Andrew Harkins as Stanley & Meredith Hagedorn* as Blanche (member of Actors’ Equity Association)
By Ande Jacobson
Tennessee Williams is acclaimed by critics and his colleagues alike as one of America’s greatest playwrights with works including “The Glass Menagerie”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, and his groundbreaking 1948 Pulitzer Prize winner, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, which is Dragon Productions’ current show. Arthur Miller wrote in Regarding Streetcar, his 2004 introduction to New Directions Books’ edition of “Streetcar”, that it was Williams’ “writing itself that left one excited and elevated” as he described his own experience when first seeing the play in 1947. Continue reading →
Continuing its 2011 summer repertory series, California Theatre Center (CTC) adds “Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee” to the mix. Originally written as a three-act play by Christie in 1930, and incidentally the only Christie play featuring her indelible detective Hercule Poirot, this is a production not to be missed. While it’s a little formulaic as part of the murder mystery genre, Poirot’s application of his “little gray cells” and gentle humor keep the audience enthralled through his final resolution. Continue reading →
The Washington Post includes Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” as part of an inner circle of ground-breaking American plays. Pear Avenue Theatre closes its Americana season with Hansberry’s landmark work and treats it with the deference and appreciation it deserves. Continue reading →
West Valley Light Opera (WVLO) is bringing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved family classic, The Sound of Music, to the Saratoga Civic Theater soon. The show opens Saturday, 25 June and will run Fridays – Sundays through Saturday, 23 July. Continue reading →
Commedia dell’arte, or “comedy of craft” is an old Italian style of theatre born of several stock characters related to specific social types, e.g. a merchant, a doctor, a servant, etc. Physical comedy is standard within this genre, and so it is with California Theatre Center’s latest installment of their summer repertory series. Originally written by Carlo Goldoni in 1743, The Servant of Two Masters is intended as a farce as it chronicles the antics of Truffaldino, a servant who finds himself in the employ of two masters, although the story starts before he and the audience are introduced. Continue reading →
(From LtoR) Noel Wood (Passepartout), Charlie Shoemaker (Detective Fix), Justin Karr (Phileas Fogg) and Hilary Ann Stevens (Aouda)
By Ande Jacobson
California Theatre Center’s 28th Summer Repertory season opener, Around the World in 80 Days, adapted by Mark Brown and based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, is quite a trip. Intending to appeal to the widest possible audience – children and adults alike – Brown adapted Verne’s story into his stage play and published his work in August 2007. Originally requiring only four men and one woman in the cast, any number of actors up to 39 could be employed. Continue reading →
(From LtoR) Noel Wood (Passepartout), Charlie Shoemaker (Detective Fix), Justin Karr (Phileas Fogg) and Hilary Ann Stevens (Aouda)
By Ande Jacobson
California Theatre Center’s 28th Summer Repertory season opens this Friday, 3 June, with Around the World in 80 Days, adapted by Mark Brown and based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name. Verne’s story chronicles Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout on their 80-day, around the world journey, all in an effort to win an unlikely wager. Set in the days before air travel or rapid ocean vessels, this seems an impossible task for our heroes, but it should be fun to watch as they risk life and limb to cover all seven continents within their allotted timeframe.
CTC Resident Director, Will Huddleston, has pulled together a dexterous cast of 6 actors to play 39 parts using all manor of theater invoking quick changes, puppetry, and shadow play, along with sound effects provided by the actors onstage.
Around the World in 80 Days will run performances on June 2 (Preview), 3 (Opening) 4, 18 & 30, and July 8, 14, & 22 at 7:30pm; and June 12 & 18 and July 10 at 3:00pm. I’ll be there on opening night to catch the start of the season, so look for my review soon.
Note that the full repertory season includes Around the World in 80 Days in rotation with three other plays through late July including: Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee, The Servant of Two Masters, and The Emperor’s New Clothes, the last one suitable for children of all ages.
All performances will be held at the Sunnyvale Theatre – Sunnyvale Community Center, 550 E Remington Drive, (between El Camino Real and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd) in Sunnyvale. Single tickets range from $10 – $25. Discounts are available for students, seniors and groups of 6 or more. For tickets and more information, call the CTC Summer Rep Box Office at 408-720-0873, or visit www.ctcinc.org.
Playwright Lisa Loomer’s Distracted at the City Lights Theater Company is many things: a commentary on the Attention Deficit Disorder epidemic pervading today’s society, a view into the social morays surrounding the malady, and an intelligent and whimsical play bringing into focus the myriad distractions of those dealing with a loved one so afflicted. Treating a serious subject with humor and artistic flair, this is a production worth seeing as it chronicles a mother’s quest to do right by her son. Be forewarned though, due to strong language and adult content, Distracted is not appropriate for young children. Continue reading →
Next up on A Good Reed Review’s docket is this weekend’s opening of playwright Lisa Loomer’s Distracted at the City Lights Theater Company. A virtual epidemic today, Attention Deficit Disorder will be brought to the stage and explored from many points of view. Treated with humor and whimsy, this promises to be an entertaining production. Continue reading →
South Bay Musical Theatre (SBMT) closes its current season with Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s Mack and Mabel which chronicles a fictionalized account of the real-life relationship between silent film director Mack Sennett, best known for his Keystone Kops, and his find, Mabel Normand. Continue reading →
A Good Reed Review 