SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA THEATER REVIEWS

BWW Review: THE GREAT LEAP at A.C.T. starring B.D. Wong in an exploration of cultural identity, global politics and the collision of cultures and generations....

BWW Review: MARIE AND ROSETTA at Lucie Stern Theatre: outstanding homage to gospel legends Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight....

BWW Review: STEVE at New Conservatory Theatre Center: mid-life crisis is examined with wit and drama....

Marin Musical Theatre Company's stunning and provocative production of Spring Awakening is a no-holds-barred, deep dive into repression, control and the painful process of growing up....

BWW Review: THE WHO & THE WHAT at Marin Theatre Company: Pulitzer-prize winning author Ayad Akhtar's thought provoking examination of Islamic faith...

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

As the house lights went down and the familiar strains of 'Before the Parade Passes By' wafted through San Francisco's Golden Gate theatre, a buzz of excitement and a ripple of clapping could be heard from the front of the house on up to the balcony seats. The sound of times gone by, captured by the...

BWW Review: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at San Jose Stage Company: a smoldering fight between lies and truth unfolds at a disastrous birthday celebration....

If your sum impression of the Edward Albee canon is his magnificent WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? then SEASCAPE, Pam MacKinnon's refreshing resident directing debut at American Conservatory Theater, will surprise you....

BWW Review: FRIENDS LIVE at SF Oasis: a campy adaptation of one of the most popular television sitcoms of all time...

BWW Review: KING OF THE YEES at SF Playhouse: an epic ride across cultural, national and familial borders...

SOMETHING ROTTEN! is a bit of fluff that's easy on the brain, but you absolutely forget your troubles and isn't that a great gift in these troubling times?...

SPENDING THE END OF THE WORLD ON OK CUPID at Pear Theatre suggests should live in the moment and not be so in our heads and that we should know what we want and go after it....

BORDER PEOPLE, written and performed by Dan Hoyle, is based on his conversations with people who straddle, confront or live in the liminal border spaces where they deal with rejection and acceptance, hope and fear....

The catastrophic after-effects of teen suicide after anti-gay bullying is the subject of LATE COMPANY by Jordan Tannahill, a drama that explores questions of parenthood, the grieving process, tolerance, and forgiveness....

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley puts its high-quality thumbprint on FrostNixon, Peter Morgan's critically-acclaimed recounting of the debates that catapulted one man to new levels of fame and fortune, and the other to exile in San Clemente....

PARADISE SQUARE is a glorious if frustrating addition to the musical theatre canon, blessed with an exceptional cast, a stirring score, and the unbelievably exquisite choreography of Bill T. Jones. Yet, despite these riches, the opulent production trips self-consciously on its own ambition, with the...

MTC presents August Wilson's pentultimate autobiographical memoir of early life in Pittsburgh' Hill District....

Come From Away is far and away one of the best ensemble pieces to come to the Broadway stage in recent memory, and now theatre-goers in the San Francisco Bay area can see it at the Golden Gate Theatre, now through February 3, 2019....

In a production where the whole is certainly equal to the sum of its parts, Tuck Everlasting could emerge as a pleasing and long-lasting alternative to splashier or too familiar seasonal holiday fare....

The humor in many Sedaris pieces comes from the obvious anguish of social misfits forced to contort themselves into a publicly presentable form, or, conversely, the observer's schadenfreude in having the misfit revealed for their true, damaged self. Neither of those elements is really present in San...

A Bronx Tale has been a "family" affair for decades. This musical adaptation is its next evolutionary step following the 1993 non-musical film, which was drawn from an earlier autobiographical one-man Off-Broadway and later Broadway play written by and starring by Chazz Palminteri....

BWW Review: A CONVERSATION WITH EDITH HEAD at Pear Theatre is an intimate evening of Hollywood backstory with the acclaimed costume designer...

BWW Review: DAMES AT SEA at 42nd Street Moon is a zany spoof of 1930s movie musicals...

In Pike St., now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, playwright and actor Nilaja Sun single-handedly presents a stage full of dynamic, three-dimensional characters engaging with each other in rapid-fire conversation and scenes of vigorous interaction....