That Shakespeare is one groovy guy, man. For centuries, enterprising directors have taken the Bard of Avon’s work and twisted and pulled it like so much theatrical taffy. But the thing about Shakespeare is this: He’s a big boy. He can take it. Do what you will with his work, ye directors of grand imagination. [...]
Home > November, 2007
Shakespeare’s groovy `Night’
Posted by Chad Jones on 29 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
Broadway says hello, Dolly!
Posted by Chad Jones on 28 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
OK, I know this isn’t local, but I’m still excited about it. And it’s in our state and time zone, so technically it’s local. Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles recently announced that it will host the world premiere of 9 to 5, the Broadway-bound musical based on the 1980 movie starring Lily Tomlin, Jane [...]
A very diva weekend with Jennifer & Latifah
Posted by Chad Jones on 26 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
This weekend just past in San Francisco was a good one for those of us who savor larger-than-life lady singers. On Saturday, Jennifer Holliday, the Tony Award-winning original Effie Melody White in Dreamgirls, made a rare concert appearance in San Francisco. The Herbst Theatre was jam packed with Holliday lovers, though the show started out [...]
Local `Jersey’ boy
Posted by Chad Jones on 23 Nov 07 - 2 Comments
It’s not often that a performer goes from gigs at the Willows Theatre Company in Concord, TheatreWorks in Mountain View and Pleasanton Playhouse in Pleasanton to one of the hottest Broadway musicals in recent memory. That’s exactly what has happened to Jeff Leibow (above, left), a former Pleasanton resident who now lives with his wife, [...]
Review: `The Crowd You’re in With’
Archived in the category: Charles Shaw Robinson, Lorri Holt, Magic Theatre, Rebecca Gilman, local theater, plays, theater review
Posted by Chad Jones on 20 Nov 07 - 1 Comment
Opened Nov. 17, 2007 at the Magic Theatre Gilman’s Crowd stands out Four stars Pleasingly provocative There aren’t many plays, especially new plays, that stick with you days after seeing them. Rebecca Gilman’s The Crowd You’re in With, which had its world premiere last weekend at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, is, in many ways, an [...]
Jennifer Holliday: Happy at last
Posted by Chad Jones on 20 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
For Jennifer Holliday, the original Effie White in Broadway’s Dreamgirls, life has had its share of nightmare moments. Only 19 when the tumultuous Dreamgirls development process began, and 21 when the show opened in 1981, Holliday became an instant Broadway legend as soon as audiences heard her sing the show’s standout anthem, “And I Am [...]
Remembering Cathy Schutz
Posted by Chad Jones on 18 Nov 07 - 5 Comments
Cathy Schutz, my dear friend, co-worker and fellow theater lover died on Saturday. We met 10 years ago when I started as the theater critic for what was then called the Alameda Newspaper Group, which was then ANG Newspapers and is now Bay Area News Group-East Bay. She was one of my editors and the [...]
Enthooza for `Kooza’
Posted by Chad Jones on 17 Nov 07 - 2 Comments
Opened Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 in San Francisco Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza thrills more than chills Three stars Killer `Wheel of Death’ I can be a jerk about Cirque — I fell out of love with Cirque du Soleil, even though I wanted our affair to continue. I suppose it’s all a matter of over-exposure [...]
Bring [title of show] to SF!
Archived in the category: Broadway, Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, [title of show], local theater, musicals, theater news
Posted by Chad Jones on 17 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
There’s nothing more fun than an underdog musical. [title of show] is just such a musical. It’s essentially a small (five-people, counting the keyboardist) musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. It’s all very “meta” as the kids say. As creators Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell describe it, it’s [...]
The `irk’ in Cirque
Archived in the category: Bill Irwin, Cirque du Soleil, David Shiner, Ka, Kooza, Love, O, theater news
Posted by Chad Jones on 15 Nov 07 - 0 Comments
It could be that I have been burned by the Circus of the Sun. Now, I fully realize there are worse things to suffer in life than weariness of Cirque du Soleil, the phenomenally successful new-age Canadian circus troupe. And I also realize that to be weary of Cirque means I’ve had the great good [...]
