All articles from Stage and Cinema
LESSONS INTERRUPTED A haunting memory play finds its strongest voice in music, memory, and an exceptional ensemble There is a painting at the Frick—a Vermeer—of a girl at her music lesso…
HEAVY IS THE CROWN Scottish Ballet’s ambitious historical epic dazzles in moments while struggling under the weight of its story How much do you know about Mary, Queen of Scots? If you’r…
SPECIAL DELIVERY A charming Bollywood-inspired musical serves up romance, music, and a feast for the eyes From its first moments, Berkeley Rep’s new musical The Lunchbox wins you over. The…
CONLON’S LAST SPELL A beloved production returns as James Conlon brings his remarkable LA Opera tenure to a close James Conlon walked to the podium last Saturday night and the house was on…
GHOSTS OF LOVE John J. Caswell, Jr.’s moving drama finds unexpected grace amid fear, desire, and survival As Pride Month begins, there may be no better theatrical companion than John J. Ca…
LONG-DISTANCE DAMAGE Samuel D. Hunter finds devastating intimacy across thousands of miles Sam Shepard built True West on a kitchen and two brothers who could not stay out of each other’s …
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW A charming revue reminds us why Burt Bacharach’s songs remain timeless An overture! An honest-to-goodness overture! All right, so maybe I’m overreacting a bit, b…
KEERAH’S WAYWARD WANDERINGS: DON’T LOOK BACK—OR DO An ambitious meta-theatrical drama of love and loss boasts terrific performances but struggles to find its focus with too many detour…
THE WAR AFTER THE WAR A powerful family drama examines the lasting wounds of Vietnam and the Chicano Moratorium Some family dramas simmer, others explode, and still others leave emotional sh…
A COUNTERTENOR WHO KNOWS WHERE THE POWER LIVES Key’mon Murrah and Les Talens Lyriques turn familiar Handel into something freshly urgent The program announced the obvious: nine arias from …
COLD RAIN, HOT CLASSICS Sting ignites Wolf Trap’s summer season Sting opened the summer season with a 3-night stay at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. On Friday, May 22, his performance eas…
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND A rare jukebox musical that finds fresh life by letting the songs tell the story A jukebox musical is an inheritance. Someone else wrote the songs, lived the life, banke…
JANGLED JAM SESSION This coming-of-age ensemble never quite finds its rhythm In an age where most pre-teens and teens have the world in the palm of their hand via their smartphone, growing u…
SHOPPING FOR MEANING Thornton Wilder’s long-lost play arrives decades late, still reaching for something just beyond its grasp Seventy-five years is a long time to wait for a world premier…
CRAZY FOR PATSY A warm-hearted tribute lets Patsy Cline’s music do most of the talking American Blues Theater closes out its 40th season with a rather left-field choice: the 1988 revue Alw…
SLIGHTLY TOO BIG FOR HIS WORLD Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer-winning drama offers comfort, compassion, and just enough unease beneath the surface A bell rings before the lights come up. Out of th…
BITE MARKS AND BATTLE CRIES Kate Hamill’s revisionist take offers a few fresh ideas, but Dracula remains the real attraction Since its publication in 1897, Bram Stoker’s gothic horror no…
LETTING GO, HOLDING ON A beautifully observed portrait of grief anchored by Quincy Tyler Bernstine’s extraordinary performance If only someone would paint a portrait of Quincy Tyler Bernst…
FIGARO TO THE RESCUE Rossini’s evergreen comedy launches San Francisco Opera’s summer season with charm and style The summer season of San Francisco Opera is officially underway, and t…
HOME IS WHERE THE PHO IS Looking for a real life amidst the demands of AI Directed by cara hinh and written by Minna Lee, this East Coast premiere is alternately hilarious and joyous and, at…
IAGO’S GAME A terrifyingly gripping production driven by a mesmerizing villain and a devastating descent into jealousy Who can resist a good villain? Shakespeare Theatre Company’s curren…
SECOND HELPINGS OF STREISAND A talented roster of singers at 54 Below revisit an early Streisand classic with style, affection, and plenty of bonus treats “My new album is called The Secon…
THE JOINT IS JUMPIN’, IT’S REALLY JUMPIN’ Ebony Rep finds the joy, sorrow, and swing hidden inside Fats Waller’s enduring revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ does not tell the story of Fats …
MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL Kip Williams delivers a visually stunning assault on the senses, even when the drama struggles to keep pace A co-production with London’s Donmar Warehouse, The …
TRUTH, CONSEQUENCES, AND CONTAMINATED WATER A superb production of Ibsen’s classic finds unsettling echoes in the present day There are plays that endure because their themes and character…
