Cy Ashley Webb
Cy spent the ‘80’s as a bench scientist, the tech boom doing intellectual property law, and the first decade of the millennium, aspiring to be the world’s oldest grad student at Stanford where she is interested in political martyrdom. Presently, she enjoys writing for Stark Insider and the SF Examiner, hanging out at Palo Alto Children's Theatre, and participating in various political activities. Democracy is not a spectator sport! Cy is a SFBATCC member.
Bus Barn ends their season on a high note
A good friend often asks why I subject myself to the same musical over and over again. That’s a fair question, especially when the show in question is as silly a bit of fluff as Little Shop of Horrors. Watching the same show done by different companies trains the...
Fahrenheit 451: Burning books in Palo Alto
Some rules are made to be broken. Several months back, I decided never to review children’s theater. On one hand, I didn’t want to be hamstrung by an inability to be critical and on the other, it wouldn’t be fair holding kids to an adult standard. Fortunately, neither of...
The Golden Horde reaches San Jose
The Noble King was called Genghis Khan
Who in his time was of so great renown
That there was nowhere in no region
So excellent a lord in all things
– Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (1395)
Mongolia just marked its 800th Anniversary of the united Mongol State. This fact didn’t escape Tech Museum...
New Century Chamber Orchestra ends season on high note
New Century Chamber Orchestra’s Sea to Shining Sea was a special treat.
Samuel Barber’s 1836 Adagio for Strings found its way into our collective unconscious when it was played during a radio broadcast of the 1945 funeral of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Since that time its been played on radio announcements...
Theater Review: ‘Gypsy’ at Hillbarn
Throughout the first act of the Hillbarn’s Gypsy, I wondered why it seemed so lackluster. Annmarie Martin (Rose) is a commanding vocalist. Dan Kapler (Herbie) and Annmarie are perfectly cast together. The child dancers, especially in the newsboy scene, are incredibly well-focused. The busy opening was hard to pull...
Fantastically funny, ‘Anton in Show Business’ opens in Palo Alto
Even since Michael Litfin’s “PLACES” appeared at Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, theatre about theatre has been on my radar. Where else can we get away with being so bloody self-referential and over-the-top obsessed? Where else can navel-gazing be turned into art? Where else can we be skewered and redeemed...
Sunday Evening Compline at Memorial Church
Sunday nights invariably find me doing the same thing: closing my books at the Green Library on the Stanford campus, and taking my weary butt over to the darkness of Memorial Church (Mem Chu) to hear the achingly beautiful, seemingly disembodied voices from the choir loft on high. Lit...
Theater Review: ‘RENT’ by Palo Alto Players receives standing ovation
Directed by Joe Duffy, the Palo Alto Players’ RENT opened to a standing ovation. With its high energy, strong vocals, it’s sure to be on theater-goers’ short list of what to see on the Peninsula until it closes on May 9.
Staging such a well-known show is particularly challenging for small...
A stunning season finale for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
If you’re really lucky, you’ll stumble upon something so completely astounding, you’ll be amazed that you’d been oblivious to it all along. It’s all the more astounding when you find your friends and neighbors in the audience – and you finally get a clue to something that had been...
A mad, mad, mad world: Kushner’s ‘The Illusion’ at The Pear
The Illusion is a mad, mad, mad pastiche of steam punk, commedia del arte, and 17th century drama that only Tony Kushner could put together. Adapted from Pierre Corneille’s L’Illusion Comique, this comedy deals with parenthood, love (both parental and romantic), and illusion. It is laugh-aloud funny, while at...
