http://www.theaterdogs.net San Francisco Bay Area backstage Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:27:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Pictured from left: Daveed Diggs, Traci Tolmaire, Margo Hall and Dwight Huntsman in the world premiere of Chinaka Hodge's Mirrors in Every Corner at Intersection for the Arts. Photos by Pak Han  Watching the audience on stage at Intersection for the Arts was a stunning experience. Sometimes theater companies trying to ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/03/03/intersection-breaks-walls-audience-follows/ Omoze Idehenre and Manoel Felciano in American Conservatory Theater's The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Photo by Kevin Berne Theater is musical even when it's not necessarily musical theater. At the very least, you're likely to hear music in the lobby before and after the show or at intermission. People sing on stage, ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/03/01/no-tune-like-a-show-tune/ Opera's not really my bag, but I had a fantastic time reviewing West Bay Opera's Der Freischütz for the Palo Alto Weekly. The short run ended today (Sunday, Feb. 28), but the review lives on forever. Read it here and please enjoy this photo from the production. Eric Coyne is Kuno, ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/28/a-night-at-the-opera-with-funny-freischtz/ The original cast of [title of show] included (from left) Heidi Blickenstaff, Hunter Bell (seated), Jeff Bowen (top), and Susan Blackwell. [title of show] will be presented as part of the 2010-2011 season at TheatreWorks. Photo by Carol Rosegg If the new TheatreWorks season only contained[title of show], I would ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/18/theatreworks-2010-11-season-is-a-wow/ EXTENDED THROUGH MARCH 27! The last major magic show to hit the Bay Area theater scene involved Siegfried and Roy giving their stamp of magical approval to a kid who sang show tunes while doing fairly lame tricks. It's no wonder that magic gets such a bad rap for being such ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/14/now-and-at-the-hour-is-time-well-spent/ Curtains, the final collaboration of legendary John Kander and Fred Ebb (Rupert Holmes came in to finish the show after Ebb’s death), is finally taking a Bay Area bow. Diablo Theatre Company (formerly Diablo Light Opera Company) opens the show tonight (Feb. 12) at the Lesher Center for the Arts in ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/12/it%e2%80%99s-curtains-for-diablo-theatre-company/ Consider the last couple years in the life of local director Mike Ward. He received a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination for best director and he was nominated for the prestigious Ockrent Fellowship for Broadway. Oh, and he almost died several times. Ward says he had a ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/09/mike-wards-year-of-livingdying-dangerously/ Above: Kara Emry and William McMichael get Shanghaied in Pearls Over Shanghai. Below: Eric Wertz and Steven Satyricon dream of "un bel di."Photos by David Wilson Mash up Beach Blanket Babylon with Miss Saigon, throw in every bad Oriental exotica movie ever made, season with Ziggy Stardust and The Rocky Horror ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/08/glitter-and-be-shanghai-gay/ The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews, 1965. TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection.  Back in the dark ages of VHS, I remember being thrilled when I could actually buy The Sound of Music and watch it whenever I wanted, not just on ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/06/bless-my-blu-ray-forever/ There's bad news aplenty in the world, so it's always nice to discover some bright spots of good news, especially in the theater world. San Francisco playwright Trevor Allen, who had a sizable hit last fall with his adaptation of Frankenstein, received a walloping dose of good news the other day. ... http://www.theaterdogs.net/2010/02/04/trevor-allen-takes-a-roadtrip/