Arts & Culture :: Theater

Curtains up, and out: Theater through the decades

Curtains up, and out: Theater through the decades

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Mar 31, 2021

If you search the word "theater" in the archives of the Bay Area Reporter, you'll discover plenty of features and reviews. A few productions with LGBT themes stand out.

Back to Baton: five decades of opera & symphony stories

Back to Baton: five decades of opera & symphony stories

  • by Philip Campbell
  • Mar 30, 2021

Philip Campbell summates 50 years of the Bay Area Reporter's classical music and opera coverage, noting examples and adding personal remarks to recount his four decades of contribution.

The B.A.R.'s decades of stars

The B.A.R.'s decades of stars

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Mar 30, 2021

From the beginning, the Bay Area Reporter has covered celebrities, both Broadway and Hollywood stars. many have indeed sat down with us for a chat. There are many such examples in the B.A.R. archives.

Heartfelt, harrowing work: Queer Black theater in the Bay Area

Heartfelt, harrowing work: Queer Black theater in the Bay Area

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Mar 9, 2021

Playwrights, actors and voices in support of the arts, queer Black artists are bringing heartfelt and sometimes harrowing work to the Bay Area and national theater scene in the week ahead with streaming audio and video productions.

All hail the kings: drag show's Zoomin'

All hail the kings: drag show's Zoomin'

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Feb 16, 2021

Names like Mo B. Dick and Sexy Galexy will grace your computer screens when Drag King Legends takes to Zoom on Feb. 21 at 5pm. Kings with 25 years or more experience will be honored in a show that promises to be informative, exciting, and entertaining.

Just Say Yeston! - musical theatre composer Maury Yeston

Just Say Yeston! - musical theatre composer Maury Yeston

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Feb 16, 2021

Maury Yeston, the composer behind Tony Award winners 'Nine,' 'Titanic,' and what has come to be known as the "other" 'Phantom of the Opera,' has two new recordings of his best and rarely heard songs.

Miami rhapsody: Regina King's powerful film adaptation of Kemp Powers' play

Miami rhapsody: Regina King's powerful film adaptation of Kemp Powers' play

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Feb 16, 2021

'One Night in Miami...' is a fictional dramatization inspired by true events that bring together four men from different backgrounds whose contributions to Black culture continues to resonate to the present day.

Post-play parley: 'The Catastrophist' and 'Hi, Are You Single?' discuss diseases and disability

Post-play parley: 'The Catastrophist' and 'Hi, Are You Single?' discuss diseases and disability

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 9, 2021

Remember chatting after the curtain call? Marin Theater Company's online staging of Lauren Gunderson's 'The Catastrophist' and "goofy-cute" Ryan J.Haddad's autobiographical 'Hi, Are You Single?' will make you crave a post-performance discussion.

Mr. Broadway: Seth Rudetsky's multiple shows keep us entertained

Mr. Broadway: Seth Rudetsky's multiple shows keep us entertained

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Feb 9, 2021

Cohosting YouTube shows with his husband with guests in theatre, television and film, plus composers and health officials, since March 2020, has been an amazing, if not dizzying, accomplishment for the multi-talented Seth Rudetsky.

The stage's broad reach: 'The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey' at Cinnabar Theater

The stage's broad reach: 'The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey' at Cinnabar Theater

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jan 19, 2021

San Franciscans have had rare opportunities to catch exciting new shows performed in London and New York without traveling, even as nearby as Petaluma, where the gay-themed 'The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey' will stream for online audiences.

A riveting Ma Rainey: Viola Davis stars in marvelous music biopic

A riveting Ma Rainey: Viola Davis stars in marvelous music biopic

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Jan 12, 2021

The first few moments of 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' are electrifying. It's 1927 in rural Georgia. Hundreds of people, all of them Black, are lined up at the entrance to a huge tent. Inside, Ma Rainey, the Mother of the Blues, is singing her heart out.

Man on stage: Tom DeTrinis rages on

Man on stage: Tom DeTrinis rages on

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jan 11, 2021

Call it serial monology. Los Angeles-based comic actor and writer Tom DeTrinis' new one-man show, 'Making Friends,' streaming through January 18, is the latest link in a director-actor trio of productions.

When Marlene played the Bay: Dietrich's Concerts were a sensation

When Marlene played the Bay: Dietrich's Concerts were a sensation

  • by Michael Flanagan
  • Jan 5, 2021

The opportunity to see Marlene Dietrich in person came 23 years after her U.S. film dbut. In 1953 the Sahara Las Vegas offered her $30,000 per week to perform. And so her career as a cabaret singer was born. The film star later performed in San Francisco.

Danielle Willis: 'Dogs in Lingerie' author reflects on 30-year anniversary

Danielle Willis: 'Dogs in Lingerie' author reflects on 30-year anniversary

  • by Steven Reigns
  • Dec 28, 2020

Danielle Willis's collection of poetry and prose 'Dogs in Lingerie' came out three decades ago. The author, who had porcelain fang implants, stripped, did porn and pro-dom work, caused quite a San Francisco literary sensation in the 1990s.