Arts & Culture :: Theater

Cinema's stepchild: 'The 39 Steps'

Cinema's stepchild: 'The 39 Steps'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Sep 3, 2019

If you take the trouble to watch Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film adaptation of John Buchan's 1915 novel the evening before attending the stage version of "The 39 Steps," it will prove considerably more ingenious.

Jump into the SF Fringe Festival

Jump into the SF Fringe Festival

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Aug 27, 2019

The annual San Francisco Fringe Festival returns to the Exit Theatre for a 28th year with an eclectic mix of memoir, magic, music and movement on three small stages from Sept. 5-14.

Opera from the far left edge: West Edge Opera

Opera from the far left edge: West Edge Opera

  • by Philip Campbell
  • Aug 20, 2019

Challenged by production costs, complicated site procurement, and a problematical performance space, West Edge Opera Festival 2019 can still be called a success.

Dramatically incompetent

Dramatically incompetent

  • by Roberto Friedman
  • Aug 20, 2019

The arrival of farce and slapstick on Bay Area boards seems particularly well-timed for our historical moment.

Motherhood finds the class divide

Motherhood finds the class divide

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Aug 20, 2019

Provocative, poignant, funny and fleet, "Cry It Out" is a refreshing work of just-slightly-heightened social realism.

Tonal tightrope in 'House of Joy'

Tonal tightrope in 'House of Joy'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Aug 13, 2019

Audiences attending "House of Joy," opening at the California Shakespeare Theater this week, can expect swashbuckling action, eye-pleasing pageantry and old-time theatrical thrills.

Marga Gomez's 'Who's Your Mami?'

Marga Gomez's 'Who's Your Mami?'

  • by Rae Raucci
  • Aug 6, 2019

For comedian Marga Gomez, coming to queer comedy happened at an early age. So it only made sense to put together her own type of live comedy series. "Who's Your Mami?" comedy is coming to Brava Theater Center's Cabaret.

Tony Yazbeck taps in

Tony Yazbeck taps in

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Aug 6, 2019

When Tony Yazbeck takes the stage at Feinstein's at the Nikko on Aug. 15 & 16, you'll get the expected singing and storytelling, but you'll also get tap-dancing, a craft infrequently plied on the small-to-non-existent stages of cabaret venues.

Fiddling through a difficult history

Fiddling through a difficult history

  • by Roberto Friedman
  • Jul 23, 2019

The opening-night film for the 39th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival lit up the Castro Theatre screen last Thursday night.

Take part & stay still: 'Kill Move Paradise'

Take part & stay still: 'Kill Move Paradise'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jul 16, 2019

In "Kill Move Paradise," directed here by Darryl V. Jones, playwright James Ijames emphasizes the commonalities of his four protagonists more than their differences.

Come to this 'Cabaret'

Come to this 'Cabaret'

  • by Roberto Friedman
  • Jul 9, 2019

"Cabaret" is one of those shows that just won't go away. Nor should it.

'Hairspray': Uplift, SF-style

'Hairspray': Uplift, SF-style

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jul 9, 2019

I'd already been grinning for a good 10 minutes when the cast of Bay Area Musicals' joyful production of "Hairspray" launched into the civic swoon of their opening anthem, "Good Morning Baltimore."

Terrence McNally, a life in the theatre

Terrence McNally, a life in the theatre

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jul 9, 2019

"I'm of the school 'Write what you know.' You can educate yourself, but the best writing usually comes from the heart," says playwright Terrence McNally.

'Passion' is a compelling creep show

'Passion' is a compelling creep show

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jul 2, 2019

Love and misery intertwine to the point of strangulation in the delectably creepy "Passion" (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine), now playing in the appropriately claustrophobic confines of the Custom Made Theatre.