BEDAZZLED WAR AND PEACE SIZZLES ON STAGE Let's face it: If you haven't read Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace by now (with its 1400-plus pages), you probably aren't ever going to. Fortu…
THE LOVE CHILD OF LAURA INGALLS AND ANNE OF GREEN GABLES In this novel-turned-musical, it's 1899 and the world, even in rural Texas, is changing. Just not nearly fast enough for Calpurnia Ta…
I DREAM OF GENIE Ready to spend a little time in the ancient Arabian town of Agrabah? It's the classic story with Aladdin (Adi Roy), Jasmine (Senzel Ahmady), and of course the genie (Marcus …
YOU'LL BE DANCING IN THE SHEETS ALL OVER AGAIN Sitting in a movie theater, in 1984, we teens were spellbound by the original film version of Footloose " and not because it was an amazing sto…
OUR PUPPET, WHO ART IN HELL, HALLOWED BE THY BLAME When a newly widowed mom tries to lead three teens in a wholesome, Lutheran, extra-curricular church class, tasked with creating a Christia…
A FASCINATING JOURNEY INTO THE AUTISTIC MIND Mark Haddon's novel is a first-person tale shared by the autistic main character: 15-year-old Christopher Boone, who lives in a small lower-class…
BAKING UP SOMETHING GOOD AT WILDSONG Come on, Wildsong. You're only two seasons old, in a tiny theater, have mostly young company players, and are on a ridiculously small budget. There's no …
SEEING FIDDLER AGAIN AND AGAIN IS A GREAT TRADITION It's no surprise that this 1964 triumph " with an irresistible book by Joseph Stein and unimprovable songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harni…
SANDWICHING GOOD STORYTELLING BETWEEN TWO SLICES OF COMEDY Remember Linda Lavin's old TV sit-com Alice? And her co-waitresses: the sassy Flo ("Kiss my grits!") and the ditzy Vera at the truc…
LEARNING ENGLISH IN IRAN IS TOUGH, BUT THIS PLAY WILL BE YOUR BAG, DAD Years ago, I ran a teambuilding class using improv games for an I.T. group. Despite the diversity of heritage and a…
BILLIE'S LIFE WASN'T NO HOLIDAY The title actually says a lot. When a star as bright as Billie Holiday, the sultry jazz singer whose career lasted from 1929 to 1958, is performing at a bar a…
DUBLIN YOUR PLEASURE WITH GOOD DRAMA AND COMEDY With a somewhat-forgettable title and a rather vague plot summary on the website, one walks into Outside Mullingar not quite sure what they ar…
KNOWING WHICH IS WITCH The word "crucible" has two very different meanings. One is a pot in which substances are heated to high temperatures. Another is a situation in which people are sever…
MY KIND OF SHOW, CHICAGO IS Coming to the San Diego Civic Theatre is the National Tour of the 1996 revival of Chicago, now the longest-running revival in Broadway history, and the second …
There's no doubt why Lynn Nottage's drama Intimate Apparel won five national awards for best play, including the Drama Critics' Circle Award and American Theatre Critics Association's Primus…
ALTOGETHER OOKEY GOOD FUN When American cartoonist Charles Addams started drawing a family of moderately harmless ghoulish folks for The New Yorker in 1938, how could he have expected them t…
WHO LEFT FROWNING? NUN OF US! When you're picking shows for your season, you're off to a good start when you pick the second-longest-running show in Off-Broadway history. One that's been pro…
GIVE THREE CHEERS AND ONE CHEER MORE FOR SILLY GOOD FUN In the US, the term "Savoyard" generally means a person intensely interested in, and perhaps highly knowledgeable about, the works of …
MAKE THIS FUN SHOW ONE TO CHEKHOV YOUR LIST Any time you take one sibling out of a group of three, the remaining two are bound to talk about the missing one. Take that situation further, wit…
DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO LAUGH OR CRY You know that close friend or relative you have who they can talk about the most trivial stuff in their world and you'll still ask leading questions for mo…
DIAGNOSIS: DANCER Human nature loves to ponder the impossible to answer: What does food taste like to other people? What does a colorblind person imagine color looks like? What is it like to…
DON'T BE SKIPPIN' PIPPIN Here's a can't-miss opportunity: Beginning tomorrow, July 19, North Coast Rep is presenting the perky but dark 1972 musical, Pippin. With a book by Roger O. Hirson,Ã…
BREWING UP SOME GOOD CHUCKLES IN THEIR KITCHEN Cooking shows are typically feel-good shows. The calm of Martha Stewart. The sweetness of Rachel Rae. The edge of Emeril Lagasse. Of course, it…
THESE PASSENGERS WON'T STAY IN THEIR SEATS! Die-hard fans of So You Think You Can Dance get to know their choreographers. For me, there was Sonya Tayeh (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) … and th…
WHEN KING WAS THE QUEEN OF THE COURT Ask most people what they know about Billy Jean King, other than fact that she played tennis, and there's a good likelihood that you'll hear a story abou…