Arts & Entertainment Betty Buckley Outshined By Stellar Cast in 'Hello Dolly' Buckley doesn't bring the same manic energy and joie de vivre that Bette Midler brings to every stage appearance, and the result is a touring production that feels like a faded knockoff of the Broadway version.
Arts & Entertainment 'Imaginary Comforts' At Berkeley Rep Delights In The Stories We Tell To Comfort (And Scare) Ourselves Writer Daniel Handler, best known for his children's books under the nom de plume Lemony Snicket, was scribbling ideas after the death of his father, ideas and characters that would ultimately coalesce into
Arts & Entertainment ACT's 'Hamlet' Lets A Veteran Classical Actor Shine, If Perhaps A Bit Too Late The role of Hamlet is a holy-grail, bucket-list thing for many actors eager to prove they can command a stage for over three hours and convincingly deliver the many famous soliloquies of the
Arts & Entertainment In Which I Gush And Process The Wonder Of 'A 24-Decade History Of Popular Music' A show that takes 24 hours to perform is by its very conception an act of love and sacrifice though the cynics who refuse to see it may write it off as indulgent.
Arts & Entertainment The Temptations Get The Biographical Jukebox Treatment They Needed With 'Ain't Too Proud' Berkeley Rep appears set to send another world-premiere hit to Broadway (the short-lived Amelie musical notwithstanding) with Ain't Too Proud, a biographical jukebox musical that traces the history of famed Motown quintet The
Arts & Entertainment 'MacBitch' At The Exit Theatre Is A Hilarious Tina Fey-ification Of The Shakespeare Classic SFist’s stance on deplorable teens is well-documented, so we were naturally intrigued to see a new Macbeth send-up that uses inadequately monitored teenagers as symbols of bloodthirsty ambition. MacBitch, playing through August
Arts & Entertainment Pro Talent Shines In 'La Cage Aux Folles' at SF Playhouse Thanks to the 1996 movie The Birdcage, the charming and ahead-of-its-time story of La Cage Aux Folles is well known to American audiences. Less well known to contemporary audiences is the 1978 French
Arts & Entertainment 'The Curious Incident' Brings To Life The Great Pains (And Pleasures) Of Living On The Autism Spectrum "I find people confusing" is both one of the opening lines and a defining mantra for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on the acclaimed 2003 novel
Arts & Entertainment 'Warplay' Is A Spare, Moving Riff On A Great Greek Love Story The two men portrayed in Warplay, while ostensibly based on Achilles and his best friend and lover Patroclus, are as much foils for each other as they are romantic partners. Named just A
Arts & Entertainment 'Roman Holiday' Is A Cheery Throwback Musical Of Which Cole Porter Would Approve Capitalizing on the recent Broadway success of throwback revivals and adaptations from 1950s and 60s like The King & I, The Light In The Piazza, and An American In Paris, a pre-Broadway tryout
Arts & Entertainment Mira Nair's 'Monsoon Wedding' Becomes An Exuberant, Big-Hearted Musical At Berkeley Rep "There's so much music at an Indian wedding! It makes perfect sense as a musical," said director Mira Nair when she was trying to sell Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone on her
Arts & Entertainment 'Needles & Opium' at ACT Combines Stunning Design With Some Humdrum Text It isn't often enough that ACT plays host to a work of such jaw-dropping visual innovation as Needles and Opium, and so I come around to my thoughts on the piece as a
Arts & Entertainment 'Hamilton' Opens In San Francisco And Several Cast Members Stand Out As Its Stars Hamilton had its official opening night in San Francisco Thursday, marking the official-official kickoff of the smash hit musical's national tour following two weeks of previews here and a separate, confusingly unaffiliated production
Arts & Entertainment 'Roe' At Berkeley Rep Tells The Frustratingly Real Story Behind The Landmark Abortion Case In the world of legal activism, there may be no such thing as a perfect plaintiff. But in the landmark court case that opened the door to legal abortion in the United States,
Arts & Entertainment 'Hand To God' Is A Raucous, Irreligious Riot At Berkeley Rep Robert Askins's somewhat frightening, wholly hilarious black comedy Hand to God is less likely to scare off too many unsuspecting Christians unclear about its blasphemous premise in its run at Berkeley Rep as
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Blithe Spirit' Starring Angela Lansbury A new production of Noel Coward's classic occult farce, Blithe Spirit, opened in San Francisco last night by way of London, where star Angela Lansbury earned nightly standing ovations at the Gielgud Theater
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'The Cable Car Nymphomaniac' from The FOGG Theatre We don't often get to see world-premiere musicals in San Francisco, let alone ones set in San Francisco A.C.T.'s Tales of the City in 2011 being one major exception. So
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Cirque du Soleil's 'Amaluna' We weren't quite sure what to expect entering Cirque du Soleil's big top behind AT&T Park on Friday, having only ever seen the Canadian-born troupe on television two decades or so
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'No Man's Land' at Berkeley Rep It's not often enough that the Bay Area gets treated to bona fide stars and theater talents on our stages, and we hope that the pre-Broadway tryout of a new production of Harold
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Dear Elizabeth' At Berkeley Rep A book or play in letters is not a new concept see A.R. Guerney's 1989 play Love Letters as one popular example of the form, or Alice Walker's The Color Purple but
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Tom Stoppard's 'Arcadia' There are too few contemporary plays that are instant classics, but Tom Stoppard's 20-year-old masterwork Arcadia is one of them. It's dense with language yet buoyant in style, speaking to the present as
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Troublemaker' At Berkeley Rep Over the last couple of decades, Berkeley Rep has become a hotbed for new work, where young playwrights are not only sought out but cultivated, nurtured, and given room to grow. Such was
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'The Book of Mormon' at the Curran Theater "Africa is NOTHING like The Lion King!" exclaims Elder Price in one of about a thousand funny moments in The Book of Mormon. And if there's one phrase that sums up the story
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'The White Snake' at Berkeley Rep About once a year the Bay Area gets treated to a magical theater gem that transcends time and genre, and this may be it. The latest main stage production at Berkeley Rep, running
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Elektra' at A.C.T. Sophocles' Elektra is a play about outrage, and revenge, and how deep the well of anger can go. ACT's latest production, directed by artistic director Carey Perloff and starring Olympia Dukakis as a
