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Review: Despite criticisms, ‘Hamilton’ still solid
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Continue reading →: Review: Despite criticisms, ‘Hamilton’ still solidHas there ever been anything in the history of Broadway like “Hamilton?” Certainly, there have been gargantuan hits that took the nation by storm, and we’ll know in the near-future which shows will explode in the years after shelter-in-place. The encouraging aspect of the post-pandemic Broadway reboot is a new…
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Review: San Jose Stage’s great ‘Great Leap’
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Continue reading →: Review: San Jose Stage’s great ‘Great Leap’The folks who want to keep politics out of sports are often clueless and have no idea that that’s never been the case. Calling it a “friendly” or an “exhibition” does nothing to calm those waters. Whether it was two fists at the 1968 Olympic games that exploded into a…
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Continue reading →: Review: Horror and humor the vehicle for Crowded Fire’s fantastic ‘Displaced’The joy of embracing a new living situation can come with lots of banal choices, yet with each decision that speaks for those who are now ready to go fully into adulting mode, there is excitement. New lives, new realities and new memories are ready to be activated. But what…
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Continue reading →: Review: SF Playhouse’s ‘The Song of Summer’ hits notes, misses othersPop music gets a bad rap. There’s delight in lyrics that are so basic, so anodyne, with pinpoint precise choreography, sharp duds and plenty of head-bopping. No groundbreaking intended, and none accidentally achieved. Robbie is a reluctant star. He’s got the slap that all the kids are jammin’ to, but…
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Continue reading →: New San Francisco theatre company ‘Chikahan’ aims to tell authentic Filipinx storiesIdealism in the age of quarantine is a crazy dynamic. Spurred by racial protests throughout the nation in 2020, artists everywhere began to rethink what is possible, equitable, necessary and just. There was time to ponder, dream and wonder how things can be better by those who claimed a life…
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Continue reading →: Trauma and triumph: Director Williams brings keen insight to Aurora’s radio drama ‘The Bluest Eye’Dawn Monique Williams is one of many directors who arrived at a crossroads when it came to creating fresh art with the disappearance of live productions. With theatres shut down since March of 2020, directors have found new ways to tell stories that may not have connected to their formal…
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Review: Searing trauma explored in powerful ‘[hieroglyph]’
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![Review: Searing trauma explored in powerful ‘[hieroglyph]’](https://bayareaplays.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/sfp-lht_hieroglyph_jessica-palopoli_1-scaled-1.jpeg?w=1024)
Continue reading →: Review: Searing trauma explored in powerful ‘[hieroglyph]’Young Davis tends to stop in her tracks way too often for a girl of 13. There is mystery and sadness behind her lovely brown eyes, and no matter how long ago a traumatic experience changed her, the memory is always near, lurking within the beautiful art that surrounds her.…
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Review: Discoveries aplenty in compelling ‘Catastrophist’
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Continue reading →: Review: Discoveries aplenty in compelling ‘Catastrophist’In the fantastic production of “The Catastrophist,” it does not take long for virus hunter Nathan A. Wolfe to drop his bona fides on the audience. It is 2016, and Wolfe is sharing how much he hates pandemics. Back in those days, many were not digging deep for stories about…
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Continue reading →: Review: Theater Mu’s ingenious ‘Today is My Birthday’ full of tenderness, charmCan you achieve tenderness through a screen? Well, sure. The medium of film does it all the time. But the advantages of something that is part of the film genre allows for serious manipulation. Whether it’s a tight shot of a character in crisis or a wide pan to capture…
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Bay Area well represented in Theater Mu’s ‘Today is My Birthday’
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Continue reading →: Bay Area well represented in Theater Mu’s ‘Today is My Birthday’Jomar Tagatac never fancied himself a lighting designer. He never planned to be a stage manager. And at the end of any given night of rehearsal, he didn’t think he would ever have to break down the entire set only to build it before rehearsal the next day. But when…
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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