211 stories by "Dan Zeff"
IF YOU WANNA BE STARTIN' SOMETHIN', COME FOR THE MUSIC AND DANCE The musical biography of Michael Jackson (tersely titled MJ) is playing a brief one-week run at the San Diego Civic Theatre a…
ALL THAT JAZZ AND MORE The national tour of Chicago at the San Diego Civic Theater " now through Sunday " reaffirms what generations of theater fans have recognized. This musical ranks among…
THE HOUR HAS COME The Trinity Theatre in Mission Valley is currently presenting a too-brief revival of A. G. Gurney's comedy-drama The Cocktail Hour. The show originally debuted in 1988 at S…
THE THREADS THAT BREAK The African-American playwright Lynn Nottage sits atop the honor role of American playwrights from the first two decades of the 21st century " she has written a dozen …
I WISH I COULD SAY "NO BAD NEWS" BUT… The large opening night audience at the San Diego Civic Theatre last night seemed to be having a good time watching the the musical revival of The Wiz…
A REALLY BIG SHOW The San Diego area does not lack for productions of A Christmas Carol this holiday season. Fortunately, fans of the Charles Dickens classic who would welcome a more hip ver…
SOMEONE MUST HAVE CLIPPED THE WINGS, BECAUSE THIS ANGEL DOESN'T FLY There are times when a reviewer is tempted to recuse himself (or herself) from publicly commenting on a comedy because he/…
PERFECTLY MARVELOUS Cabaret is a masterpiece of American musical theater that has been presented in a vast variety of musical and physical shapes and sizes since its premiere on Broadway in …
EVITA IS SURPRISINGLY GOOD FOR YOU The Cygnet Theatre revival of the musical Evita has already been extended to October 1, 2023, due to positive ticket buyer interest. Cygnet visitors should…
THE WEARYING WIVES OF WINDSOR Scholars generally believe that William Shakespeare wrote about 38 plays. And those scholars likely would rank the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor at or close…
YOUR ONLY CRIME WOULD BE MISSING THIS PUNISHMENT The Old Globe Theater is presenting the world premiere of Crime and Punishment, A Comedy and it is a gem of a satire on one of the most famou…
SUCH STRANGE GOINGS ON Cygnet Theatre's new play Sharon is set in Everett, Washington, 90 minutes from Seattle. The time is 2019. The action is concentrated in the parlor of a dilapidated ap…
"You not only have a right to be an individual. You have a responsibility." " Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor at the North Coast Repertory Theatre is a one-woman drama that condenses the life of E…
NOTHING IS MORE REAL THAN NOTHING " Samuel Beckett Dramatist Will Eno doesn't make it easy on the audience in his 2012 play The Realistic Joneses at the Laguna Playhouse. Viewers are asked t…
THIS SHOW IS MURDER The latest production at North Coast Rep is a stage adaption of Dame Agatha Christie's 1923 detective novel Murder on the Links. Originally titled The Murder on the Links…
ANNA MIKAMI ALREADY WELL-SEASONED IN HER THEATRICAL DEBUT For theatergoers who have been waiting impatiently for a new play about monosodium glutamate, your wish has been answered. Check out…
THE BLOSSOMS DO EVENTUALLY BLOOM IN THIS ORCHARD Russian playwright Anton Chekhov believed his classic 1904 drama The Cherry Orchard was a comedy bordering on farce, but generations of audie…
¡JUGAR A LA PELOTA! Under A Baseball Sky is a likable new play by José Cruz González now nearing the end of a five-week run at the Old Globe Theatre. It's tight work, running about…
WHILE NOT A DISASTER, SOME INGREDIENTS NEED FIXIN' In 2012 and 2014 the famous Chicago chef Rick Bayless and the Lookingglass Theatre Company joined to present a food-and-show production cal…
THE BEST OSCAR GOES TO SEAN HAYES From the late 1930s to the early 1950s, Oscar Levant was one of the most popular and versatile figures on the American entertainment scene. Levant was a pia…
PAYING ATTENTION TO THE WOMEN Eleanor Burgess's new play Wife of a Salesman is a riff on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Burgess (The Niceties) has adapted the Miller original into an i…
A ROCKIN' REVIVAL OF WEST SIDE STORY AT MARRIOTT Fans of musical theater in general and West Side Story in particular should thoroughly enjoy the Marriott Theatre revival. The production off…
GROUNDHOG DAY DOES NOT BEAR REPEATING The Paramount Theatre has a well deserved reputation for presenting classy productions of musicals that approach Broadway caliber. That certainly can be…
EVITA: SURPRISINGLY GOOD FOR YOU Evita at the Drury Lane Theatre is a prime example of a revival that preserves the virtues of the original musical while injecting enhancements that should r…
THE SECRET IS OUT: COUNCIL IS A WINNER The First Folio Theatre has come up with an unexpected winner in David Rice's world premiere adaptation of Agatha Christie's light novel of internation…
