WPLongform

A pauper, a poet, a swordsman, a nose – it’s “Cyrano”!

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Cyrano Production 3_Kevin Berne-cyrano-christian-roxaneBy Ande Jacobson

What do you think of when you hear the name Cyrano de Bergerac? Perhaps you might first think of a protuberance entering well before the man. That name should bring to mind the classic story of unrequited love, mixed with humor, hijinks, and verse written by Edmond Rostand and first performed in 1897. Since then, numerous adaptations have sprung to life on stage and on screen, some with casts of hundreds, and others with casts of dozens. TheatreWorks is honored to present the California premiere of a cozy new adaptation of Rostand’s play translated by Michael Hollinger and adapted by Hollinger and Aaron Posner. This new version keeps all of the poetic beauty of the original and adds even more swordplay. Continue reading →

Praise the simplicity of rural Russian life at The Pear

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UV_5423By Ande Jacobson

Did Anton Chekhov write tragedies? Comedies? Dramas? Dave Sikula has taken a very deep dive into Chekhov’s legacy, writing translations of several of his major works, including The Pear’s current offering, Uncle Vanya. As Sikula noted in a 2013 San Francisco Theater Pub blog post while working on this translation, Chekhov thought his plays were comedies, and he tends to agree with that assessment. Stanislavski, from Chekhov’s time, disagreed and thought his plays were heavy dramas of the darkest order, which is reputed to have driven Chekhov to distraction. So what is Uncle Vanya? Continue reading →

Playing at light speed – the music behind “Driven”

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titleBy Ande Jacobson

Have you ever watched an animated film and while watching the film thought, “This is great music!” Have you then wondered how that music came to be, and which came first, the animation, or the music? After all, something had to come first.

If the music came first, then the animators would have a timeline to fill, perhaps forcing the story to stretch, or to shrink, to match the music. On the other hand, if the animation came first, then the music would have to fit like a glove, leaving no room for error. Continue reading →

Hershey Felder brings “The American Mozart” to life at TheatreWorks

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HersheyFelder as IrvingBerlin8_EightyEightEntertainmentBy Ande Jacobson

Israel Isidore Baline became an American legend though he was known worldwide by a different name – Irving Berlin. Hershey Felder brings Berlin to life on stage in Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, a one-man show that he both wrote and performs in as it now enjoys its Northern California regional premiere at TheatreWorks. Continue reading →

The Pear explores communication complexities in “Tribes”

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pear-tribes-sylvia-billyBy Ande Jacobson

The Pear makes quite a statement with its current production of Tribes, by Nina Raine. Humans are by nature tribal, i.e., as a species, we tend to gather based on some kind of commonality. That commonality can be defined in many ways such as being descended from a common ancestor, forming a community of common customs and traditions, following a common leader, or any other distinction that provides a basis for cohesion. Within a given tribe, there’s usually some form of hierarchy, and in modern times, it’s common for someone to belong to a number of tribes. Continue reading →

A house collided

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Country House Production 12_Kevin BerneBy Ande Jacobson

Life is theatre, and theatre is life. TheatreWorks opens its 2015/2016 season with the Northern California premiere of Donald Margulies’ Broadway hit, The Country House. The play is an homage to Chekhov’s The Seagull and Uncle Vanya with many parallels in character, setting, and subtext, modernized to current time. Margulies’ writing is witty and relatable, and it keeps the audience engaged, at times laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all. Continue reading →

Buckle up for an emotional ride with BBB’s “West Side Story”

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bbb-wss-at-danceBy Ande Jacobson

West Side Story first hit the Broadway stage in 1957, and this famous musical, with book by Arthur Larents and music by Leonard Bernstein, gave the youthful lyricist, Stephen Sondheim, his Broadway debut. The show was groundbreaking, particularly for its explosive action, and it was nominated for six Tony Awards. While the show won for Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design, alas, it lost the Best Musical Award to Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Most theatre or movie aficionados are familiar with the show, its plot bringing the classic story of Romeo and Juliet to the current era when it debuted. Today, its tale of the star-crossed lovers from opposite gangs forms a period piece, keeping the tension and angst of the time alive, and Broadway By The Bay’s production is one to be treasured. Continue reading →

Chaos is timeless

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pear-arcadia-1By Ande Jacobson

Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard, is Pear Avenue Theatre’s final production in its Pear Avenue performance space, and this is one not to be missed. The play is claimed by many in the critical community to be Stoppard’s finest, with timeless themes and witty dialog that will keep audiences enthralled from start to finish. Continue reading →

Georges captures the many colors of life

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Sunday in the Park Production 5_David AllenBy Ande Jacobson

Foothill Music Theatre just opened their production of a rarely done, but arguably the most ethereal show in the Sondheim canon, Sunday in the Park with George – a musical based on the Georges Seurat painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The painting is surreal, an example of Seurat’s Pointillism technique that was a vivid departure from the approach used by the impressionists of his time. Pointillism is essentially a mosaic of complementary colors that, when viewed at a distance, causes the brain to fuse the colors and register a complex color, such as seeing violet emerge when only blue and red are actually painted. Likewise, this first collaboration between composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and playwright and director James Lapine whisks the audience members into a surreal world of color and light worthy of Seurat. Continue reading →

It builds!

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www.siliconvalleydesigns.comBy Ande Jacobson

Build, by Michael Golamco, is enjoying its Northern California premiere at City Lights Theater Company. In his previous career, Golamco was a software developer, but now he’s a veteran writer for stage and screen. He is currently one of the staff writers for the television show Grimm, though unlike Grimm, there aren’t any monsters in Build. The play is rife with storytelling and technology, and the script presented City Lights with several significant challenges. Fortunately director Lisa Mallette and the rest of her creative staff were able to meet those challenges head-on. Continue reading →