Arts & Culture » Theater
Old friends reunite onstage
Broadway superstar Audra McDonald and Sirius XM radio host Seth Rudetsky will appear together at the Herbst Theatre on Jan. 20 for a lively evening of conversation and song.
Uplifting. Optimistic. Inspiring. You've likely heard these characterizations of "Come From Away," the hit Broadway musical now making its San Francisco debut at the Golden Gate Theatre.
"Paradise Square," the ambitious, long-aborning musical, is now in its latest stage of gestation at Berkeley Rep.
SF Sketchfest, the nationally recognized comedy festival born and bred in San Francisco, brings more than 700 shows to stages around town for 18 days beginning Jan. 10.
A threesome of historical musicals, two shows apiece by two buzzy playwrights, and a festival of one-handers. Here are a few of the forthcoming shows we're most intrigued by as a new year of theater blasts off. 3-2-1!
Paula Poundstone brings her quirky, self-deprecating sense of humor to the Sydney Goldstein Theater (formerly the Nourse) in San Francisco for her annual New Year's Eve show.
This year's African-American Shakespeare Company's seasonal production of "Cinderella" will be directed by Broadway veteran Mark Allan Davis, an openly gay actor, playwright, dancer, lyricist and choreographer.
"The past few weeks, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by social media," admits Ben Levi Ross, entirely aware of the irony in his situation.
The closing scene of "Dear Evan Hansen" brings us to a clearing. The characters assemble before a bright blue scrim of open sky.
Mona Mansour's emotional colloquium of a play "We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War" draws much of its appeal from the warm relationship between its two main characters.
Stars of stage and cabaret will perform on Mon., Dec. 10, at the Marines Memorial Theater in "Help Is on the Way XVII," a gala fundraiser for the Richmond Ermet Aid Foundation.
Straightforward, familiar and enormously satisfying, "A Bronx Tale" is the relatively rare contemporary musical that exudes winning sincerity more than winking self-consciousness.
The West Coast premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's "It's a Wonderful Life" opened at the San Francisco Opera last week to make a picturesque start for the holiday season.
We've turned the corner into the holiday season, so last week Out There attended shows perfect for this time of year.
The impresario and titular star of "Taylor Mac's Holiday Sauce" sashayed downstage to lead his Curran Theater congregation in a rousing rendition of "Oh Holy Night."
Odd to say about a play that touches on the Holocaust, but with its poignant take on family, fiction and hope for the future, "Everything Is Illuminated" offers a lovely welcome to the holiday season.
Nilaja Sun plays four men and five women in her fast-paced, always entertaining solo show "Pike St.," now at the Berkeley Rep.
Red noses over respirator masks. That was the unfortunate fashion trend at last Thursday night's opening of "Volta," the latest touring extravaganza from Cirque du Soleil.
If you've only seen the official CBS-issued online video of Taylor Mac's recent appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," you can't comprehend the extent of costume designer Machine Dazzle's contribution to the proceedings.
In "Cardboard Piano," Hansol Jung's engrossing, idea-dense drama now playing the New Conservatory Theatre Center, 16-year-old girlfriends are forced to face down a double-barreled homophobia.
Watching "Men on Boats," the frontier adventure story now on stage at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater, summons up memories of childhood.
Chita Rivera will be at it again at Feinstein's at the Nikko next week, singing songs and telling tales from throughout her career in a four-show run of her latest cabaret show (including afternoon matinees on Sat., & Sun., Nov. 10 & 11).
A world-premiere family drama by Ashlin Halfnight, developed through Magic's own Virgin Play Festival, touches on suicide, homosexuality and pedophilia.
"Fairview," the exquisitely constructed drama now at Berkeley Rep, requires concentrated observation.
"Waitress," the hit Broadway musical now playing at the Golden Gate Theatre on its first national tour, opens with a chiming refrain.
"Be More Chill," an upbeat, offbeat sci-fi high school musical, with songs by Joe Iconis and a fan-fave featured performance by George Salazar, is a viral sensation.
Rachel Bay Jones' reputation precedes her. Well, sort of.
Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Sweat" defies initial expectations.
Last week Out There was lucky enough to catch two major figures from contemporary LGBT arts & culture live in performance, and to learn what they're up to these days.
Choreographer and performer Monique Jenkinson, in the guise of her drag queen persona Fauxnique, and her longtime partner, electronic composer Marc Kate, will premier their first full collaboration, "Girl," at the Joe Goode Annex.
"Oslo" playwright J.T. Rogers is far less interested in heads of state than in the hearts and minds of the people behind them.