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).