SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA THEATER REVIEWS

Holiday magic was evident at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre even before the Grinch began to steal Christmas.This show for all ages stars the fiendish Grinch (the foul and perfectly sublime Stefan Karl), who does not like Christmas, but discovers that there is more to the holiday than he ever im...

San Francisco Ballet holds a special place in "Nutcracker" history. It brought the once unknown and little performed Tchaikovsky ballet to the United States in 1944 - the beginning of what has become an American and world-wide holiday tradition. It's a magical tradition that has children dancing in ...

High school is never easy and, as Truman High's head cheerleader Campbell (the perfectly blonde Taylor Louderman) finds out, it's especially hard when last minute redistricting means you now have to attend inner-city Jackson High where there is no cheerleading! With a book by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) ...

Ziegfeld never spared any expense with his follies shows - lavish sets, beautiful chorus girls in extravagant costumes, vaudevillian acts - so one can only imagine what it took for a small community theatre to put on the Ziegfeld inspired musical, "Will Rogers Follies." And Hillbarn Theatre has done...

All the way from across the pond, from Cornwall's Kneehigh Theatre to be exact, comes a dark fairy tale brilliantly told, stunningly performed and miraculously conjured up here on the stage of Berkeley Repertory's Roda Theatre. The US premiere of The Wild Bride, playing now through January 1st, is ...

Can you hear the sound of children laughing? Smell the vegetables cooking? Feel the cool air surround you? Hear the carolers singing? There's one carol you won't want to miss. American Conservatory Theatre's annual production of the classic Charles Dickens tale, "A Christmas Carol," has earned its p...

As much as Linus loves his blanket and Schroeder loves his piano, this reviewer loves The Retro Dome's production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!" I welcome the reader to sound off as many "good griefs!" as you like while I go on and on about how this musical is so wonderful and fun. Or, perha...

Although the African American Shakespeare Company does not promote its production of "Cinderella" as children's theatre, the term describes the show entirely. The script contains a few hilarious moments that will fill any person with a lot of joy, but it seems written purely for children. The acting...

Seventy-seven years after its London premiere, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Three Sisters" has come out of the dark for a full production with San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon. The musical only played for two months before closing in London and never made it to America aside from a staged co...

In Tennessee Williams' classic play, "The Glass Menagerie," a main character describes an encounter he has with a magician. Tom watched as the magician had audience members nail him into a coffin, but then escaped from the coffin without removing one single nail. Such a trick seems impossible in rea...

The puppet and its master are one. Gracefully and poetically, they move together. The puppet's face remains still, but seems to convey a hundred emotions. The puppeteer's face changes with the puppet's character, mimicking what the character feels. Yet the character has another master. The Devil has...

In the 70's, Nigeria rose up and struck a new chord for justice with Afrobeat founder and political activist, Fela, as their controversial leader. The show, which opened last night at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, sways, plays and sings the political heart song of Nigeria through the life story o...

Unless you've never seen 'Carmen,' one of the most legendary operas ever written, San Francisco Opera's production of 'Carmen' will come across as old news. The chorus and orchestra, led by the spirited conductor, Nicola Luisotti, bring the only real action and vitality present in the production, wh...

Shoot O'Malley Twice, which opened last Friday at StageWerx 446 in San Francisco, confounds the conventional and delivers a bizarre and comedic play of innocence lost and parallel universes found that is thoroughly intriguing and delightful....

Baroque opera productions can go wrong in so many ways. With their recitatives, lone arias and what some call 'repetitious' or 'continuous' sound, boredom can easily spell failure. The key, then, to an entertaining, attention-grabbing Baroque opera lies with the staging - the proper use of the stage...

Like its namesake, Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem' celebrates the past, history and future of the earth's residents. Its promoters label it as telling the story of evolution, but its many aerial and acrobatic acts seem to fly right past scientific theories and the evolution of humanity and focus more on ...

Why is a raven like a writing desk? Trevor Allen could tell you. He worked at Disneyland as a character for four years while attending college. Now, years later, he's sharing the answer to this riddle and much more at the Exit Theatre in San Francisco. His one man show, "Working for the Mouse," whic...

Many things in 42nd Street Moon's production of George and Ira Gershwin's 'Oh, Kay!' are OK. The singing is OK. The lighting and backdrop are OK. The sets are OK - a good use of small space. But a few things in this production are amazing. Those few things make it worth going to the production, a...

An artistic masterpiece in every way, Cutting Ball Theatre's modern interpretation of the classic, yet rarely staged, Pelleas and Melisande, conquers a small theater with feats of innovative staging and energetic acting. ...

Though HAIR deals with issues of war and the draft its buoyant music and script ultimately capture the free-spirited dawning of the hippie movement when everything still seemed possible. Hodges and Hodges (Nick and Linda) were there to take in the Age of Aquarius and get our hippie groove on and ...

In every case there are two fictions, two sides, each trying to tell the better story, each trying to triumph. Law isn't about justice. It's about winning. The truth is elusive. As personal prejudices come into play, the truth sneaks further and further into the background, especially in cases invol...

'Master Class' is all about presence, and Hillbarn Theatre definitely has presence. A small theatre with big ambitions, the company has successfully helmed a play that requires presence - a lot of presence - especially from its actors....

Sublimely articulated, crafted with infinite honesty, love and humor, "How to Write a New Book for the Bible" lifts up this ordinary family and makes sacred the story of their lives....

In this latest revival of "Richard," now playing at San Francisco's Curran Theater, director Sam Mendes and Kevin Spacey do everything in their power to make sure that we do see. As a result, Richard III is a gripping, intense tour de force and hits troublingly close to home in these times of crime...