NAPA’S LUCKY PENNY PRODUCTIONS OPENED A RAUCOUS — AND RISQUE — production of “Bonnie & Clyde,” the 2009 musical about the infamous gun-slinging Depression-era lovers, to a moderate opening night crowd Friday. Lucky Penny co-producer Taylor Bartolucci portrays the central character, sex-crazed rural Texas waitress Bonnie Parker, painted here as starry-eyed and impulsive yet astute […]
Contra Costa’s ‘Music Man’ has Broadway feel
CONTRA COSTA MUSICAL THEATRE OPENED A STUNNING PRODUCTION of Meredith Wilson’s 1957 hit musical, “The Music Man” at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek Friday. Actors’ Equity Association member Noel Anthony headlines as charismatic shyster Harold Hill, but it’s Kelly Britt who wows the audience with her sugary-sweet voice in the role […]
On the Stage: Bay Area Stage company nails ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
BAY AREA STAGE PUT ON AN EXCEPTIONAL SHOWING OF “To Kill a Mockingbird” on opening night last Friday at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum. Co-producers Jeff Lowe and Stacey Loew bring a super-talented cast and accomplished crew to the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, adding up to a moving performance that paints a clear picture of […]
On the Stage: Deep impact from company’s subterranean Shakespeare
IMPACT THEATRE OF BERKELEY PUTS ON A DULY CREEPY ACT in the basement space below La Val’s Pizza in Berkeley as the company presents Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” following the bloody trail of the infamous royal’s crazed climb to power in 15th-century England. The ailing King Edward’s marriage has come into question, so his children may […]
On the Stage: Lack of connection between players hurts Verismo effort
VERISMO OPERA COMPANY OF VALLEJO is currently staging Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at the Bay Terrace Theatre in Vallejo. The story is simple, so it was easy to follow the English supertitles Saturday without losing sight of the action on the stage. What did distract from the magic, though, was an awkward lack of connection among […]
Benicia Ballet, SONC enhance each other on stage
WHAT IF THE SYMPHONY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA were to invite Benicia Ballet Theatre to join them in a concert of music and dance? Sounds like a splendid idea — and in fact it turned out beautifully for both when the two companies performed “Crossing the Lines” at Solano College Theatre in Fairfield last weekend. Former […]
On the Stage: Center Rep’s ‘Book Club’ an interesting mix
CENTER REPERTORY COMPANY OF WALNUT CREEK takes on something new and different in presenting award-winning playwright Karen Zacarias’s 2009 spoof, “The Book Club Play.” It’s a play about the making of a documentary, following the activities of a group of adults who meet twice a month to discuss their selected book. The show, which continues […]
On the Stage: Danville’s ‘Ladies Man’ is wacky fun
ROLE PLAYERS ENSEMBLE OF DANVILLE IS CURRENTLY STAGING Charles Morey’s “The Ladies Man,” a high-octane situation comedy set in Belle Epoque Paris in which “one tiny, little lie” turns into a riot of ridiculous circumstances. “Ladies Man” is chock full of mockery, deception and mistaken identities — plenty of fodder for laughs — but while […]
On the Stage: Power of story carries ‘Panhandle’ at Live Oak
WALTER DAVIS WROTE THE MUSICAL “PANHANDLE,” a play about how one small community in Texas was devastated by a series of catastrophic events around the time of the Great Depression, as a college project in 1972, together with musician Jeremy Sullivan and composer Marc Ream. Davis has won numerous awards for “Panhandle” and other written […]
On the Stage: 2 women star in City Club’s 1-woman tour de force
THE RELEASE OF AN ENORMOUS COLLECTION OF CORRESPONDENCE between former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok in 1978 set off a renewed flurry of speculation concerning the nature of the women’s relationship. In “HICK: A Love Story,” currently enjoying a four-week run at the Berkeley City Club after a successful San Francisco debut […]