78 stories by "Joanne Engelhardt"
"You/Emma" running through Sunday, Dec. 15 at Pear Theatre in Mountain View appears, at first glance, to be a trifling play. It's a one-woman show that's written by a woman and is about a ra…
The first "Miracle on 34th Street" told the story of a little girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus and the man who came into her life and helped her believe. That's the plot of the 1947 Am…
There's so much squeaky-clean goodness, corny juvenile fun and quite a few excellent performances in the Palo Alto Players' production of "A Christmas Story, the Musical" that it's likely wo…
Strong vocal and acting performances make the current Broadway by the Bay production of the Stephen Sondheim- James Levine musical of reconstructed fairy tales, "Into the Woods," pleasurable…
King Henry VIII of England, who had six wives and way more than that many mistresses, apparently only spent 1,000 days with one of them, Anne Boleyn. Then he had her beheaded. British histor…
A scrappy little play called "Sweat" " which just happened to win the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama for its playwright, Lynn Nottage, is getting a pretty decent, rough-and-tumble production …
The big question is why Hillbarn Theatre would want to squander its hard-earned dollars on such an outdated (despite its updates), unfunny, mostly uninteresting play as "It's Only a Play." Y…
Lyrical, enigmatic, lively, maudlin, affecting and, ultimately heart-tugging. That's a capsule description of Palo Alto Players' beautifully conceived production of "Bright Star," the musica…
It's all about time " or the lack of it " in Marisa Wegrzyn's quirky surrealist comedy "Hickorydickory" that runs through September 29 at Dragon Productions Theatre in Redwood City. Even the…
Hillbarn Theatre's current production of "Anything Goes" is rather like a bowl of Rice Krispies: Sometimes it snaps, sometimes it crackles, sometimes it pops. And sometimes it fizzles. Thank…
It's rare to feel you've been present at the illustrious beginning of an actor's theatrical career, but that is indeed what audiences will feel watching young Quincy Shaindlin in the Los Alt…
Broadway by the Bay's production, which has only six more performances, is a perfect way to spend a summer evening.
Douglas Carter Beane's modernized version of the beloved children's story "Cinderella" is an eye-opening experience as visualized by director Milissa Carey, now dashing along through Aug. 4 …
The etymology of language in all its forms and meanings is the crux of "The Language Archive," running through Aug. 4 at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. This TheatreWorks Silicon Valle…
Sarah Treem's multilayered play, "The How and the Why," pits two ferocious female biologists, both of whom have studied the field of women's menstrual cycles and aren't sure what the other w…
Say this out loud: "Go see 'One Man, Two Guvnors' at Palo Alto Players now!" Now: Repeat it 10 more times. That tells you not only how good this production is " it makes the point that you'r…
It was a hot weekend in Redwood City last week, and the jukebox musical "Grease" rolled into town to sputter along weekends at the Fox Theatre under the auspices of Broadway by the Bay. For …
Who knew that the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria " the event that reputedly triggered the start of World War I " could be so ridiculously witty? Apparently playwright Rajiv Jo…
Who doesn't love a heady dose of Noel Coward " especially one of his frothy, sophisticated comedies about the foibles of love in all its guises? There is much to like, as well as much that i…
"Next to Normal," now playing at Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos through June 22, has a distinctive rhythm and cadence. And: it's a musical about mental illness. Considered a "rock" musical, "…
Foothill College's Theatre Arts Department came up with a novel approach to producing a play: An all-male and an all-female version of "12 Angry Men" running in repertoire through June 9. Th…
Leapin' lizards!! Shazam! Sock " pow " kazam! That's what you'll be saying when all of your senses are assaulted by the remarkably excellent production called "Shoggoths on the Veldt," runni…
It's ABBAsolutely true: The ABBA-inspired musical "Mamma Mia" is 'pop'-ping up everywhere in the Bay Area these days. Right now it's Hillbarn Theatre's turn, and it's a trip. Yes, it's full …
You probably won't enter Pear Theatre laughing, but after seeing "Pear Slices 2019," it's almost a sure bet you'll exit that way.
The role of Ma Joad in the John Steinbeck-Frank Galati play, "The Grapes of Wrath," is central " in fact, enormously crucial " to the understanding of this Pulitzer Prize-winning story. That…
