Exploring the varied results of the Reardons’ rearing

September 1, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little review, Carson Duper, Dragon Theatre, Jean Conger, Jon Toussaint, Jonathan Covey, Kelly Rinehart, Kyle Wood, Lessa Bouchard, Mary Lou Torre, Paul Zindel, reader, Ruth E. Stein, Sheila Ellam, Shereen Merriam, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Paul Zindel’s And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little isn’t your typical play although the plot is largely drawn from Zindel’s experience. He credits his early years with his eventually becoming a writer. He often retreated into his imagination to escape the drudgery of his family life after his father deserted them. He also had fortuitous timing as an undergraduate in taking a creative writing class taught by playwright Edward Albee who later became Zindel’s valued mentor and friend. Although Zindel majored in chemistry, spent some time in industry, and later taught high school chemistry, he indulged his love of writing in his spare time. After his death, his New York Times obituary reported, “…he never went to the theater, he said, until he was already a published playwright.” Continue reading →

All’s fair in families and politics

August 26, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Alexander Dodge, James Sutorious, Jon Robin Baitz, Julia Brothers, Kandis Chappell, Kate Turnbull, Other Desert Cities review, Richard Seer, Rod Brogan, TheatreWorks, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

TheatreWorks opens the 2013/2014 season with another Regional Premiere – Jon Robin Baitz’ Other Desert Cities. Baitz’ title was inspired by a California freeway sign and two cities in the Middle East. The freeway sign is an odd one along Interstate 10 near Palm Springs where most of the story takes place; the cities are Baghdad and Kabul in reference to a war that figures prominently in the plotline. Topical, volatile, and political only partially describe the tone of this production. Between the witty writing, dramatic theme, superb cast, and gorgeous set, this production is a find equal to a lush desert oasis. There’s no doubt that audiences are in for a gripping evening of theatre. Continue reading →

Finding happiness where you can

August 17, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Courtney Walsh, Don DeMico, Happy Days review, reader, Rush Rehm, Samuel Beckett review, SST 2013, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Samuel Beckett has been described as an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet known for his use of dark humor, absurd situations, and extreme precision in his writing. The second stage production of Stanford Summer Theater 2013 is Beckett’s Happy Days, a play that’s billed as a comedy “unparalleled in its comic precision and deep humor.” Some may quibble with that description, but for Beckett aficionados this is a “not to be missed” production. For those not so enamored, it could make for a very tedious evening. Continue reading →

The Devil is in the details

July 28, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Catherine Snider, Damn Yankees review, Daniel Mitchell, FMT, Foothill Music Theatre, Jeff Clarke, Jen Wheatonfox, Katie O'Bryon, Mary Melnick, Matt Tipton, reader, Tom Gough, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

The boys of summer keep the balls flying and the bats swinging, and Foothill Music Theatre combines with Foothill College Theatre Arts to capture the spirit of baseball in their energetic production of a longtime Broadway favorite, Damn Yankees. Director Tom Gough has large shoes to fill as he grabs the reins after Foothill Music Theatre thrived under its originator, Jay Manley, for over 30 years. This year for the first summer production under his guidance, Gough states in his program notes that he gravitated toward a show that combined three of his favorite things: baseball, live theatre, and the Faust legend. Gough’s drive and love of the theatre program have kept the FMT summer tradition alive for audiences to enjoy. Continue reading →

“Superior Donuts” serves up more than “dessert cakes”

June 30, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Alonzo Cook, Ann Kuchins, Brandon Jackson, Chase Kinsey, Christopher Carter, Doug Brook, Durand Garcia, Gordon and Jeanie Smith, Patricia Tyler, Ray Renati, reader, Richard Branden, Ron Gasparinetti, Stephanie Crowley, Superior Donuts review, The Pear review, Tracy Letts, Valerie Clear, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Playwright and actor Tracy Letts describes Superior Donuts as involving a “clash of cultures”. Letts intersperses some light moments and witty exchanges between several colorful and diverse characters with some darker, more serious situations. Much of the story provides background on unseen family members and circumstances that encumber, or scar the visible characters. The play is well written, and right from the start, the action turns the quaint little donut shop on its head. In the first blackout at the top of the show, the shop is transformed from a neatly kept eatery into a disheveled establishment with chairs overturned, rubbish strewn everywhere, and graffiti on the wall. Continue reading →