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE AND WELL This polished national tour reminds audiences why the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic still resonates The national touring production of The Sound of Music is pl…
PUCK BUNNIES AND POWER PLAYS Knowing exactly who it’s playing to, this gleefully ridiculous send-up shoots and scores There are fandoms, and then there are fandoms. The kind that inspires …
DANCING THROUGH THE DECADES A mesmerizing theatrical collage that rewards surrender over analysis One never quite knows what to expect from the good folks at Trap Door Theatre, and I’m sur…
Oedipus El Rey, playwright Luis Alfaro’s reimagining of the Greek myth, transforms the familiar tale of fate and tragedy into an urban contemporary story about incarceration, identity, and…
PUNK, PRAYER, AND PURE CHAOS The Conspirators’ neo-commedia take on Molière finds fresh mischief in a timeless satire What could be better than a saucy, irreverent, seventeenth-century Fr…
REACHING FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM Henry Ong’s final play transforms one man’s remarkable life into a timely cautionary tale Ascent is a small gem. It is not ostentatious enough to be affix…
READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF FAME Broadway’s funniest staged reading proves that truth is often stranger —and funnier—than fiction Yevgeny Yevtushenko famously wrote, “A poet’s aut…
CORNER OF THE SKY, CENTER OF THE RING Signature’s dazzling revival embraces Pippin‘s whimsy, darkness, and enduring search for meaning A sort of ninth-century, one-ring circus crammed wi…
TRAGEDY AND TEMPTATIONS The rise and fall of a hit machine Ain’t Too Proud tells the story of the rise of The Temptations, a musical group comprised of young Black men who came together in…
THE GOLDEN BOYS A sitcom-worthy comedy finds surprising heart beneath the laughs The Palm Springs stage has long been fertile ground for stories about reinvention, friendship, and chosen fam…
A THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE FOR THE SCIENCE-MINDED Theater of the Mind created by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar and directed by Andrew Scoville is an interactive neuroscience experiment tied toge…
WHEN BALLET BECAME AMERICAN American Contemporary Ballet celebrates the choreographer who traded princes and swans for jazz, swagger, and pure fun Before George Balanchine arrived in America…
PULLED OUT OF MYTH AND INTO THE HEADLINES Kenneth Cavander relocates Thebes to a near-future America, and something is lost in the move I first read Antigone in a basement college classroom …
WIG IN A BOX, HEART ON A SLEEVE NCTC reinvents the cult classic with a fierce, funny, and deeply moving Hedwig John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch has trave…
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA York Walker’s Southern Gothic keeps its secrets close and its audience on edge “Everybody got a secret” That is the line that opens Covenant, the grippin…
A CITY BUILT TO BE SEEN FROM THE WATER Chicago’s celebrated architecture tour transforms familiar landmarks into a living history lesson For tourists, cruising the Chicago River on a top-r…
OLD SONGS GET NEW LIFE FROM TALENTED YOUNG GUYS WHO ARE OLD SOULS Zip and zing with musical fizz and sparkle Hooray! They’re back!! Bryce Edwards—the mercurial, merry multi-talented, m…
THIS ZORRO NEVER LEAVES A MARK Pacific Opera Project’s lavish production can’t rescue an opera that rarely catches fire Pacific Opera Project gave composer-librettist Héctor Armienta’…
LORCA IN DRAG, WITH HIS CLAWS INTACT Rodrigo García and Ugho Badú reimagine a Spanish classic without dulling its edge Lorca wrote for women’s voices and then watched the world go silent…
SIGNALS IN THE STATIC A Red Orchid’s compelling world premiere favors empathy over satire, sometimes at the expense of deeper exploration Thus far, 2026 has been an uncommonly good year in…
SAY CHEESE—AND PASS THE TRAUMA Sharr White’s adaptation of Larry Sultan’s memoir turns one California family into a deeply recognizable portrait of memory, regret, and love Now making …
Arts coverage runs on facts as much as taste. A smart review still needs a curtain time, a venue name, and a run date that matches the ticket page. Stage and Cinema readers know the drill: c…
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE Theatre Rhinoceros turns its intimate Castro venue into a joyous explosion of feathers, farce, and fierce self-acceptance Since 1977, Theatre Rhinoceros has produced theat…
GREAT EXPECTATIONS, OR GREAT DECEPTIONS? Miranda Jonte and playwright John Minigan turn Dickens into the subject of a witty and compelling literary cold case Despite the broken air-condition…
A LITTLE SHOW WITH A VERY BIG HEART The Bent’s first musical proves this company is ready for anything The Bent, Palm Springs’ queer theatre company, closes its fourth season with its fi…
