Arts & Entertainment 'Macbeth' At Berkeley Rep Is A Quiet Triumph For Frances McDormand I'm never fully on board with productions of Shakespeare that offer little in the way of visual or conceptual updates to The Bard's 400-year-old dialogue and poetry much like I have no patience
Arts & Entertainment 'Aubergine' at Berkeley Rep Is A Melancholy, Food-Obsessed Look At Death Julia Cho's new play Aubergine, a world premiere that also marks the first production in the newly rechristened Peet's Theatre, is a thoughtful and fairly traditional play centered on two essential aspects of
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Taylor Mac's 'A 24-Decade History Of Popular Music' At The Curran To call the art of Taylor Mac ambitious is an understatement, and maybe even an insult. In one of his last outings as a performer in SF in 2011, Mac brought his extravagant
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: <em>Satchmo At The Waldorf</em> The best moments in Satchmo at the Waldorf come when the audience at the American Conservatory Theater is cast as the crowd at the Waldorf Astoria of the play's title. "White people don't
Arts & Entertainment Curran Theatre Breaks Off From SHN, Will Produce Its Own Edgier Shows In 2016 I missed the memo about this when it first went around this fall, but the historic Curran Theatre, in addition to undergoing a major renovation right now, is no longer going to be
Arts & Entertainment Berkeley Rep's Renovated Thrust Stage Getting Named After Peet's Coffee Berkeley Repertory Theater has been undergoing a major renovation project in their original, three-quarter round Thrust Stage space, which is set to be unveiled to the public with a grand opening celebration on
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: <i>A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder</i> New this week via the Broadway tour producers SHNSF is the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best New Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. It's a thoroughly English, darkly comic, and
Arts & Entertainment Exclusive: Lady Bunny On Her Fu****-Up New Show 'Pig In A Wig' One of the most influential (and curvy) figures in the history of modern drag culture, Lady Bunny hops in from New York City this weekend for a three-night run of her new cabaret
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: <i>If/Then</i> Starring Idina Menzel And Anthony Rapp Sometimes there's a show, or a movie, that is so original in its form and passionate in its execution that one forgives its fundamental flaws. Such is the case with If/Then, the
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: <i>Pirates of Penzance</i> At Berkeley Rep Strict traditionalist fans of Gilbert and Sullivan how many of you are there, really? are probably going to be put off by The Hypocrites' new production of Pirates of Penzance, which has arrived
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Shocktoberfest 16: Curse of the Cobra' at The Hypnodrome The Thrillpeddlers’ Shocktoberfest 16: Curse of the Cobra (playing through Nov. 21 at The Hypnodrome) concludes with an exhilarating, terrifying three-minute musical sequence that messes with your depth perception, makes great use of
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Star Trek Live! Mudd's Women' At The Oasis You don’t need to be a Star Trek fan or a drag show fan to love the new Star Trek Live! show at The Oasis — but you probably do need to be
Arts & Entertainment Justin Vivian Bond Revives First SF Cabaret Act, 'Dixie McCall's Patterns For Living,' In NYC Trans performer Justin Vivian Bond, née Justin Bond, got v's start in San Francisco and v, by the way, is Mx. Bond's preferred pronoun. Bond's first cabaret endeavor in 1990, intended at the
Arts & Entertainment The 12 Best Local Theaters In The Bay Area The SF Bay Area may not hold a candle to New York when it comes to theater offerings, but you may not be aware of the rich array of small local and regional
Arts & Entertainment Mark Rucker, Associate Artistic Director Of A.C.T., Dies at 56 There was some tragic and unexpected news today in the local theater community. Talented and acclaimed theater director Mark Rucker, who has served as Associate Artistic Director at American Conservatory Theater here in
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Matilda, The Musical' At The Orpheum Theater Local fans of Roald Dahl's 1988 children's novel Matilda have likely been eager to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's five-year-old musical based on it, which is a dark and boisterous adaptation by director
Arts & Entertainment Caitlyn Jenner Number Added To <i>Beach Blanket Babylon</i> San Francisco's, and the world's, longest running musical revue Beach Blanket Babylon, which always tries to revise the show to reflect, and mock, current events, has just added a new number featuring a
Arts & Entertainment Perez Hilton To Play Bob Saget In <i>Full House: The Musical!</i> An off-Broadway musical set to premiere in New York this fall will lampoon the sitcom Full House, and will give celebrity barnacle Perez Hilton a new opportunity to show off his talents as
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'Love and Information' at A.C.T. The inaugural production at A.C.T.'s brand new Strand Theater on Market Street promised to be edgy, challenging, and envelope-pushing in ways that the theater company can't always be given the
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: ‘Club Inferno’ at The Hypnodrome Club Inferno, a glam-rock musical based on Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ and playing at The Hypnodrome through August 8, had me at “glam-rock musical based on Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’”. A revival of
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: 'A Little Night Music' At A.C.T. I'll admit up front that A Little Night Music may be my favorite Sondheim score. It may not have the pop-music bounce of Company or the sweeping sentimentality of Into the Woods, but
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: One Man, Two Guvnors at Berkeley Rep As the local theater season winds to a close at two of our major companies, Berkeley Rep and A.C.T., there are two fun and splashy productions closing out their mainstage schedules.
Arts & Entertainment 'Cable Car Nymphomaniac' Remounted For Limited Run In June The FOGG Theatre's inaugural, original production, The Cable Car Nymphomaniac which SFist reviewed during its initial run in January is being remounted in a new space starting May 29. The initial run was
Arts & Entertainment Peeking Inside The Historic, Almost-Open Strand Theater, A.C.T.'s New Second Home On Market Street Now after three years of fundraising and construction, SF's American Conservatory Theater is getting set to show the public its brand new performance space on mid-Market, The Strand Theater (1117 Market at 7th)
Arts & Entertainment What Is SHN Doing With The Old Mint? SHN SF, the organization that brings Broadway touring companies to SF stages, has something up its sleeve for The Old Mint, and I'm dying to know what. As the Chronicle reported this week,
