Otello, often considered one of Verdi's grandest and most challenging operas, is based on Shakespeare's play by the same name. San Francisco Opera's enactment of Verdi's masterpiece displays both the blinding power of jealousy and its tragic consequences. It was a surprisingly sunny day in San Francisco, but once the...

This past Friday, I attended a John Kolvenbach marathon at Magic Theatre—a double dose of comedy and heartbreak starting with Goldfish and concluding with Mrs. Whitney. I had seen the Bay Area Premiere of Goldfish previously, (review) but decided I wanted to experience the entire pacing and flow across both...

Talk about a disappointment, and then some. Based on expectations and early hype, we had high hope for the political satire November now playing at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. But it's a turkey. Maybe two of them. Blowing up in unison. There is just not much here,...

It was just another absurdist, edgy, Devo-like evening for us last night at the opening of The Bald Soprano at The Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco. Experimental theater I'm guessing is a lot like experimental drugs. It seems like a good idea at the time; there are colors, happiness,...

The new, provocative, and highly successful (8 Tony Awards) Broadway hit, Spring Awakening, opened last night downtown San Jose and proved why it has garnered so much love and attention. The reinvention of the musical genre owes a debt of gratitude to this production. Directed by Michael Mayer, who also superbly guided...

Truvy's Beauty Parlor provides the perfect sanctuary for six women who share and support each other in the joys, tragedies and curve balls that life throws at them, all while maintaining perfect hair. Hillbarn Theatre's production of this Robert Harling classic Steel Magnolias is true to the spirit of the...

"I am satisfied!" says The Creature as his journey nears an end in Trevor Allen's adaptation of the famous Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein. And so was I. Very. This production is a through-and-through masterpiece. If it was a bumper car ride at the fair, I'd circle back into line to...

Tony Kushner's mantel is a crowded place—a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obies, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and the LAMBDA Literary Award for Drama—and he shows why in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre's reunion production of Tiny Kushner. Tony Taccone, a long-time friend and collaborator, and also artistic...

(CORRECTION: I apologize for the error, November actually opens next Wed, 28th. We mixed preview dates with opening night. No worries, though, it won't happen again. I've fired our communications department and replaced it with an iPhone) We're looking forward to another barn burner of a week in Bay Area...

We all have dreams. But at what cost to score a "jackpot"? The bell tolls—forewarning atonement, compensation for past injustices, intentional or otherwise. And, after the fogs lifts in 'Groundswell', the terrifically tense new production that opened last night at the San Jose Repertory Theatre, we are left with a heightened...