COMEDY IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS So much could have gone wrong in this production of playwright David Templeton's delightfully original and utterly unique Featherbaby, but in the able hands…
A GEM OF A PRODUCTION FOR THERESA REBECK'S DAZZLING SUNDAY ON THE ROCKS Solid. Diamond Solid. Strength and luster. That is what's most striking about Sunday on the Rocks by playwright Theres…
In Yukio Mishima's KINKAKUJI, currently playing at Japan Society, the impeccably cast Major Curda is mesmerizing as Mizoguchi, a Zen monk-in-training who, in 1950, ends up burning down the K…
TAKE MY HUSBAND, PLEASE Marriage has long been fodder for male stand-up comics, but it has generally been women who have been the butt of the jokes. Actress, comic, and TV personality Joy Be…
Am I Roxie? Am I a Play? Am I at the Wrong Theater? Geffen's Latest Solo Act Feels More Fringe Than Mainstage Within five minutes of "this fiercely funny one-woman tour-de-force" (so says th…
Following the wildly successful, sold out premiere on August 27, The Roost Revue continues to captivate audiences with its vibrant celebration of song, story, and connection. On Wednesday, S…
THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A PLAY Writing short plays is a refined art unto itself, demanding precision, discipline, and a flair for economy that borders on the surgical, a very difficult t…
A DROP-DEAD DELIGHT Fall is officially here. Kids are back in school and Halloween is just around the corner. Thus it feels like the perfect time for Berkeley Playhouse to open their new sea…
FLY ME TO THE SUN… AND LEAVE ME THERE I confess, playwright Brian Quijada was an unknown quantity to me, and after attending Fly Me to the Sun at the Fountain Theatre, I was of the mind th…
MORE LIKE 9 TO 9, THIS MUSICAL IS AN OVERSTUFFED BUT FUN DOLLYFEST Ray of Light Theater is known for putting a spin on musicals that are big in popular culture. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Th…
Emma, a regional theater's scenic designer, stares at her draft for Romeo and Juliet: a rotating platform (radius 4ft) with a 12ft-wide backdrop. "Will this fit in our 30ft stage depth? And …
JOPLIN ROARS A legendary rock singer comes roaring back to life in A Night with Janis Joplin at Sonoma Arts Live. Libby Oberlin With elegant direction by Carl Jordan (also responsible for th…
THEATRICAL ARRHYTHMIA La Jolla Playhouse has always been fairly adventurous in its programming, but its latest premiere chooses a subject that feels less like theatrical fodder than a medica…
IT MAY BE JUST ANOTHER DAY, BUT THIS ISN'T JUST ANOTHER PLAY If I were to start by telling you what author Dan Lauria's sly new play is about, a great number of you might stop reading in dis…
CYNTHIA ERIVO CASTS A SPELL AT WOLF TRAP Cynthia Erivo returned to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap for two performances with the kind of fire, artistry, and vocal power that turned her into o…
THIS SOW BELONGS TO EVERYBODY There's the actor's nightmare, there's nightmare productions, and then there's Excorcistic: The Rock Musical which is nightmarishly twisted and sick. But don't …
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE… Early in the proceedings of Things with Friends, the new play by Kristoffer Diaz (Hell's Kitchen, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity) a character dismisses an…
EUREKA! Private school children often grow up in a carefully protected bubble. Their privilege shields them from many of life's cruelties, creating a world of like-minded students, parents, …
OPERA WITHOUT WALLS: VERISMO IN THE PARK Pacific Opera Project opened Pagliacci into the open air of Heritage Square Park last night, and the result was a strangely festive collision of carn…
A LEGEND AT WOLF TRAP Two decades after Get Lifted announced him as a singular voice in modern R&B, John Legend is celebrating the album with a tour that feels both polished and personal…
The names Red Nichols and Cliff Edwards may not be recognized by any but a few aficionados of 1920s jazz these days, but after seeing Mike Davis and Bryce Edwards' Hot Combination at Birdlan…
ON THE RIGHT TRACK The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts), a Montréal-based circus arts company, brings 90 spellbinding minutes of exhibitions of strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, courage…
Some students associate theater and cinema studies with a creative world that requires no academic studies, but it's a huge misconception. Mastering any profession and getting a diploma is i…
HOW TO SUCCEED IN HISTORY WITHOUT REALLY TELLING IT Meet Lettice Douffet (Bobbi Randall), an eccentric tour guide at Fustian House, a drab Tudor mansion. Burdened with delivering its painful…
A FEATHERBABY IN SPRECKELS' CAP A talking, squawking parrot dispenses wit, wisdom, and wonder in Featherbaby at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park. In a bright green suit and y…