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Theater
Baroque Modern
Vampires, with all their attendant darkness, sensuality, decadence, and existential complexity, always carry the promise of a good show. The vampire theme, like vampires themselves, is eerily eternal and disturbingly familiar. Perhaps it's one of the elemental story lines embedded in our collective unconscious, if there is such a thing. The collaboration of Anne Rice (novel), Elton John (music), and Bernie Taupin (lyrics) did not disappoint, and there are many surprises in this work. More
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Theater
Bring in the Clowns
Before Cirque du Soleil's Bay Area premiere of their show Corteo, I had a fairly tenebrous vision of what the flamboyant French-Canadian troupe would regale us with. "Corteo" is Italian for funeral procession, and from the tacit description on the company's website, the framework of the performance is a clown's deathbed ruminations. More
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Theater
If You've Got It, Flaunt It
Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat" is a cautionary tale of mystical and fantastic proportions, centered on the dreary life of a low-class man. In keeping with the naturalist oeuvre of his literary counterparts, Gogol infused the tale with Dickensian details of the quotidian -- minutiae that served his leitmotif of toilsome monotony and culture-specific oppression. More
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Theater
Fringe Benefits
Ask your homies why they live in the Big City, and the answer is likely to include the phrase "all the cultural events…" But if you inquire what the last "cultural event" was that they had partaken in, you're likely to encounter long pauses, vacant looks, or maybe a vague recollection of a Quentin Tarantino flick. It's a shame; in the Bay Area, right under our noses, in our own backyards, there's a wealth of cutting-edge performance art and small theatre that seems to go largely unnoticed. We default to the cineplexes when we want out-of-home entertainment, but the problem is (in case you hadn't noticed) big studio movies kind of suck lately. More
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Theater
The Foibles of Sexual Identity
Ah, the fluidity of human sexuality. The ease with which some of us pass from orientation to orientation without the slightest desire for good, old-fashioned fixity of preference speaks volumes about the fallacy of a set identity. Not only does Dan Rothenberg's one-man show, "Regretrosexual", proffer us with the best theater title in decades; it also presents us with an engaging, light-hearted exploration of the one thing most of us take too seriously: sexual orientation. More
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Theater
Enchantingly Light
There really is no place like home, that magical fantasy realm we often prefer to the real thing. You know the home I'm talking about-the place where incredulity is suspended in favor of schlocky family fare, nostalgia, and the belief that no matter how bad things are, it always "turns out" in the end. That's where classic sagas of unreality, like The Wizard of Oz (at least in its technicolor incarnation) come in. The musical Wicked, the sensation which took home 14 major awards (including a few Grammys and Tonys), plays up to the fanciful expectations of diehard Broadway lovers, in its limited engagement at the Orpheum Theatre. More
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Theater
A Classic Case of the Domestic Squabble
Frustratingly verbose games of cat and mouse; privileged yet disgruntled middle-aged harpies having at it; hardly suppressed Electra complexes; emasculated college professors burying their woes in a nightcap and a novel. Yes, my friends, that's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in a proverbial nutshell. Edward Albee's 1962 play, with its characteristic histrionics and intentional shock value, might seem dated these days, but it did for theater what films like Last Tango in Paris did for cinema--namely, it created a new vernacular for its form, one which seethed with bitter contempt for traditional family values and canned gender roles. More
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Theater
Shockingly Appropriate
Shockworthy theatre is somewhat outmoded. Since the ancient Greeks produced high dramas and low comedies chronicling the prurient histories of gods and heroes -- adultery, orgies, and incest have been stock motifs in the mises en scene of a proper stage. In much the same way, Edward Albee's Tony-Award winning play, "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?: Notes Toward a Definition of Tragedy", takes its cue from the blatantly carnal urges of classical theater. More
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Theater
Restoring Novelty to the Prequel
Face it -- most prequels are, by definition, passé. Case in point: the glossy histrionics of the "Star Wars " "episodes," which are surprisingly tedious in comparison to their technologically impaired predecessors. Wrestling with a tried and true formula is a risky venture, and most of the folks who do so usually end up regurgitating pallid, albeit beefed-up versions of the original rather than stuff that makes us stir in our seats with interest. Not so with director Jeffrey Hartgraves' production of "StarCrossed", a clever piece penned by award-winning playwright Sharyn Shipley. More
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Theater
Bridging Cultures and Genres
Despite the surfeit of festivals in San Francisco, rarely do we see events that culminate in cross-disciplinary celebrations of disparate art forms like music, dance, film, and theatre. The 2005 San Francisco International Arts Festival, which runs May 18-June 5, invites artists from around the world to cross-pollinate their genres in collaborative projects that push audiences' understanding of culture, humanity, and artistic excellence. With a dizzying array of exhibits, performances, workshops, panels, and lectures, the International Arts Festival covers impressive ground, distilling provocative themes in a panoply of art forms. More
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