1,373 stories by "Chad Jones"
We can claim Adam Bock as a San Francisco playwright, but that's really not quite accurate. The talented writer basically used the Bay Area as a way station between his native Canada and the…
With all this talk about the Summer of Love " it was 40 years ago, in case you hadn't noticed " I've been thinking about the musical Hair, which, not so coincidentally, is also celebrating i…
It sure was good to have Annette Bening back onstage at what used to be called the Geary Theater. Back in the early '80s, when Bening was a grad student at the American Conservatory Theater,…
About four years ago, I was having a chat with Berkeley monologist Josh Kornbluth. He was touting his latest show, Love & Taxes, but something he said then occurred to me before I talked…
Opened May 16 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre Berkeley Rep gives Dickens a dark Twist Three stars Grim 'n' grand We're told early on in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a bracing …
Who knew we were all so hungry for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons? Last December, when the national tour of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys opened at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, audienc…
We're not getting sleepy, but we are getting Drowsy. The hit Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone (above), winner of five 2006 Tony Awards, is part of SHN's new Best of Broadway season, whi…
Tony nominations were announced this morning, and to my great delight, Spring Awakening nabbed a leading 11 nominations, including two acting noms for Jonathan Groff (best actor in a musical…
Can't make it to Broadway to see Legally Blonde, The Musical? Well, make you way over to Broadwayworld.com for some EXTENSIVE footage from the show. You'll feel satisfied. Click here. While …
The cast and composers of Spring Awakening. Bring on the awards. Photo from Broadway.com The official 2006-2007 Broadway season opened with Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway last August (th…
Get all that merry singing and dancing out of your head. A new theatrical adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist arrives at Berkeley Repertory Theatre this weekend, and it's nothing lik…
Opened May 5, 2007 at SF Playhouse SF Playhouse's sharp `Shooter' targets violence, video games three [1/2] stars Current, vital We love tidiness in our news. The worse the news, it seems, t…
San Francisco's Magic Theatre, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, is looking ahead to next season. The lineup, announced last week, kicks off in September with a world premiere: Exp…
Playwright Aaron Loeb is what you might call multitasking. He has a 16-month-old daughter, Talitha Jane; he just moved from Oakland to Berkeley; he's readying his play First Person Shooter f…
Blog reader Jersey Boys Front Row-er writes with evidence of some excellent detective work being done by Jersey Boys fans to find out who will be taking over in the San Francisco production.…
Opened May 2, 2007 at American Conservatory Theater ACT ruffles feathers with controversial Blackbird drama two [1/2] stars Provocative David Harrower's Blackbird, now at San Francisco's Ame…
A gardener works hard and waits patiently for change. From seemingly nothing " a seed, some dirt and water " comes something wonderful in the form a living, breathing thing. Lee Bressette is…
When I'm not at the theater, chances are I'm at a concert. This week I finally got to see one of my favorite artists live at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Bird watching at the Fillmore has …
As the San Francisco cast of Jersey Boys heads down to Los Angeles to finally begin the actual touring part of this national touring company, the Curran Theatre welcomes a whole new cast (mo…
Steven Culp, whom you might recognize from his stint as the late Rex Van De Kamp, husband of Martha Stewart-wannabe Brie Van De Kamp on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," doesn't want me to tell …
Impact ratchets up vice, vitality in Measure for Measure three stars Well measured By all counts, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure is a comedy " if you measure comedy not in the Will Ferrel…
Lynda Carter and I are bonding over the phone. I tell her that for my 11th birthday, my parents took me to the Sahara Reno (no longer there) for a big show. The maitre d', knowing it was a b…
In New York recently, I had an amazing experience with Ricky Ian Gordon, an extraordinary composer who has written for the theater (My Life with Albertine, Dream True) and for the opera (his…
In my final discussion of the shows I saw in New York last week, I'd like to simply honor the extraordinary work of Bob Crowley, who until recently, was best known as the go-to guy for mind-…
I know Rufus Wainwright is not a theater person…yet. One day he'll actually write the musical version of Tales of the City, which has been buzzed about for years, and then he'll justify my…
