Theater Review: ‘Tommy’, an energetic evening with the pinball wizard

Guest post by Pat Reardon. Saturday night, the City Lights Theater Company launched its production of Peter Townshend's classic rock musical The Who's Tommy. This late 60s epic album was originally brought to the stage in the early 90s. It has enjoyed a wide and dedicated following ever since. Tommy tells...

The Second City at SJ Rep showcases best of improv and sketch comedy

(UPDATE: View the after-party interview with the entire cast of the show!) In the mood for some side splitting (even tear inducing!) traditional improv and sketch comedy? Then hurry over to The San Jose Repertory Theatre for 'The Second City - On Tour' limited engagement. It's only here until Sunday. The...

Review: ‘Forbidden Broadway’, a rollercoaster of satire

The heat gets turned up as Forbidden Broadway takes the audience on a roller coaster through twenty-five acts and countless jabs (some sharper than others) at Broadway classics. The most wicked of barbs are directed at Disney, although Andrew Lloyd Webber also got quite a tan from the broiler...

Theater Review: Stamp of approval for ‘Mauritius’

Mauritius is showcase of talent, story and first-class entertainment.

Theater review: Edward Albee’s ‘At Home at the Zoo’ at A.C.T. San Francisco

A puzzle, I thought, as I peered from my seat at a rectangular white canvas spanning the width of the stage. I waited in anticipation and was soon relieved when the canvas swooshed up revealing a stark white, modern living room. The outlines of various pieces of furniture could only...

Review: ‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ hits all the right road kill

Take some trailer trash, a magic-marker sniffing cowboy, toilet brush wielding hootchie mommas and f-bomb dropping, drifting stripper.

‘Stop Kiss’ at City Lights Theater: A touching play about a meaningful kiss

When you see an animal on the road, do you stop or go forward? Straddle the line or swerve? Kiss or always wonder, "What if...?" Against the backdrop of a disheveled New York apartment and a fast-paced metropolis, Callie (Michelle Beyda), a traffic reporter who despises her job, and Sara...

‘Boleros for the Disenchanted’: A heart-wrenching romance about love and longing

'Boleros for the Disenchanted' starts off set in Miraflores, Puerto Rico in 1953. Flora, a girl in love yet awakening to the first glimpses of its pains, finds out her fiance Manuelo has been rumored to have slept with another girl in the village on multiple occasions. A strong-willed Flora,...

‘Spelling Bee’ musical: A tasty alphabet soup of zingers and tittups

Otherwise misfits, they find comfort in each others quirkiness and love for lexicon.

‘Always… Patsy Cline’: A toe-tapping, good time at the Grand Ole San Jose Stage Company

This musical is about a slice of Patsy Cline's life as seen through the eyes of Louise Seger, a flamboyant and humorous fan of all things Patsy Cline. The band of five and a cast of two, Judith Miller and Marie Shell, took full advantage of the intimate setting of...