SF Theater Blog

Monday, March 18, 2024

"Queen" ★ ★ ★ ★


We live in an acrimonious world. There are two sides to every story, yours and the other guy's, and there seems to be little attempt to explore the dangers of opinions pre-cast in stone.


This reviewer happens to have a scientist child who is involved in research that may or may not be welcomed by the current political climate. What has to be trusted is the science. Madhuri Shekar's thought-provoking new play, "Queen," opens up the reality of the research world: People do the science, and people have issues of their own that can possibly cloud their results.

Kjerstine Rose Anderson plays Ariel, best friend and research partner of Sanam, played by Uma Paranjpe. Both young women are graduate students at UC Santa Cruz, a minor player in the Harvard/Stanford-dominated world of academia. They are studying the habits of honey bees, whose numbers have been decreasing precipitously over the course of their research. They believe the culprit to be Monsanto, the agrochemical giant, because the bees' decline has corresponded to the introduction of a particularly dangerous pesticide.


Have you ever tried to talk to your family about politics? No matter what you say, it confirms what they already think. There is a name for this: Confirmation Bias. But what about when what your research is attempting to prove influences what you see and how that research is interpreted? Add into this everyone's desperate search for funding.

Mike Ryan plays a professor anxious to make a name for himself on the back of Ariel and Sanam's research, as long as it supports his theory. His career is riding on a blockbuster publication of this data. 

Meanwhile, Deven Kolluri plays Arvind, an Indian-American derivatives analyst whose obnoxious character flaws as a potential boyfriend for Sanam seem impossible to overcome. But he sees the world for what it is, not what it might be. What we see is not necessarily what we get. 

Congratulations to Ms. Shekar and Director Miriam A. Laube for bringing us back to the honeybees, and to nature as well as common sense. The twist at the curtain makes for a honey of an ending.


RATINGS: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

The San Francisco Theater Blog grants FOUR STARS to Madhuri Shekar's "Queen." Story, acting and staging (we love those drop-down study lights) earn one star each and the honesty of the ending earns another. This show gives us hope. 

"QUEEN"

Lucie Stern Theatre

1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto

Through 3/31/24

$27-$100






Friday, March 15, 2024

"The 39 Steps": ★★★ baub baub


 This is our third time around for "The 39 Steps," the previous two productions being in 2011 and 2019. We are happy to report San Francisco Playhouse's production has as much clowning and craziness as the others. Patrick Barlow's adaptation from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film is brilliantly achieved, with four actors playing a multitude of parts, often within seconds of each other. The costume changes and character switches are the best part of the show, as the audience delights in figuring out who is what and why.

We must first mention Susi Damilano's direction, as a LOT is going on at once and the choreography must be perfect. And we loved both clowns: Greg Ayres and Renee Rogoff.

These two are what make a rather mundane spy story into a farcical romp. They might be phony detectives or a Scottish couple operating a hotel on the moors, but wherever they go we accompany them gratefully, laughing all the way.

The two leads, Phil Wong as Richard Hannay and Maggie Mason as Pamela plus any number of tempting molls, appear to be having a great time on stage. They share a glorious comic scene as she must unlatch her garter belt and remove her stockings while handcuffed to her proper Englishman who refuses to look.

Phil Wong's role calls for restraint and this is what we get. His character is kind of blank, though. We knew Henry Higgins was a self-centered, entitled snob. We know nothing about Richard Hannay. 


Maggie Mason can carry her slapstick humor further, and the further she goes the more we like it.The Scottish hotel scene is hard to beat. 


Ms. Mason takes a wonderful turn as Margaret, the randy Scottish lass peeking in the window.


RATINGS ★★★ baub baub

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants "The 39 Steps" THREE STARS with TWO BANGLES OF PRAISE. Bangle One is for Phil Wong's McCorquodale's political speech, which made us realize once again that this is an election year, and Bangle Two goes to Greg Ayres for his incomprehensible Scottish achhhh-cent,  


"The 39 Steps"

San Francisco Playhouse

450 Post Street

2d Floor of Kensington Hotel

Through April 20, 2024

$15-$125








Monday, March 4, 2024

Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad : UNRATED





Ashley Smiley has grabbed on to a terrific metaphor: the Tesla, symbol of white entitlement, which the owners don’t even bother to wash, giving those who cannot afford the basics of a decent life, let alone a luxury car, to feel even more abandoned and left behind.


