For 26 years, pianist/actor/playwright/producer Hershey Felder has conjured the spirits of George Gershwin, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Piotr Ilyic…
LONG MAY THIS PRODUCTION REIGN Since its first production opened in Balboa Park in 1935, the Old Globe Theatre has built a national reputation for ambitious and stimulating productions, but …
The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the normal heart; For the error bred in the bone Of each w…
Humor leads to the release of endorphins in the brain, which help to control pain.  " RA Haig The Anatomy of Humor A play based on a grief group therapy session and life after an importan…
BORED OF THE RINGS In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins famously states to his nephew and adoptive heir, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You st…
DON'T BOTHER FOR DINNER The North Coast Repertory Theater is offering two hours of exceedingly lightweight summer theater in the French farce Don't Dress for Dinner. And being a typical Fren…
WHAT'S ALL THE HOO-HA? Last Saturday, Berkeley's Shotgun Players opened a play by Jen Silverman which is so provocative that some publications won't publish its full title: Collective Rage: …
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT JOB, HEAD TO THE HAYES THEATRE Two plays on therapy sessions presented at the same time a few blocks apart certainly show a phycological trend among young New Y…
A GREAT BIG BROADWAY SHOW Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, starring Bernadette Peters & Lea Salonga, and directed by Sir Matthew Bourne " side by side with Julia McKenzie " with …
If you are aspiring to become a music star one day, you need to master the audition process. You might have the talent needed to make the cut, but if you can't impress during an audition, yo…
ESPIONAGE COMES TO GROUP THERAPY There's a pretty good reason why the world premiere of Greg Ostrin's The Spy Who Went Into Rehab, onstage at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, has been ext…
A SOLID 10 FOR 13 San Diego Musical Theatre's Pre-Professional production of 13: The Musical, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Last Five Years), left me positively giddy …
THE SUBSTANCE OF ROB MORROW Actor Rob Morrow has come full circle. The Emmy-nominated Northern Exposure star, recognized for other notable TV shows (Billions, Numb3rs, The People vs. OJ Simp…
MURDEROUS LAUGHTER In 1945, "Cluedo" first came on the scene in the United Kingdom to the delight of board game lovers. Created by game designer Anthony E. Pratt, this beloved family friend …
THIS PIGEON ADAPTATION IS NOT FOR THE BIRDS My kids love Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, the popular children's book by Mo Willems. It's a simple, comic story about a pigeon that wants …
AS USUAL, THE WOMEN DEAL WITH THE MESS Hub Theatre Company's pay-what-you-will production of 46 Plays for America's First Ladies offers a series of playlets as varied as the women portrayed.…
SIZING UP THE BROTHERS SIZE IS JUST PART OF ITS APPEAL When I first saw a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, I wrote, "It is thrilling to hear the poetic dialogue of a propitious new American pl…
IN A DELICIOUSLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC BOX AT OUT OF THE BOX Out of the Box Theatrics is presenting an intimate, hilarious, original play called Inspired by True Events " writtenÅ
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Exactly how do you m…
ALICE IN STUNNED-ERLAND Lewis Carroll sure never saw this version coming. His 1865 novel Alice In Wonderland, probably best known from the 1951 Disney animated film, has been reinterpreted t…
THE WORST BEST MAN MAKES THE BEST MAN SHOW A GUARANTEED WINNER We're attending a wedding. Every viewer in the audience is an attendee. The vows have already been exchanged, and now it's time…
WE'VE GOT TO GET OURSELVES BACK TO THE GARDEN When The Sheen Center announced Ed. Weinberger's new play The Journals of Adam and Eve starring Hal Linden and Marilu Henner, I thou…
MACROBATS The one challenge in writing this review is my atypical, completely-blank notepad taken home from the theatre. But that's with good reason. Duel Reality " which opened last nig…
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND BAD " GET HIGH FROM A TALL GLASS OF LADY CHABLIS; TAKE A BOTTLE OF BOURBON TO ENDURE THE OTHERS The Goodman Theatre's premiere production of Midnight in th…
MEHVITA Eva Perón is back on stage downtown as San Francisco Playhouse stages the classic Broadway musical Evita. Inspired by a radio documentary about Perón, the first lady of Argenti…