by Steve Murray - April 03, 2026
Berkely Rep’s co-production with La Jolla Playhouse of Ngozi Anywanu’s The Monsters is a joyous, heartwarming story of the bond between sister and brother that will want to make you hug your sibling. Both emotionally devastating and rewarding, The Monsters is brilliantly written, superbly acted ...
by Steve Murray - April 02, 2026
For Starra Jones, a baller from rural Plainnole, Arkansas, fulfilling her mother’s dream of basketball glory is her prime motivation. Playing a style of ‘dirty’ ball, her braggadocio will lead her to a foul play in Candrice Jones’ Flex, making its West Coast premiere at SF Playhouse....
by Linda Hodges - April 01, 2026
It's easy to see why Beetlejuice, the screen-to-stage adaptation of Tim Burton's beloved 1998 cult-classic film, earned eight 2019 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. It is to die for. ...
by Steve Murray - March 30, 2026
There are many types of great theatre- light, cheerful, romantic, uplifting, silly, classic. Z Spaces’ co-production of Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s Our Class is unflinchingly dark, emotionally devastating and a tough watch – but it is great theatre, a timely cautionary tale of evil startingly conce...
by Steve Murray - March 23, 2026
I admit I’ve never seen Stephen Sondhiem’s Assassins, nor ever heard the score or read the synopsis. A flop in 1990, the 2004 revival won five Tony awards, and it’s been in theatre rotations since, often causing controversy for its raw language and unsavory content. A play from the perspective...
by Steve Murray - March 23, 2026
The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the world's first openly gay chorus, continues it’s forty-eighth season with a concert both cheerful and deeply emotional celebrating the music and events of the 1980’s. For the LGBT community, the 80’s was the apocalypse incarnate - a community devastate...
by Jim Munson - March 22, 2026
What did our critic think of DON QUIXOTE at San Francisco Ballet?...
by Steve Murray - March 21, 2026
What did our critic think of AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH LUCIE ARNAZ at Feinstein's At The Nikko?...
by Steve Murray - March 19, 2026
There is plenty of interesting ideas in Eisa Davis’ into the lives of four women, students in a summer music program. The need for arts education drives these girls, partly for parity in a male dominated world of music and secondly as a respite from the dramas of their individual lives....
by Steve Murray - March 15, 2026
What did our critic think of GODS & MONSTERS at New Conservatory Theatre Center?...
Past Shows
Morgan Collins is on a culinary journey. He used to buy his cookware at the 99-cent store, and is now a budding gourmet and an...
Get ready for an evening that’s equal parts music, mingling and pure City Lights spirit. Drop in anytime for this relaxed, comeandgo fundraiser featuring live...
In 1971, Fair Housing advocates considered San Leandro one of the most racist suburbs in America. CBS aired a special on the situation. The U.S....
A single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey, Nick still sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. Then he’s offered a dream job...
Catch the seasonal spirit with singer Ren Geisick and her band! Fresh off the glow of releasing her second album, “The Place I Planned To...
Take Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire story and mix it up in the style of Mel Brooks and Monty Python. Then enjoy a lightning-fast, gender-bending comedy...
This October, Spooky Lights returns with a brand-new batch of eerie short plays written by the devilishly clever Lauren Doyle. And for the first time ever, we’re...
This laugh-out-loud love story is set to the infectious music of the iconic ’80s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s, featuring hit songs including “Vacation” and...
This laugh-out-loud love story is set to the infectious music of the iconic ’80s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s, featuring hit songs including “Vacation” and...
With his soulful voice and warm stage presence, singer/songwriter, producer and actor AJ Jaffari has delighted City Lights audiences in Kinky Boots and Big Band concerts with...
City Lights' annual Lights Up! festival returns on Saturday, June 14, bringing bold new voices and unforgettable stories to the City Lights stage. This in-person...
Della and her North Carolina bakery are renowned for creating the most delicious, beautiful cakes. So it’s no surprise that when the girl she helped...
Della and her North Carolina bakery are renowned for creating the most delicious, beautiful cakes. So it’s no surprise that when the girl she helped...
Trapped in Monkswell Manor by a snowstorm, a sundry group of guests and staff are also ensnared in a chilling web of fear after a...
Trapped in Monkswell Manor by a snowstorm, a sundry group of guests and staff are also ensnared in a chilling web of fear after a...
In a sprawling mansion of her own design, Sarah Winchester navigates a complex legacy of guns, grief, and ghosts. She’s lost everything of value —...
We had so much fun that we’re doing it again! City Lights is once again teaming up with Nineteen, San Jose’s professional Big Band, to present...
