Starting Monday, April 25, passers-by may have been noticing a newly installed view bench along the Benicia Bay waterfront trail. The bench was installed over the previous weekend by the city of Benicia in remembrance of Rosie Switzer, a longtime resident and champion of children in town, who died in November. Friends and family of […]
On the Stage: Fresh Danville cast enlivens ‘Streetcar’
THE ROLE PLAYERS ENSEMBLE OF DANVILLE opened its 2015-16 season Friday with a fresh and vital production of the die-hard drama, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Tennessee Williams’s enduring portrait of sexuality and class distinction set in the French Quarter of 1940s New Orleans. Always a quality act, the troupe’s current opener is truly a piece […]
Review: In inaugural performance, ‘Sound Collective’ wows Benicia audience
THE CALIFORNIA SOUND COLLECTIVE performed its inaugural concert to an overflow crowd at the Community Congregational Church in Benicia on Sunday, filling the sanctuary to the gills and flowing over into the church’s spacious lobby and beyond, with standing-room-only just outside the front entrance. The newly established group is an artists’ collective formed in an […]
On the Stage: Area theater calendar picking up in September
THE MONTH OF JULY WAS UNUSUALLY QUIET on the theater front this year. It’s always a light time, since many groups have seasons that follow the school year from September through June. Still, with several recent changes that have forced local companies to either abandon their home venues or reduce their production output, this year’s […]
Review: Perfect date night: Sunset dinner on the Wine Train
THE NAPA VALLEY WINE TRAIN offers a variety of ways to enjoy a ride on the historic train that ambles through the region at a leisurely pace between downtown Napa and Calistoga. Enjoy a wine tasting event on board, stop for a winery tour en route, or take part in a murder mystery dinner. Any […]
On the Stage: Central Works’ ‘Project Ahab’ thoughtfully melds two eras
CENTRAL WORKS OF BERKELEY PRODUCES THEATER IN A SMALL, rectangular meeting room inside the Berkeley City Club. Yet their productions often transport audiences to other worlds as effectively as any full-scale theatrical stage. “Project Ahab; or, Eye of the Whale,” a new musical on stage now through Aug. 23, is no exception — in fact, […]
Lamplighters bring exceptional ‘Pinafore’ to multiple stages in August
LAMPLIGHTERS MUSIC THEATRE opened an exceptionally polished and lively Gilbert and Sullivan musical at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek on Friday. “H.M.S. Pinafore” is the tale of a humble sailor in love with his captain’s daughter, while the captain’s heart in turn is sought by a lowly “bumboat woman” who hawks her wares on […]
On the Stage: Orinda Starlight stages madcap ‘Madness on Madrona Drive’
THE ORINDA STARLIGHT VILLAGE PLAYERS opened Louis Flynn’s madcap satire, “Madness on Madrona Drive,” at the Orinda Community Park amphitheater Friday. The play mocks a sector of suburban America that isn’t as familiar today as it would have been in the 1970s, the modern setting for Flynn’s 1958 play, so for younger audiences at least, […]
San Francisco’s Volti Chorale a highlight of Napa’s summer festival
The Russian National Orchestra, fresh off a plane from Moscow and on the heels of an Asia-wide tour, performed at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville on Saturday as part of Festival del Sole, a 10-day series of special events celebrating the arts in Napa Valley. The orchestra was joined by the San Francisco choir, Volti, […]
On The Stage: Top performers grace ‘Top Girls’ on Ashby stage
The best part of “Top Girls,” a modern play about women’s roles through the ages now showing at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley, is the incredible acting on the parts of all seven female players. Actors’ Equity Association member Kendra Lee Oberhauser commands the role of Marlene, a woman striving to succeed as an office […]