35 stories by "Stacy Trevenon"
THE MUSICAL WITH LEGS San Francisco Playhouse's exuberant, high-kicking production of A Chorus Line proves that the musical is as fresh as the day it appeared almost fifty years ago, when th…
SAN FRANCISCO PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES AUGUST LIVE STREAMING EVENTS San Francisco Playhouse is offering five new episodes of its live streaming calendar, including three Zoomlet Live Play Read…
A HOWLINGLY FUNNY BASKERVILLES SPOOF IS MORE THAN ELEMENTARY It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, proven by TheatreWorks' contemporary stage-spoof treatment of the 1901 She…
A CASE OF HIGH-TECH FUSION This production is described by Berkeley Rep as "high-tech fusion" and that, I found, indeed is what it is. Two Anton Chekhov circa-1898 short stories, "Man in a C…
SPIRITS MATERIALIZE A SPIRITED CHRISTMAS IN SONG AND DANCE Anyone with a soft spot for holiday song and dance through history must attend the California Revels lofty production of The Christ…
A TRIUMPH OF IMAGINATIVE STORYTELLING Monty Python meets Shakespeare meets Cirque du Soleil in Tristan & Yseult at Berkeley Rep. A universal love story with roots in classic times at the…
OVER THE MOON A big top with a 13-meter stage, despite its yawning spatial dimensions, hardly seemed big enough to contain the amount of sheer artistry, astounding gymnastic physicality, sla…
TO UPDATE OR NOT UPDATE: THAT IS THE QUESTION If, as described in its publicity, Cal Shakes’ A Winter's Tale takes viewers through "a Narnia-esque door to fantastical lands" to fulfill…
A THREE-RING ONE-MAN SHOW Start with a true story about a family circus that shot to prominence even though it eschewed big-business-conglomerate backing, ran in a single ring without exotic…
MARVIN HAMLISCH GETS A WARM-HEARTED, STAR-FILLED MUSICAL TRIBUTE You had the feeling you were watching the cream of musical theater history come fully, wholeheartedly alive on the evening of…
A STIRRING MENTAL EXERCISE WELL DONE In reviewing A.C.T.’s Arcadia, I feel compelled to begin with a caveat: It is a highly cerebral work " a tapestry of threads connected by bloodline…
DETROIT COMES TO BERKELEY The Berkeley Playhouse production of Guys and Dolls is just the thing for a theater lover, a fan of this timeless musical, or a family to kick back and enjoy. The s…
A PERFECT CHILDREN’S STORY FOR OPERA, BEAUTIFULLY STAGED…BUT IS IT READY FOR CHILDREN? I confess to being passionately attached to the score for the successful stage musical, The…
MAY THE WONDERFUL FOURTH MESSENGER BE A HARBINGER OF GOOD THEATER TO COME Enter a flight of fancy and imagine the scenario if a deity on the scale of a Buddha were a woman living today, wher…
GROWING UP AND GROWING OLD Engaging, comfortable, realistic, gripping, and heart-tugging " all these tags apply equally to story, language, script and performances in American Conservatory T…
A SOBERING AND SUBSTANTIAL CAT Why do we tend to stick with the intolerable? When slashing at those closest to us becomes our way of filling inner emptiness or expressing a family bond, even…
DIVERSE CHARACTERS CAST A THEATRICAL SPELL It’s not Halloween but Christmastime, and the San Francisco Playhouse is ringing in the season in a novel way with their production of Bell, …
BIG RIVER MAKES A CLASSIC BOOK FLOW BEAUTIFULLY ONTO THE STAGE In Big River, adapted from the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the "mighty Mississippi" gracefully becomes a mighty m…
BERKELEY REP HITS A HOMER It utterly astonishes that the epic tale of the Trojan War could be rendered with power and grace by a solo actor. The fact that one actor would have, and does have…
LOTS OF LEVELS TO PLAY WITH If you tend to like plays with concrete storylines, well-defined goals, and a balance of symbolism integrated into reality, you may find The Custom-Made Theatr…
LANGUAGE AND CUSTOM ARE SOURCES OF HILARITY IN CHINGLISH At a time when Americans may feel a little uneasy about the rising power of China, Berkeley Repertory Theatre offers us a chance to s…
A THREE-RING ONE-MAN SHOW Start with a true story about a family circus that shot to prominence even though it eschewed big-business-conglomerate backing, ran in a single ring without exotic…
DRAT THAT UNAPPRECIATIVE 99% For a good marriage of politics and theatre " pure melodrama, bull’s-eye political satire, a live band and zapping social commentary all served up by amazi…
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: AS TRUE NOW AS THEN Setting Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in the cutthroat world of contemporary finance a la Wall Street is an inspired notion and Custo…
SALOMANIA BLENDS HISTORY WITH GREAT THEATER The year is 1918 and the world is fraught with an unimaginable war. Only a doctor or a pervert knows what a clitoris is. For anyone else during th…
