Courtney Symes - Page 4

Sacramento is brimming with new works in theatre this month, and one play that I am particularly looking forward to is by former Sacramento-based playwright James Van Eaton. The premiere of his Oscar Wilde-inspired An Honest Apology will be performed at FreeFall Stage beginning with their annual Valentine’s Day Dessert on February 14th. BroadwayWorld spoke to James about feminism, video games, and all things Wilde.

When Black History Month coincides with the Dodgers kicking off spring training, it’s a perfect time to celebrate one of the most important names in baseball history. Safe at Home: The Jackie Robinson Story is an engaging history lesson about the man who changed the Major Leagues with his quiet strength and integrity. It was first commissioned and performed by the B Street Theatre eighteen years ago, where Artistic Director Alison Gilbreath fell in love with it. She has partnered with its playwright, Anthony D’Juan, to bring it back on stage with Valkyrie Theatre Company, a new community theatre in Fair Oaks.

Capital Stage is starting the new year off with a winner. American Fast. by Kareem Fahmy, is making its Sacramento premiere and running through February. Its themes of competition, self-reflection, and navigating relationships are particularly relevant, as many immigrants struggle to honor familial traditions while finding their own way in contemporary society.

Some powerful Tudor women have taken Sacramento by storm; Six of them, to be exact. The former wives of Henry VIII have come back from the dead to tell their side of the story in this powerful musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.

Championing new works can be a risky undertaking, but B St. Theatre’s dedication to the cause continues to pay off. Kicking off the 2024 season is Rescue Me, a finalist in the 2022 B Street New Comedies Festival.  It is penned by two B Street fixtures, Tara Sissom-Pittaro and Peter Story, who infuse humor with introspection into two outwardly opposite individuals.

What you oughta know is that Broadway Sacramento is starting off the New Year with a bang. Raw, emotional, and energizing are the words to kick off 2024, as the National tour of Jagged Little Pill, The Musical hits Sacramento this week. It was inspired by Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album of the same name and, like the album, is a Grammy Award-winner. It also won two Tony Awards after its 2019 opening. While the musical uses songs from Morisette’s album, it is not the jukebox musical I was expecting. It features an original book by Diablo Cody that highlights the challenges facing an outwardly perfect suburban family, reminding us all to never judge a book by its cover…or a soccer mom by her minivan.

While the curtain has closed on Sierra Repertory Theatre’s holiday production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, I would be remiss in not acknowledging the quality of another successful SRT show. As most probably know, Cinderella was the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made specifically for television. Its 1957 debut featured Julie Andrews, the quintessential Rodgers and Hammerstein leading lady. It spurred multiple spinoffs, including the 2013 Broadway adaptation with a revised book by Douglas Carter Beane. New and improved, this isn’t your grandmother’s Cinderella. Its comedy and messages are a delight for an entirely new generation.

It came after Christmas, bringing with it good cheer. It even brought Whos and Max the Reindeer. A trailer it pulled, full of sets and bright dresses. Whoville, wrapped presents, and sky-high coiffed tresses. A makeup designer and green fur hairdresser, the Grinch couldn’t wait to sing out and impress her! In true Grinchy fashion, he didn’t take pity on any of the kiddos in our River City. He plotted and schemed and watched his greed grow, until the curtain came up on Broadway Sacramento. Yes, my friends, you’ve read that right! Tonight, and the next night, and a night after that, How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will steal your hearts in two seconds flat.

When Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1959, she became the first African American woman to have a play performed on Broadway. Its themes of discrimination and resiliency continue to be as relevant now as they were when it was written, and it is still being taught in schools as an eye-opening account of the African American experience. Celebration Arts recently concluded its talent-filled adaptation of this classic with sold-out performances to close out their 2023 Season of “Overcoming.”

The Prince is giving a ball! Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella is nearing the end of its run at Sierra Repertory Theatre (SRT) in Sonora, and you don’t want to miss the party. Slightly different than its Disney counterpart, this Cinderella is the sophisticated sister. Full of humor, social causes, and beautiful gowns, it has everything needed to entertain the whole family. BroadwayWorld spoke to Christopher Michael, who plays endearing revolutionary Jean Michel, about Cinderella, Sierra Rep, and which coast is the best coast.

