1,373 stories by "Chad Jones"
Caught up late with Rough and Tumble's production of 43 Plays for 43 Presidents at La Val's Subterranean Theatre in Berkeley this week. It runs through Jan. 27 and is mostly sold out. Congra…
Can it be true? John Doyle's acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd " you know, the one where the actors also play all the instruments " is going on tour and SAN FRANCISCO is the first stop? Y…
The Belle of the Disney ball is making a graceful exit. This week, Disney announced that the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast would close after nearly 6,000 performance (it is the…
(opened Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007) Stories spin, blood drips in Berkeley Rep's creepy `Pillowman' (Three stars Shockingly good) Macabre, perverse and compelling, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's …
Exciting new work is on tap for American Conservatory Theater's First Look New Plays festival, which opened this week and continues through the end of the month at the Zeum Theater, Fourth a…
(opened Jan. 13, 2007) three [1/2] stars Slam dunk You don't automatically assume a play about Hodgkin's disease and basketball will be a spiritual experience. But Deb Margolin's Three Secon…
If you're going to be in New York March 7 through 10, you might want to dop by the New York Philharmonic's semi-staged concert version of My Fair Lady. Kelsey Grammer (TV's Dr. Frasier Crane…
(opened Jan. 12, 2007) three stars More Moore For 13 years now, Word for Word has offered a different sort of book club. The members " let's call them "the audience" " all read the same work…
While California Shakespeare Theater artistic director Jonathan Moscone has been at San Jose Repertory Theatre, he's been discussing more than directing Long Day's Journey Into Night. Moscon…
(opened Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007) 3 1/2 stars Ripping romance The Circle is rather a silly title for a fairly wonderful play. Surely author W. Somerset Maugham meant to indicate the circular…
Our fantastic TV writer, Ms. Susan Young, is currently embedded in Pasadena at the Winter Television Critics Association conference, which means she's up to her eyeballs in celebrities, netw…
With the merging of ANG Newspapers, the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News, I've taken on a position as interim assistant features editor. This means I'll be reviewing fewer sh…
A spy in New York went to the final run-through of Legally Blonde, The Musical in New York and says the show is in "good shape" and "hits all the right buttons." Of course it does. We're pos…
With the national tour of Jersey Boys settling in for what appears to be a nice, long run at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, I was curious about how such a seemingly simple premise " tell th…
If you were thinking about taking a month off from the theater scene because nothing exciting ever happens in January, you might want to think again. There are at least five shows of medium …
All of us here at Theatre Dogs thank you, dear readers, for another terrific year of all things theatrical. May this shiny new year be filled with shows, each more spectacular and meaningful…
Went home to Reno to visit the family homestead and ended up getting stranded by high winds and a big storm that canceled all flights in and out of the Reno/Tahoe airport. Couldn't get a fli…
Happy holidays, Theater Dogs! Thanks for reading the blog in 2006. I'll try to make it bigger, better, funnier and fresher in 2007. Below you'll find my Top 10 list of favorite theater exper…
This was the year that Elton John and Anne Rice's musical Lestat bit the big one and High Fidelity was a sound no one wanted to hear. Those of us who saw Lestat in its pre-Brodway run at San…
Many of us here in the Bay Area consider the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in lovely little Ashland, Ore. to be a theatrical home away from home. A great number of local theater lovers make an…
No question Jersey Boys is one of the most exciting Bay Area theatrical events of 2006. Let's hear from a couple readers who have their own thoughts on Jersey Boys. Jan Brown of Livermore ca…
Ted Neeley is not Jesus Christ, though you might be excused for thinking otherwise. Like Yul Brynner in The King and I or Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! Neeley has come to be associated wit…
Last night, the Curran Theatre in San Francisco was the center of the golden oldie universe. The Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys kicked off its national tour, but it doesn't look like…
I saw an extraordinary production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Thursday night in Berkeley. Below is a WEB EXCLUSIVE review. If you're in the Bay Area this weekend, the show continues throu…
If you're a regular Theater Dogs reader, you may already know that I'm obssessed with Disneyland and consider it to be a masterful work of theater " sets, costumes, lights, drama (and, OK, r…
