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Continue reading →: Review: Oakland Theater Project’s powerful ‘sAiNt jOaN (burn/burn/burn)’ tasks children to correct the scorched earth they inheritThe moments of eeriness begin in earnest before others enter, a teenager who stands in the center of the room, doing everything possible to not pull focus, which makes the focus being pulled so strong and intricate. What has this young person experienced in life that is so scarring, so…
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Continue reading →: Review: Music and food make for a decadent dish at San Francisco Playhouse’s ‘Twelfth Night’There is no doubt that music be the food of love. But how much food are we talking about? Actually, a lot. In the San Francisco Playhouse’s decadent production of “Twelfth Night,” a musical adaptation by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, the savory feast of William Shakespeare’s comedy of heartbreak,…
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Continue reading →: Review: ‘Hairspray’ at Broadway San Jose has big heart and bigger hairOne of the joys of the musical “Hairspray” is seeing the lot of ugliness that surrounds the world of 1962 Baltimore, and plunking Tracy Turnblad in the middle of it all. She’s cheery, ideal, finds the good in just about everything and dances her tushy off, which seems to rid…
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Continue reading →: Review: Berkeley Rep’s ‘Wintertime’ is hilarious and poignant slam poetryOne of the loveliest moments in the breathtaking aria “Una Furtiva Lagrima” from L’Elisir d’amore” by Gaetano Donizetti, is when the peasant Nemorino is convinced that the fair and wealthy Adina loves him. It’s a scintillating progression of feelings and thoughts, a bel canto staple driven by the heart. That’s…
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Au enjoys the commute to San Jose Stage’s ‘Great Expectations’
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Continue reading →: Au enjoys the commute to San Jose Stage’s ‘Great Expectations’Li-Leng Au is one driven performer, which has everything to do with how many miles she’s put on her car, amassing hundreds of them as she traipses all over the Bay Area to work on show after show as an actor and performance coach. But her latest gig is different.…
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Continue reading →: The poetry of persistence: Los Delicados at 25 celebrate with a weekend of ‘Floricanto’Los Delicados built their brand on being persistent. There wasn’t an ecosystem in place for the poetry collective’s special brand of performance in 1996, which contains a hybrid of performance art, Chicano teatro and AfroCuban music and dance. There were no theatres trying to book them into their seasons. Even…
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Continue reading →: Review: Surrounded by plainness, ‘The Revolutionists’ at Palo Alto Players is a story full of colorsLate in the Palo Alto Players’ succulent production of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists,” the author Olympe de Gouges engages in a debate with Black revolutionary Marianne Angelle, a fictional composite of a free woman. There is a question Marianne poses to Olympe – when it’s time to stand up and…
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Continue reading →: Review: A multitude of issues shoot through the window in S.F. Playhouse’s insightful ‘Great Khan’In San Francisco Playhouse’s production of “The Great Khan,” young Jayden presents a challenge to his teacher Mr. Adams. Can this very white teacher, who goes around saying racist dreck such as “history is written by the winners,” name 20 Black figures that aren’t in sports or entertainment? The start…
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Review: Shotgun’s ‘The Claim’ has a powerful story to tell
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Continue reading →: Review: Shotgun’s ‘The Claim’ has a powerful story to tellThere’s so much hurt that comes with viewing Shotgun Player’s extraordinary production of Tim Cowbury’s staccato script “The Claim” but it’s not pain that makes its way to the surface at the onset. That throbbing is something realized over time, when we discover what the most vulnerable asylum-seeker can have…
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Review: High flying ‘Dear San Francisco’ soars
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Continue reading →: Review: High flying ‘Dear San Francisco’ soarsSince 1974, “Beach Blanket Babylon” served as the default show for tourists coming to San Francisco. The hugely irreverent production, founded by San José State alumnus Steve Silver, followed the Wizard of Oz’s perpetually sunny heroine Dorothy as she searched for love in the City’s colorful and delightfully funky neighborhoods.…
David John Chávez
Bay Area theater critic/reporter, Executive Chair – American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association, Two-time Pulitzer Prize for Drama jurist (’22-’23). Follow me on socials and say hi! #hellatheatre
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