Meet Evie, a college senior and gamer who’s a master at both online role-playing and real-life ghostwriting — her side hustle is writing love letters...
Meet Evie, a college senior and gamer who’s a master at both online role-playing and real-life ghostwriting — her side hustle is writing love letters...
In 2014, City Lights marked the 100-year anniversary of the World War I “Christmas Truce” with a world premiere that drew crowds and raves. Now...
In 2014, City Lights marked the 100-year anniversary of the World War I “Christmas Truce” with a world premiere that drew crowds and raves. Now Truce:...
It’s time for the 10th annual Ren’s Winter Wonderland shows at City Lights! Whether you have made this a yearly tradition or are discovering this...
Our friends from Nineteen, San Jose’s professional Big Band, are throwing a fundraising concert to benefit City Lights! On Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m.,...
As the well-to-do Birlings celebrate an engagement in the family, the festive evening is suddenly punctured by an uninvited visitor: an inspector looking into the...
As the well-to-do Birlings celebrate an engagement in the family, the festive evening is suddenly punctured by an uninvited visitor: an inspector looking into the...
In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. As their...
Back onstage for the first time since the Covid outbreak, our annual “Lights Up!” festival of new plays returns on Sunday, Aug. 4. The lineup...
Join us on Sunday, June 16, at 7 p.m. for a special Father’s Day concert with father and daughter recording artists Cory Cullinan and Riley...
In 1971, Fair Housing advocates considered San Leandro one of the most racist suburbs in America. CBS aired a special on the situation. The U.S....
Past the long line of truckers waiting outside, Clyde’s Sandwich Shop is more than just a greasy spoon. It serves up a chance at redemption...
Dynamic live performances, a sit-down dinner catered by Il Fornaio, and stellar actors giving musical performances and telling their favorite theater stories: It's all happening...
Veteran sports agents know they have to fight to stay on top. If you’re a woman, it’s doubly hard. With an elite client roster and...
The more things change, the more they stay the same in this bold new retelling of the classic A Doll’s House, which sets the story in...
There have been so many memorable TV shows and movies over the years whose musical themes have been as memorable as the show themselves. And...
This hilarious whodunit may best be described as Blithe Spirit meets The Hollow meets The Play That Goes Wrong … with glittering Art Deco flair. Set during the Christmas holidays in...
Ren Geisick is a jazz singer turned singer/songwriter from Silicon Valley. Her first album, “Ren, Love Song” produced by Jesse Harris, was released in 2017, followed...
Five years after a student opened fire at an exclusive private high school, killing several students and a beloved teacher, the survivors gather for the...
Charlie Price has reluctantly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and...
City Lights Theater hosts a fundraising cabaret for B.A.D. Musical Theatre. The event features a live band and local actors belting out songs from rock...
Because this Brazilian fable will transport you to a world so close, but so far.Because the Houston Press called it “an incredibly original and affecting night at...
Join Nineteen, San Jose’s professional big band, as they treat you to the sounds of the late great Al Jarreau, an iconic American R&B, soul...
Just like the mischievous ghost Elvira, Noël Coward’s 1941 comedy keeps coming back for a reason. The oft-revived Blithe Spirit, delightful as ever, takes up residence...
When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament...
Frank is in a school parking lot waiting for his parents (like he always is) when he meets Marcus, who is also waiting (like he...
Its 1975, Saigon has fallen, and Quang and Tong should be grateful theyve made it to the United States. But he lost his wife and...
Theres a wife and a husband, a mistress and a movie star, and plenty of other people tangled up in romantic situations, but only one...
Pablo, a high-powered lawyer, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, are realizing the American dream when they purchase a house next door to...
Jerrie was on her way to being a leader in the gaming industry, until a competitor armed with a legion of internet trolls launched an...
Jerrie was on her way to being a leader in the gaming industry, until a competitor armed with a legion of internet trolls launched an...
What happens when life and art get a little too cozy? Part backstage comedy and part offbeat love story, Stage Kiss follows two actors with...
Two holiday seasons ago, City Lights audiences were charmed by the Pride and Prejudice sequel Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. But while the Bennet sisters...
In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920s draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget...
For Henrietta Leavitt, heaven is the night sky. When shes hired by the Harvard Observatory, doors seem to be opening for her. But its 1900,...
The myth has been told and retold for centuries. Grief-stricken Orpheus travels to the underworld, where he learns he can rescue his wife, Eurydiceif he...
Embracing a period of British history that’s ripe with gender & social intrigue, Kynaston, the most famous portrayer of female roles in seventeenth century London,...
Videos