1,396 stories by "Tony Frankel"
SOUND AND FURY INDEED The idea of site-specific theater"theatre which is performed in unconventional spaces compatible to the script"is nothing new, but it seems to be gaining ground. From N…
A PRAIRIE THEATER COMPANION As many newer plays fail to grasp the art of storytelling, Word for Word Performing Arts Company offers compelling narratives via short stories which are performe…
THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL The most unfortunate thing about The Unfortunates is that a lot of talent (five writers, actually), having spent three years developing this new hybrid-musical, lacked …
TO THINE OWN SELF BE SHREW What do you get when you cross Carl Perkins, a biker, and Chris Isaak? In David Ivers' rendition of The Taming of the Shrew, that rockabilly man with a sympathetic…
NOT PLAIN BUT TOO LIQUID In her tale of two slaves who seek passage back to Africa in 1791 Rhode Island, Naomi Wallace has constructed a compelling narrative based on true events and people.…
GOOD PEOPLE GETS BAY AREA PREMIERE Having seen productions of David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People at both the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and Steppenwolf in Chicago, I can attest that thi…
A LOVERLY LITTLE LADY The 1956 musical My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, was so transplendent in production values that the myriad subsequent revivals all strive for th…
AUDRA MCDONALD MAKES A RARE VISIT TO SAN FRANCISCO As if San Francisco Symphony's (SFS) annual opening night galas were not the most anticipated events of any year, SFS and Music Director Mi…
A PRODUCTION OF AND IN NO MAN'S LAND It seems that people are forever cursed by their feeble attempts to make their lives neat and tidy. Whatever illusion of structure is created"a calendar,…
YEAH, I CAN DIG IT The third installment of monologuist Don Reed's autobiographical coming-of-age trilogy has been extended yet again at the Marsh, and following on the heels of this San Fra…
CAL SHAKES' BIGGEST FAN The titular character in Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan is a vivacious young woman, married only two years, who never coughs or displays any oth…
EXTRA INCHES East Berlin expat Hedwig was forced to leave a rather important bit of himself"later herself"behind the Wall in order to pass physical exams and immigrate to America with the G.…
STAGE NOIR In many ways, the stage adaptation of James Cain's novel, Double Indemnity, is a radical departure from the iconic film from director/writer Billy Wilder. The film"co-written by C…
I GET THE PICTURE Pageant of the Masters' The Big Picture is perhaps the most three-dimensional idea from the fertile mind of director Diane Challis Davy. Continuing the 80-year tradition of…
THE SHAPE OF THINGS After Bruce Norris's A Parallelogram at the Mark Taper Forum, I overheard a few audience members describe the play has "cute." For all of the play's political incorrectne…
IT'S TIME FOR A LITTLE HAPPY EVER-AFTERING As San Francisco Playhouse opens a promising and highly anticipated rendition of Camelot this week, I am reminded of T. H. White's The Once and Fut…
I DO BUT I DON'T With all the adorability, simplicity, cliché and generic tone of a Hallmark Card, I Do! I Do! opened last weekend at the Laguna Playhouse. Starring Broadway stalwarts Davis…
ALL THE WORLD'S A GLOBE The Old Globe has officially opened the 2013 Shakespeare Festival, now on through September 29. Adrian Noble returns for his fourth and final season as the internatio…
IN GOOD COMPANY "It's a revue, but not a revue," Stephen Sondheim said about Company when he was interviewed at Segerstrom last year. This surprised me because the groundbreaking 1970 musica…
EASE ON DOWN A fascinating phenomenon has occurred recently in the theater world for this critic. Far and away, my favorite theatergoing experiences have been at revivals of musicals, most o…
IF ONLY IT WENT LIKE THIS MORE OFTEN I can't call Neil LaBute's works timeless, but both his plays and films (In the Company of Men) are a product of our time. As America holds herself to be…
FOUNTAIN'S FANTASTIC FLAMENCO FIESTA While classic and modern dance seem to be continually reinventing themselves, Flamenco remains a bedrock of the moving arts. As Forever Flamenco! at the …
LITTLE MORTAL JUMP TURNS OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST THING OF THE NIGHT The lineup at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion begins with the respected and always impressive Hubbard Street Dance Chicago as …
PARADISEÂ LILY My fanaticism with Lily Tomlin started with her 1972 comedy album This is a Recording. I immediately felt a kinship with Ernestine Tomlin, Ma Bell's switchboard operator and…
MAJESTERIAL MIRREN Although she is a politically neutral monarch, The Queen of England retains the ability to give a weekly audience to a Prime Minister (PM) during his or her term of office…
