2017 theater in review: Reflections on a powerful year
If you're a theater fan, 2017 was a very good year. If you're an American, depending on your point of view, 2017 was a terrifying year. Quite often, it seemed, the theatrical stage and the national stage were in direct conversation.
Fences comes home to the Curran Theatre
Hard to know which was more exciting: the art or the venue. Let's go with both.
The Curran Theatre formally reopened Thursday, Dec. 15, after more than a year of renovations and refurbishments, and it's gorgeous. In shades of elegance and Curran red, Carole Shorenstein Hays' palace has once again cast open its doors.
The first official event, preceding the January bow of the Fun Home tour (get tickets now), was a homecoming of sorts: the San Francisco premiere of Denzel Washington's screen adaptation of August Wilson's Fences.
Bay Area theater 2015: some favorites
One of the best things about the year-end exercise to round up favorite theatergoing memories of the preceding year is that it can be such a powerful reminder of how much good theater we have in the Bay Area and how many really extraordinary theater artists we have working here. Another element jumps out at me this year and that is how, in addition to great homegrown work, our area also attracts some of the best theater artists from around the world to come and share their work (at the behest of savvy local producers, of course). Herewith, some favorites from the year that was.
Curran brilliance continues with stunning Ghost Quartet
Before I rhapsodize about the incredible Ghost Quartet now at the Curran Theatre as part of the Curran: Under Construction series, can I just say how extraordinary this series has been so far? This is the third show following The Events (review here) and The Object Lesson (review here), and so far, producer Carole Shorenstein Hays is batting a million (I don't know sports).
Curran Theatre roars back to vibrant life
Carole Shorenstein Hays is doing something very exciting with the her jewel of a theater, the Curran Theatre. The 93-year-old neighbor to the Geary Theater in San Francisco's Union Square neighborhood is undergoing refurbishment, but most of the improvements are happening front of house, which leaves the stage available. So Hays, formerly of Best of Broadway and SHN, has launched a performance series called Curran: Under Construction, which brings smaller but notable performances to the Curran stage, where the audience also happens to be seated.