Who doesn’t love a great sequel? We all do, as evidenced by the popularity of franchises such as Scream and National Lampoon’s Vacation series. Even re-imagined backstories of classics, like Wicked, have seen incredible success. When we find characters that resonate with us, we are loath to give them up. This is why you’ll need to hurry to get tickets for Capital Stage’s holiday offering, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley. Georgiana and Kitty is the third in a trilogy of works by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon that imagine the lives of the Bennet sisters after Pride and Prejudice.

It’s back! The most wonderful time of the year (besides baseball season), which brings with it a slew of the most wonderful theatre offerings. The B Street Theatre is premiering one of them, Snow Fever: A Karaoke Christmas by Robert Caisley, as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. In the true spirit of Christmas, Caisley adheres to the unspoken rule that a holiday is not a holiday without a steaming hot mess.

It wasn’t that long ago that novels like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road would have been considered farfetched.  A post-apocalyptic wasteland, previously only imaginable, now seems not only plausible but eventually probable. Zoe Kazan takes it a bit further with her stark rendering of the future of America in the smartly written After the Blast, where survivors don’t have the luxury of wandering a barren and dangerous landscape like McCarthy’s boy and his father. Instead, they are miles beneath the surface of the Earth and, generations later, have no first-hand memory of the world above.

One of the most recognizable names in recording history has been immortalized in another jukebox musical. What makes this one different, however, is the infectious energy of the cast, the widespread appeal of the music, and the unparalleled enthusiasm of an insatiable audience. Ain’t Too Proud, The Life and Times of The Temptations, is the Tony Award-winning story of The Temptations as told through the eyes of its founding member, Otis Williams.

As Les Misérables turns thirty-eight this year, it shows no signs of aging. Performances in Sacramento have almost sold out, and it makes one wonder how a show whose content is serious and dark can have such staying power. When it opened in London in 1985, critical reviews were mixed. What it had on its side was public support. Audiences loved the themes of revolution, hope, and redemption; so much so that a Broadway production was launched in 1987. This won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and cemented its status as a legend in theatre.

A delicious confection of nostalgia and excess awaits you at the historic Fallon House Theatre in Columbia. Sierra Repertory Theatre (SRT) has staged a titillating throwback to a time when societal norms were being questioned and the country was on the precipice of change. The Graduate is perhaps known best as a 1967 film, with Dustin Hoffman as young college graduate Benjamin Braddock, and Anne Bancroft as the original cougar, Mrs. Robinson. You’ll love the stage version even more, as SRT boasts a new and improved version with beautiful costumes, danceable tracks, and much better acting.

Tuberculosis and assassination may seem like an odd combination, but they pair surprisingly well in Rajiv Joseph’s Archduke, a historical re-imagining of the pivotal event that helped to ignite World War I.

The Graduate, a novel-turned-cult classic film and play, is an award-winning coming-of-age story about a young man who, feeling adrift after college, seeks connection with an older woman. It’s a story that has aged well, with themes that are collectively engaging. Finding one’s purpose, uncertainty, and lust are combined with loyalty and love to create a timeless piece of Americana. Who better to infuse the iconic work with Mrs. Robinson’s signature sex appeal than a Sacramento theatre icon? Sultry, smoky, and sophisticated are what Natasha Hause breathes into Sierra Rep’s Mrs. Robinson, bringing high society to the historic Fallon House Theatre and breathless entertainment to her audiences. The four-time BroadwayWorld Award-winning actress and director spoke to us about her coveted role, plans beyond Mrs. Robinson, and her secrets of seduction.

Following in the wake of a play like The Play That Goes Wrong is no easy feat. It would be easy to fall into the shadows and be overlooked, and B Street Theatre’s Executive Director, Lyndsay Burch, took a calculated risk in choosing a drama filled with some loaded content. After seeing the new work, I can say that the risk paid off. Charly Evon Simpson’s play, Jump, is filled with heartfelt candor, raw emotion, and some infectious hope for the future.

Between Sacramento and San Francisco are many small towns dotting the Interstate 80 corridor. Farmland eventually turns to the bay, which has inspired many songs such as “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay.” Maybe not as well known is one such town, Vallejo, whose biggest draw now is its Six Flags amusement park. For one talented musician, though, Vallejo is everything. Shawn Raiford is a philanthropic saxophone genius whose music has been climbing the smooth jazz charts. His latest single, a love letter to his hometown, has been described as containing “warm melodies and intimate harmonies” that “float atop a soulful midtempo groove.” BroadwayWorld recently spoke with Shawn about his new single, his dedication to serving, and the beauty of Vallejo.