Arts & Culture :: Theater

Sitcom meets Sondheim

Sitcom meets Sondheim

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Mar 12, 2019

"Steve" is a "Will & Grace"-adjacent dramedy by Mark Gerrard now having its West Coast premiere at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.

BD Wong brings it all home

BD Wong brings it all home

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Mar 5, 2019

Renowned actor and San Francisco native BD Wong returns to his hometown from March 6-31 to star in Lauren Yee's "The Great Leap," a new play at American Conservatory Theater.

Beckett vs. Beefcake

Beckett vs. Beefcake

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Mar 5, 2019

For four performances over the next two weekends, San Francisco's venerable queer Theatre Rhinoceros, which usually mounts its plays at the 175-seat Gateway Theater in Jackson Square, will present its first "pop-up" show in the heart of the Castro.

Flower of old New York

Flower of old New York

  • by Roberto Friedman
  • Mar 5, 2019

42nd Street Moon has struck veritable gold in their current offering, the 1959 Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical "Fiorello!" Out There was happily in the house opening night at the Gateway Theater in San Francisco, where it plays through March 17.

Intimate strangers

Intimate strangers

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Mar 5, 2019

In the opening scene of "Her Portmanteau," playwright Mfoniso Udofia's riveting family drama now at the Strand, we meet Iniabasi Ekpeyong (Eunice Woods) outside JFK Airport.

Rich & powerful 'Hamilton'

Rich & powerful 'Hamilton'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 26, 2019

I finally made it to the room where it happens when "Hamilton" officially opened its second San Francisco engagement last Thursday night.

Time to say goodbye

Time to say goodbye

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 26, 2019

When the original Broadway run of composer Jerry Herman and director Gower Champion's hummable humdinger "Hello, Dolly!" opened way back in 1964, the musical was already a nostalgia-fest.

Williams & Laughlin, more than pen pals

Williams & Laughlin, more than pen pals

  • by Tavo Amador
  • Feb 26, 2019

Edited by Peggy Fox and Thomas Keith, "The Luck of Friendship: The Letters of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin" (Norton, $39.95) chronicles the decades-long relationship between the author and the founder of his publisher New Directions.

Caliphates & catfish

Caliphates & catfish

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 19, 2019

Two forces are at war in "A White Girl's Guide to International Terrorism," a slow, soulful social drama and a hastily paced thriller.

BAM blossoms

BAM blossoms

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 19, 2019

"Violet" is in bloom, and it's a sight to behold. Also, a joy to listen to.

Do we hear a waltz?

Do we hear a waltz?

  • by Philip Campbell
  • Feb 12, 2019

Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," inspired by an Ingmar Bergman movie, endures as one of his most successful shows. It's that "Send in the Clowns" musical, as marketers are quick to remind.

Rory O'Malley on shamrocks & pansies

Rory O'Malley on shamrocks & pansies

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 12, 2019

Rory O'Malley takes the stage at Feinstein's at the Nikko for a two-night run of "Pub Crawl," his deeply personal one-man show, on February 22 & 23.

Surfside existential

Surfside existential

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 5, 2019

"Seascape," Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1975 play, is a crypto-comic riff on the E-train ride from Amoeba to Suburbia.

Eau de Ovid

Eau de Ovid

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 5, 2019

Now playing at the Peet's Theater in a 20th anniversary revival of its original Berkeley Rep production, director and playwright Mary Zimmerman's celebrated interpretation of mythological tales "Metamorphoses" is set around a shimmering pool of water.