Review by Elizabeth Warnimont Special to the Herald Lucas Hnath’s “Red Speedo,” Center Repertory Company’s current production at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, delves into the inner life of a competitive swimmer in an intense format – a single, poolside setting and a short, 80-minute time slot with no break for intermission – that […]
Review: Vallejo Symphony Orchestra opens season with triad of classical compositions
The Vallejo Symphony performed the first concert of its 2017-18 season to a packed house Sunday, celebrating its new permanent home at the Empress Theatre with a trio of classical works spanning the 18th to 19th centuries. Piano soloist Cecile Licad thrilled the packed house with impressive technical proficiency and careful sensitivity in the exciting […]
Review: Starlight Players deliver the ‘Unexpected’
When a stranger appears at her door one foggy evening, the flustered matron of a South Wales estate (Dorian Taylor as Laura Warwick) is forced to think fast. She concocts a hasty story to explain the dead body the visitor has discovered seated in a wheelchair by her window, unwittingly setting in motion a fantastic […]
Review: Suitors shine brightest in Old Town ‘Apparel’
Benicia Old Town Theatre Group (BOTTG) marked the opening of its current production, Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Intimate Apparel,” with an impressive, catered gala at the historic B.D.E.S. Hall on West J Street Friday. The play’s set, a melange of scenes from Teddy Roosevelt-era New York City, extended into the first rows of the audience, […]
Review: Lead ‘Sister’ carries grand high school musical at the Lincoln
Review By Elizabeth Warnimont Special to the Herald Spunky Justin-Siena High School senior Tyler Bertani rocks the lead as young soul singer Deloris Van Cartier in Alan Menken’s musical, “Sister Act,” on stage at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville through April 2. Bertani kills the lead role, but beautifully-choreographed dance numbers (Lisa Clark Schmeling) and […]
Review: B8’s ‘Man’ a well-crafted biopic
B8 Theatre Company is back, and they’ve kicked off their 2017-2018 season with the world premiere of “Man of Letters: A View of Oscar Wilde,” a biographical collage of the words of the late playwright masterfully compiled into a sentimental one-act play by B8 actor and director Alan Cameron. B8 Theatre, formerly Butterfield 8, […]
ON THE STAGE: Napa Playhouse does Coward’s ‘Angels’ right
NAPA VALLEY PLAYHOUSE OPENED NOEL COWARD’S “FALLEN ANGELS,” a comic send-up of marriage and loyalty, to a full crowd at the River Park Shopping Center theater last Friday. Jessica Loesch and Sarah Lundstrom are bright and funny in the lead roles as married friends Julia and Jane, respectively, each easily carrying her part of extensive […]