by Charles Kruger Paula Vogel is one of the most awarded playwrights in the United States, and for good reason. Her Pulitzer prize-winning play about family sexual trauma, “How I Learned To Drive,” brilliantly displays her skill, and Custom Made Theatre’s revival is an outstanding production. Li’l Bit looks forward to escaping her family drama […]
by Sean Taylor I spent August 4th, 2017, listening, fifty years after its original production, to the first step that “Hair” took at the Great Star Theater. Does it hold up? Is it a dance step or a forced march? Is it embarrassed after all these years? It certainly had a spring in its step. […]
By Sean Taylor Kat Robichaud has carved out a unique place for herself and company with her serial perofmances at The Great Star Theater in North Beach, under the umbrella “Misfit Cabaret.” Previous editions included “Whimsea” (July, 2016) and “Wilde Women” (December, 2016). More recently, she was at it again with her second installment of the […]
by Charles Kruger Jean Poiret’s sturdy farce about a gay couple, one of whom is a famous drag queen, who try to pass themselves off as straight remains funny in every incarnation. The play was adapted into two hit films (most notably “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane) before achieving Broadway success with […]
by Charles Kruger We Players describes their production of “Midsummer of Love” as “an erotic comedy of consent, cruelty and control.” Let’s get the cruelty part out of the way right now. The performance we attended at Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Center in El Sobrante was preceded by a 30 minute hike on a dusty […]
by Charles Kruger Two characters, Man and Woman, speak and dance together for an hour and forty five minutes. They transform into animals. They tell dream like stories that are, variously, funny, threatening, seductive, unbelievable, and, ultimately, strangely revealing of deep human truths. It is fascinating to hear and see. Playwright Philip Ridley (who is […]
by Charles Kruger When I arrived at the War Memorial Opera House recently to see “La Boheme,” I thought it might be nice to dine at the Opera House restaurant. I made my way through a festive crowd to the desk of the maitre d’. “Do you have a reservation?” he asked pointedly. “No, I’m […]