Her new play, directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, is having its premiere at the Magic Theater. It shows promise. Tanika Baptiste plays the mom who is being evicted from her San Francisco home, for unexplained causes that seem to have to do with gentrification. She and her daughter Naima have three days to move everything they own across the bay to Oakland, but Naima isn’t having it. She gets involved in a shadowy plot with her uncle (Juan Manuel Amador) to…well, maybe it’s to steal Teslas or maybe it’s to link them together in some sort of revolutionary statement. Or maybe it’s just to get high. 


No getting around it, a first play is a first play. We aren’t really sure what was at stake here. One of our problems may have been that the dialogue is young, black slang and we are neither. The show definitely needs an ending: we have read the script and see how the story is supposed to end, but very little of that was evident on stage on Opening Night.  “Dirty White Teslas” is still a crackerjack idea that needs to have a story coalesce around it.


RATINGS: UNRATED


The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division has chosen not to rate “Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad.” This is a first show from a playwright who shows promise. One word of caution: there are no reserved seats. We suggest arriving early to sit in the middle section. Our seats were on the side and much of the show was inaudible.


“Dirty White teslas Make Me Sad”

The Magic Theatre

Fort Mason, Building D

Through March 17, 2024

$30-$75


Thursday, February 1, 2024

My Home on the Moon ★★★ BANG

This review is being generated by Ronald The Review Bot, an exclusive presentation of San Francisco Theater Blog.


OK, NOT.



But what if A.I.  could create a review that was so lovely and inviting that all you readers would clamor to climb right onto the page and live your own dream of a perfect life?



San Francisco Playhouse's newest show, "My Home on the Moon," written by Minna Lee and directed by Mei Ann Teo, will make you think about questions like this. The World Premiere gave us a crazy but totally involving story, including terrific acting, a fabulous set and a puzzle not unraveled until the very end. All along, we find ourselves confronting the issue that haunts us all: Who is in charge here?

Rinabeth Apostol steals the show as Vera, the strangely appealing Marketing Consultant from Novus Corp. We won't give anything away to say Vera is, perhaps, not quite what she may seem. We have seen Apostol in several previous roles - we now see she is a gifted physical comic. Sharon Omi and Jenny Nguyen Nelson are the owner and chef at Pho Lan, a failing Vietnamese restaurant with no customers, about to be bulldozed under for not paying rent. Until Vera appears. 



Vera has all the answers.

Is the algorithm smarter than the heart?

Who gets to decide what is real?

And if you thought you had found your own perfect heaven, would you cver want to leave?

Ronald the Review Bot doesn't have any answers. Neither does Will Dao, food critic. Perhaps you will. Go see this terrific new show and let us know.



RATINGS ★★★ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Review Generator, also known as Doug, gives "My Home on the Moon" Three Stars with a Bangle of Praise. Special shout-out to Erin Mei-Ling Stuart as a spot-on Tech CEO. She really gives us the creeps. 

The only thing we don't get is the big noodle. 

But, hey. We love it. We've been served a delicious night of theater that leaves us hungry for more.


"My Home on the Moon"

San Francisco Playhouse

450 Post St., 2d floor of Kensington Hotel

Through Mar 12

$25-$125



Friday, January 26, 2024

August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned: ★ ★ ★ ★

 



When we last saw this terrific one-man show, it wasn't so terrific. A show with only one actor depends on that actor, and on that particular night in 2019 Steven Anthony Jones fumbled his lines and gave a disjointed performance. We closed our review by saying we couldn't wait to see the show again when the production would be smoother.



That moment has arrived. Theatreworks' 2024 production of "August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned" feels flawless. Originally performed in 2003 by Wilson himself, two years before he died, Jones has crawled into August Wilson's body. Every word feels as gruff and honest as Wilson himself, and although we wish the author would have included a few vignettes about a few of his plays, with which we are already so familiar, the personal details about being Black in America hit as hard as they did when Wilson wrote them. 

Perhaps this blending of actor and author has a lot to do with the direction of Tim Bond, who was a friend of August Wilson.  Steven Anthony Jones, for years the Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, along with Bond, make us laugh at all times, even when describing the travails of a black kid in The Hill District of Pittsburgh. 



If you want to tell your own story, it never hurts to be as grand a writer as August Wilson. You get to be the hero and your ideals are noble, even when they boil down to "Being a young man, I desired female companionship." Jones, Bond and the production of Giovanna Sardelli insure that we never stop rooting for our hero. 