Happiness is remembering a mother’s love

June 10, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Colman Domingo, Danny Scheie, Duane Boutte, reader, Richard Prioleau, Sharon Washington, TheatreWorks, West Coast Premiere, Wild With Happy review, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Losing your mother is tough. Things can sometimes be a bit surreal as you try to deal with that loss while fanciful memories flood your mind at the most inopportune times – like when you’re at the funeral home trying to make final arrangements. Mix all that with a sideways Cinderella story, and you have actor and playwright Colman Domingo’s Wild With Happy which just opened at TheatreWorks in its West Coast Premiere. Continue reading →

The night smiles three times

May 12, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review A Little Night Music review, Alicia Teeter, Cameron Weston, Christine Macomber, Dennis Lickteig, Gregory Van Sudmeier, Hillbarn Theatre review, Jack Mosbacher, Leah Kalish, Lee Ann Payne, Nicolette Norgaard, reader, Sarah Griner, Sondheim review, William Gianmmona, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Hillbarn Theatre Company’s latest offering is A Little Night Music which opened on Friday, 10 May. This highly acclaimed Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler musical, suggested by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, follows the lives and loves of several mismatched couples in early 20th Century Sweden. As Sondheim recalls in his memoir Finishing the Hat, director Harold Prince once described A Little Night Music as “whipped cream with knives.” An apt description as the plotline is both sweet and sharp. Sondheim claims he focused on the knives and spent his energy pursuing his dream of writing a “Theme and Variations,” in this case, using a metric theme, or more specifically a triple-meter theme exploring the myriad options available to him beyond the waltz. Continue reading →

East meets west in “Miss Saigon”

April 29, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Adrien Gleason, Brian Palac, Broadway version of Madame Butterfly, Jennifer Gorgulho, Katherine Dela Cruz, Lindsay Stark, Matthew Mattei, Miss Saigon review, Palo Alto Players, Patrick Klein, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Palo Alto Players (PAP) tackles a classic story with their production of Miss Saigon, by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Richard Maltby, Jr., which is based on Giacomo Puccini’s tragedy, Madama Butterfly, about a doomed romance between an Asian woman and her American GI lover. The modern version keeps the drama and concept on which Puccini’s opera was based but modernizes the story and brings it to Vietnam, and PAP makes a valiant effort to stay faithful to the script. Overall, it’s a production worth seeing in spite of a few shortcomings. Continue reading →

Sister and brother, mother and son, and a journey through time

March 17, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Alicia Teeter, Andrew Lippa, Hillbarn Theatre review, Jay Manley, John & Jen review, theatre about siblings, Tom Greenwald, William Giammona, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

Hillbarn Theatre’s latest offering, John & Jen, is best described as a chamber musical. Written by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald, the show calls for two actors and three musicians to bring the audience the winding story of Jen Tracy and the two Johns in her life. Alicia Teeter plays Jen, and William Giammona plays her baby brother and her son, both named John. The story covers almost 40 years from 1952 to 1990, and as the plot unfolds, we see humor, pathos, and drama, all in slightly less than 2 hours. In the beginning, Jen is 6 and her baby brother is a newborn. At the end, she’s 44 and her son is 18 and just getting ready to start college. Continue reading →

How far does the apple fall?

February 24, 2013September 11, 2015 A Good Reed Review Review Diane Tasca, Paul Braverman, Pear Ave world premiere, reader, The Apple Never Falls review, The Pear review, WPLongform

By Ande Jacobson

The Pear welcomes the world premiere of Paul Braverman’s latest work, The Apple Never Falls, as their current offering. Take a trip into 1964 Boston at the height of the Boston Strangler’s reign of terror in this film noir style story following Frankie Payne, a hard-boiled detective turned private eye. Per her client’s wishes, she investigates the murders attributed to the Strangler, searching for clues, and in the process, evaluating relationships, heredity, and furthering the age-old nature/nurture debate. This is a sequel of sorts to Braverman’s first Frankie Payne adventure, No Good Deed, which debuted at The Pear in early 2011. Braverman’s writing is fun, and being firmly planted in the noir genre, he smacks you with some twists that you don’t see coming, although the clues are there if you know where to look. Continue reading →

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