6,591 stories from Stage and Cinema
TWILIGHT IN TIVOLI Following their productions of Brecht's The Mother and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, venturesome Oracle Theatre brings us another thespian rarity. This fall's find is Gore …
SHAKING UP SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, only 25 of which are included in Berliner Ensemble's Shakespeare's Sonnets. But that is more than enough to make for an exciting theatri…
SWAN IN A MILLION Featuring a live performance by the Berkeley Symphony with guest conductor Nicolette Fraillon, The Australian Ballet's Swan Lake comes to Zellerbach Hall this weekend, Octo…
HOW TO FAKE HONESTY "I exaggerate," states Lauren (Jessica Ranville) at the beginning of Lying, which gets a delightful staging by Jessica Burr and her company Blessed Unrest at the Interart…
TEMPESTUOUS AND TAME The Tempest offers a kaleidoscope of intrigue, betrayals, political shenanigans, murderous intent, monsters, masques, mayhem, magic, and romance. Julie Taymor's disappoi…
SOME MAGIC IS ADDED, SOME MAGIC IS TAKEN AWAY South Africa's Isango Ensemble is undoubtedly full of talented actors, singers, and musicians, but doesn't quite have the specialized skills req…
ALICE IN ANDERSONVILLELAND Fall down the rabbit hole of the thoughtfully absurd Alice by Noelle Krimm, directed by Bilal Dardai. This performance"a reprise of the popular 2004 staging"showca…
BOY OH BOYS With a career spanning over five decades, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons have amassed an impressive catalog, including numerous #1 hits ("Sherry," "Walk Like a Man") and over…
DO I FEAR A WALTZ? Musicals are generally "lost" for any one of a number of reasons: the libretto may be filled with once topical socio-political humor now meaningless to contemporary audien…
PARTY LIKE IT'S 1928 A riot from start to finish, Bailiwick Chicago's The Wild Party is a breathless, exuberant, fast-paced production running for an hour and forty minutes without pause or …
EARNING THEIR FUTURE At 25 years young, River North Dance Chicago is as old as its current dancers, most born when it began. They grew up to find the perfect home for their non-negotiable ta…
BITCHY, BITCHY If you like your camp served by the bucket, then this outlandish tour de farce is steaming with it. Imagine if you will one of those appalling movies from the 1990s in which a…
THERE'S A BRIGHT STAR SOMEWHERE ON THE HORIZON It takes a while to get on board with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's new musical at The Old Globe. In fact, emotional involvement by intermis…
MORE OF A LOCAL THAN AN EXPRESS Written and conceived by Emmy-award winning producer Bill Borden (High School Musical, Desperado), Locals Only! is a new musical that follows the story of two…
THIS CAPRICCIO IS NO CAPRICE The brooding romanticism of Capriccio's opening sextet sets the tone for the introspection that is to follow. Instead of a dramatic overture and crowd-pleasing a…
CAPITOL CRIMES "A plague on both your houses!" Without naming either political party, that's just what Maxwell Anderson wished over 80 years ago through his Pulitzer Prize-winning Both Your …
TRICKSTERS WHO ARE A TREAT From Vegas extravaganzas to intimate parlors, my favorite magicians are those with personality and humor. Even when tricks are well-rehearsed and mindboggling, sli…
SWAN IN A MILLION Featuring a live orchestra, The Australian Ballet's Swan Lake comes to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend, October 9-12, 2014. While this is one of the world's favo…
AN UNCANNY PERFORMANCE FROM PODULKE; LESS SO THE PLAY'S ENDING In Thomas Gibbons' Uncanny Valley, directed by Tom Dugdale, Alex Podulke plays Julien, a sophisticated artificial human, who wa…
THE GREATER GOOD When is "enough" enough? Where do you draw the line? How far would you be willing to go for the "Greater Good"? These are some of the difficult questions posed by playwright…
AN ALL YOU CAN ETTA BUFFET A Black Ensemble Theater hit in 2005, At Last: A Tribute to Etta James is back in (the pleasure of) business. It's also updated to reflect the last decade of "The …
PUZZLING THROUGH THE CRYPTOGRAM IS WORTH THE EFFORT The title alone should have been clue enough that this was going to be a difficult play, but nothing could have prepared me for the lack o…
WINNING SMALL Still potent after 42 years, Caryl Churchill's corrosive class comedy Owners pits two outlooks on life against each other. In one corner you have Churchill's now-patented "top …
RED, WHITE AND PAS DE BLEU Marking the 125th anniversary of Chicago's glorious and historic Auditorium Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, which used to come here every season, is all too brie…
SMOKEFALL GETS IN YOUR EYES It opened a year ago in Goodman's smaller Owen Theatre. Due to rave reviews and popular demand, it's now the fall opener in the larger Albert enclave. Clearly, No…