Special shout-outs to Nina Ball's scenic design, crucial for a one-man show, and the sound and projections of Rasean Davonté Johnson. 

That section about John Coltrane -- Goose-bumps. Magnificent.



RATINGS ★★★★

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division is pleased to grant FOUR STARS to "August Wilson's "How I Learned What I Learned." Stephen Anthony Jones is five years older than when we last saw him do this role. He knows it in and out now. Thank you for a memorable night of theatre.


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"August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned"

Mountain View Center for Performing Arts

500 Castro Street, Mountain View

Through Feb. 3, 2024

$27-$84

Monday, December 18, 2023

Circus Bella: "Kaleidoscope" ★★★★





Turn off the talking heads, close the depressing newspaper and rush downtown to the candy-colored Big Top at Howard and Main. There is no better prescription for what has been ailing us all than to take in a ninety-minute shot of Circus Bella's "Kaleidoscope." From the opening musical segment, played with fire by the rocking and costumed band, all the way through segment after segment of jugglers, clowns, aerial straphangers, contortionists and daredevils, individually and in groups, each act displaying the kind of artistry that can only have come from years of dedication and hard work -- all the way through to  the finale with everyone gathered on stage before a cheering audience -- this is what we need, folks. No snark. No screeds. Just magic and fun.


We particularly loved Veronica Blair's Aerial Strap routine. How can anyone with shoulders that strong perform so gracefully while twenty feet in the air? Ori Quesada doesn't seem to have any muscles at all but the man can put on his shoes while balancing on a plank suspended over a ball. 

Oh, and the clowns, each with his or her own segment as an individual performer but coming together to keep everyone laughing several times during each act. We couldn't take our eyes off the remarkable Natasha Kaluza, the "Super Duper Hula Hooper," who dances and high steps while cracking us all up. 


Special thanks to Director and ringmaster Abagail Munn,  and to Musical Director Rob Reich's six-piece band, playing his fantastic score. That music keeps our feet tapping and hands clapping while we are otherwise occupied Ooohing and Aaaahing. 

But don't take our word for it. We hope the city will make a tradition out of Circus Bella, especially during Holiday Season. Right now, they are only here through December 31. If you don't have a clown car, take Muni. But do it soon. 



RATINGS:  ★★★★ 

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants Four Big Fat Joyful Stars to "Kaleidoscope" by Circus Bella. This show is just one more fabulous thing about our city. We haven't had this much fun since we won the World Series.  

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Circus Bella's "Kaleidoscope"

The Crossing at East Cut

Main and Howard Streets, San Francisco

Through Dec. 31, 2023

$55-$85


Sunday, October 29, 2023

Mélia Mills: "The Allure of Thug Life" ★★★★




Almost impossible

This Hip-Hopsical 

Is sweet as a Popsicle 

And has no obstacle. 

This is why some people rap and some people write reviews.

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Let's be up-front about this: "Mélia Mills' "The Allure of Thug Life" is the most refreshing new show we've seen in a long while. She's a classy performer coming into theater through a brand new door. And a filled-up audience tells you it's working.

Ms. Mills can write a lot and sing some too. She plays characters like would-be-boyfriend Rashid Rahad Rahim and her Spanish teacher Ms. Mosca and, best of all, her mortal enemy BeBé. BeBé is threatening even to the audience, but Mélia manages to show a little humanity even for her. Unfortunately, Bebé comes very close to bringing down the curtain. We don't want to give away the ending, so let's just say getting shot can have advantages over remaining unpopular.

We would like to warn any fathers in the audience who have teenage daughters: you might think about walking down the street to see The Lion King.

We love this show. The Marsh Berkeley will certainly extend Mélia and we hope they improve their miking system too. She's got a lot to say and you don't want to miss a word.

Thanks, 'Pac.

RATINGS ★★★★


The San Francisco Theater Blog, which normally is as Hip-Hop as a stick of Juicy Fruit, is overjoyed to award FOUR STARS ★★★★ to Mélia Mills's "The Allure of Thug Life." This one-woman show is going to be around a long time.


It's a little bit whacked

But the theater was packed.

The girl can act. 

I wanna go back.


Huh? Huh? Not bad? 

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"Mélia Mills: The Allure of Thug Life"

The Marsh, Berkeley

2120 Allston Way, Berkeley

Saturdays through Nov. 11

$25-$35