Theater antireviews
Somewhere well into the wee hours of a Christmas in the not-nearly-distant-enough past, as the adults in my family labored to finish with the wrapping of presents, the curling of ribbon, the printing of tags, …
Most of the stories we tell have happy endings. A preponderance of stories making national headlines tell of tragic ones. In either case, once the story ends, we can react to it, learn from it, …
Sherlock Holmes may be the most instantly recognizable character in all of fiction. But how well do we actually know him? A new play, Holmes & Watson, playing at North Coast Rep until November 18, …
Upon publishing One Hundred Years of Solitude in 1969, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez accomplished a rare feat: writing a classic piece of literature that also became an international best seller. He was awarded the …
I naively went to a musical about a Jane Austen novel with the hope that I would be hearing at least a little music from the period. You know, the kind of music Jane would …
Humanity reserves a special reverence for the act of creation. Most oral or written religious traditions start with a creation myth to explain how the world and humankind came to be. These origin stories provide …
The Heart of Rock & Roll is a new musical at The Old Globe. It runs through October 21. The title is borrowed from the famous Huey Lewis and the News song, but this is …
Communicating Doors: Between memory and imagination
When a would-be husband levels a slanderous accusation of infidelity against a virgin bride on her wedding day, a bickering couple sets out to avenge the maiden’s subsequent death. Or so might read the TV …
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” So goes an oft-cited Oscar Wilde quote. Except it’s unlikely he said it. At least, he didn’t write it. And if he did, it’s 50/50 that he’d have …
Though I’d never attended a live performance of Barefoot in the Park before this week, in a way, Neil Simon’s 1963 comedy provided my first-ever theatrical experience. I viewed it as a small child, sitting …
According to Greek mythology, humankind can credit the knowledge and inspiration behind any artful act of creation to the nine muses. These daughters of Zeus represented tragedy, comedy, epic poetry, music, and other media available …
When I saw A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, I was reminded me how much I prefer anything live to anything recorded. As in, I might really enjoy a live music …