"These artists are going to change opera."

The Lion in Winter is a family drama with stakes that make Lear look like a petty squabble. It’s 1183, and King Henry II of England rules a good chunk of Europe. His three sons all want the crown—and the hand of Alais, the French princess who is their...

Multi-part epics are always intimidating. They’re a big commitment to make in advance, and there’s a sense of failure if you don’t see them through. No one wants to be the quitter who only saw Voyage (in Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia) or Das Rheingold (in Wagner’s Ring cycle)....

It’s been less than a year since the U.S. election, and theatergoers are surely already tired of plays that tackle authoritarianism. While Camus’ State of Siege (presented by Cal Performances and performed by the touring French company Théâtre de la Ville) fits into that category, it’s different enough not...

Have you ever confused a rabbi with a rabbit? Me, neither, but it seems like a plausible mistake in Daniel Handler’s new play Imaginary Comforts, or The Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit, at Berkeley Rep. Daniel Handler (best known by his young adult fiction pen name,...

The Mineola Twins at Cutting Ball Theater opens with thunder and lightning. The intensity continues unabated throughout the show. Paula Vogel’s play follows a pair of small-town twins as they navigate the trials of sex, potential nuclear war, marriage, electroshock therapy, parenthood, and violent crime. Myra and Myrna have...

The American Conservatory Theater’s Hamlet marks the debut of two greats who somehow (strangely) have never tackled this great play. John Douglas Thompson premieres his Hamlet, direct by A.C.T. artistic director Carey Perloff. The results make me thank whatever theater gods brought these two together to work on Shakespeare’s...

Playwright Paula Vogel has been in the news a lot recently. She made her (shamefully overdue) Broadway debut with Indecent, which was nominated for the 2017 Best Play Tony. She started a national conversation around producers’ and critics’ biases when it comes to financing and reviewing plays by women...

Stark Insider presents a backstage look at Cirque Du Soleil's newest artistic creation, Luzia. LUZIA is now in Atlanta. Cirque's "waking dream of Mexico" features everything we've come to expect from the spectacle: beautiful costumes, astonishing acrobatics, dancing, singing, audience engagement, and, overall, fine entertainment. But LUZIA has a unique...

Comedian and SNL alum Bill Hader is the latest to be added to the Festival of Disruption. You know, the guy with this kind of headshot: Now in its second year and curated by founder David Lynch the Festival of Disruption is certainly evolving into one of the more interesting...