SF Theater Blog
Monday, January 23, 2023
"In Every Generation" ★ ★
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Ennio, The Living Paper Cartoon ★ ★ ★ ★ BANG
You've never seen anything quite like Ennio. Not only is his choreography and quick-change artistry astonishing, but his one-hour performance is super-musical and also very, very funny. Nonstop, he delivers one short sketch after another, including changing paper costumes before our eyes, bringing forth chuckles leading to cheers and ending with a standing ovation.
That's Ennio above as Celine Dion on the Titanic, and below you've got Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You..."
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These photos do not do justice to what is happening on stage. Ennio's collaborator Sosthen Hennekam has created the costumes out of paper, some laminated, and each has a hidden surprise. These innovative costumes, and the technique Ennio uses to manipulate them, are the heart of his show.
Ennio has performed around the world, including several times in San Francisco. Club Fugazi is a perfect venue for the Italian artist. Get ready to have fun.
RATINGS: ★ ★ ★ ★ BANG
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants FOUR STARS with a BANGLE OF PRAISE to "Ennio: The Human Paper Cartoon." The show sparkles from beginning to end. There are many bits that merit a Bangle, but here are our favorites: Edwin Hawkins' "Oh, Happy Day," Madama Butterfly, and let's not forget Bruce.
"Ennio: The Living Paper Cartoon"
Club Fugazi
678 Green St., San Francisco
Through Feb. 5
$35-$53
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Poetic Justice: ★★ - ★★★★ = ★★★
Kaufman most likely chose a female to play the male cadet in order to segue more easily into the second play of the two that comprise "Poetic Justice," which is "Divine Madness." This is the sad story of poet Robert Lowell's romance with fellow poet Elizabeth Hardwicke. They meet at a Writer's Conference (ho ho ho, that certainly has never happened before), he moves in with her, produces a child, then jilts her for an English heiress. Both suffer, but mostly her.
It is hard to feel too terribly distraught about Hardwicke's distress, after her lines that she has lived ten years in a New York hotel, having many lovers, both for love as well as career advancement. One might surmise that she went for Lowell to advance her career and Lowell left her for money. In the meantime there are both love and a child but neither seem to matter much to Lowell.
In our opinion, "You Must Change Your Life" is a bit of a slog, with Robinson's vaguely German-accent English and McNeal's complaining about how she/he can never be in control of an uncontrollable instinct. However, in "Divine Madness," we delve deeper into each character. Lowell comes alive as a tormented and self-centered ass, as Hardwicke nails him again and again with her vision of the truth. But she still loves him. So:
RATINGS: ★★ - ★★★★ = ★★★
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division Boy Reviewer grants Two Stars to "Poetic Justice," with the caveat that "It is kinda talky." However, the Girl Reviewer loved both acts and could not be talked out of it in the car going home: "I loved them both." This has led to the rare ★★ - ★★★★ = ★★★ Rating. Be advised as well as encouraged. Either way, both Robinson and McNeal are excellent actors and a joy to watch.
The Marsh
1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 29
$25-$35
Sunday, December 11, 2022
As You Like It: π π π
We do not claim to be exempt from fuddiduddiness. The existential role of every theater in America is to try and encourage a younger audience into the theater. In Shakespeare's day, all female roles were played by men. In our day, gender is fluid. After all, as someone said on Tik Tok, "Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind."
RATINGS: πππ
The San Francisco Theater Blog Elizabethan/Tik-Tok Rating System awards "As You Like It" Three Smiling Faces with Sunglasses. San Francisco Playhouse, as always, takes chances with its shows. This one works when it works. Certain characters will irritate some audiences. It's campy, silly and fun.
San Francisco Playhouse
450 Post St. San Francisco
(Second floor of Kensington Hotel)
Through Jan. 14, 2023
($15-$100)
Monday, December 5, 2022
Little Shop of Horrors ★ ★ ★ ★
You're going to love Naima Alakham, Alia Hodge and Lucca Troutman. They might not be Chinese, but they're great singers and they're neighborhood girls, see, because Mushnik's Flower Shop has switched Skid Rows. He's in Chinatown now. We are happy to report that nothing else has changed. Theatre Works's production of "Little Shop of Horrors" is every bit as weird and wonderful as it has ever been.
Phil Wong and Sumi Yu play Seymour and Audrey, the two misfits destined for each other, if Audrey 2 doesn't get them first.
The sadistic and famished plant is played to perfection by puppeteer Brandon Leland with voice by Katrina Lauren McGraw. They don't miss a trick. Every time the plant moves or groans or threatens, the audience howls.
And of course, the fifties-style music, by the late Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, is both tuneful and funny. Jeffrey Lo's direction moves us forward and never lags.
A Special shout-out to Nick Nakashima for his most frighteningly sadistic dentist. We suggest you get your teeth cleaned well before you go see this show.
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants Four Stars to Theatreworks' "Little Shop of Horrors." These days, it feels so good to laugh. And you get to move your feet at the same time. This is a perfect show for everyone during the holiday season. Don't miss it.
"Little Shop of Horrors"
Lucie Stern Theatre
500 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
Through Dec. 24
$35 and up
Sunday, October 9, 2022
"Otto Frank" ★ ★ ★ BANG
Live theater's magic is that you never know what will happen next. With a performer like Roger Guenvere Smith, in his one-man show "Otto Frank," the suspense is magnified because the man never moves. He sits behind a desk, arms for the most part glued to a corner of that desk. He whispers, he roars. He passes from reflection to prediction. He breaks our heart by breaking his own heart first. This is a piece of emotional and theatrical therapy.
Brian Copeland's "Grandma and Me" ★ ★ ★ ★
Brian Copeland's grandmother became a single mom at the age of 57, when she took over raising Brian and his four siblings after their mother died young. For those of us who have raised our own children in far less difficult circumstances, what this woman did is nothing short of heroic.
But "Grandma and Me" is far more than a shoutout to Grandma. It is a testament to single parents everywhere. Copeland was fourteen when his mother died, but 37 when he and his wife divorced, leaving Copeland to raise his own four children on his own. His new show goes back and forth between his rebellious boyhood and his time as a single dad, as he comes to realize the razor edge all single moms and dads have to balance upon just to get by.
As always, Copeland gives us wonderful voices, particularly of his grandmother and of Sylvester, the man who turns out to be his stepfather. He keeps reminding us of the difference between "broke" and "poor." When you're broke, you're only out of money. You've always got options. When you're poor, every nickel adds up, even when an ice cream cone only costs five cents. "Twenty nickels is a dollar," Grandma warns.
Above all, this latest Brian Copeland one-man show feels honest. Since one person is playing all the roles, it can get a bit confusing as to whether we are looking at 15 year-old Brian or 37 year-old Brian or 58 year-old Brian. But we don't stay puzzled for long. "Grandma and Me" is very funny as well as deep. It's about life. It's about dancing with your daughter at her wedding. It's even about lasagna.
RATINGS ★ ★ ★ ★
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants 4 STARS to Brian Copeland's "Grandma and Me." There are so many great lines, but perhaps our favorite is Copeland's observation that when your parents are really mad at you they use all of your names, such as "John Wilkes Booth, you clean up your room right now!"
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"Brian Copeland's "Grandma and Me"
The Marsh
1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco
EXTENDED through November 19
$ Sliding Scale