi...
BWW Review: THIS SIDE OF CRAZY at New Conservatory Theatre Center is Del Shores Dramatic Confrontation of a Narcissistic Mother and Her Three Daughters
BWW Review: THIS SIDE OF CRAZY at New Conservatory Theatre Center is Del Shores dramatic confrontation of a narcissistic mother and her three daughters....
BWW Review: SOVEREIGNTY at Marin Theatre Company is a powerful, fact-based story of the historical and present day plight of the Cherokee Nation.
BWW Review: SOVEREIGNTY at Marin Theatre Company is a powerful, fact-based story of the historical and present day plight of the Cherokee Nation....
BWW Review: DANCE NATION at San Francisco Playhouse Intrigues but Ultimately Mystifies
I was super excited to learn that SF Playhouse was kicking off its 19-20 season with Clare Barron's a?oeDance Nationa?? based on what I'd read and heard about its 2018 world premiere at New York's Playwrights Horizons. I was certain it was going to be right up my alley: an edgy, satirical, unsettlin...
BWW Review: HOT MIKADO at Gateway Theatre
Gilbert and Sullivan are brought into the jazz age in this charming, if uneven, production of Hot Mikado by 42nd Street Moon at the Gateway Theatre. ...
Videos
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Anastasia the Musical Douglas Morrisson Theatre (5/22-5/31) |
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JAD Experience presents LUNAE Tara Firma Farms (7/17-7/26) |
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Madison Beer Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (6/23-6/23) |
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Comedy Oakland at Elbo Room Sat June 6 7pm Elbo Room Jack London (6/06-6/06) |
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Comedy Oakland Early Show at Quinn's Lighthouse Sat May 30 7pm Quinn's Lighthouse (5/30-5/30) |
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Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Sun June 21 7pm Quinn's Lighthouse (6/21-6/21) |
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Back to the Future The Musical San Jose Center for the Performing Arts (6/02-6/07) |
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Macbeth Santa Cruz Shakespeare (7/12-8/30) |
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Ride the Cyclone City Lights Theater Company (7/16-8/23) |
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Miss California''s Teen 2026 William Saroyan Theatre Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center (6/18-6/19) |
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