Linda Hodges - Page 5

Disney's The Lion King, in all its magic and majesty, roared into San Francisco's Orpheum Theater and will be here now through December 31. If you're one for keeping a bucket list of must-see things to do and see before you 'exit stage left,' then this show is surely one for the list. Directed and loved into being by Julie Taymor, who infuses her creation with rich multicultural beauty, soul-stirring African harmonies and life-sized almost living, breathing animal puppets, Lion King will capture your heart as it surrounds your senses with magic, wonder, awe and grace.

San Jose opened their season with the reimagined production of Phantom of the Opera. For going on three decades this show has enthralled audience members young and old and has once again captured the minds of Bay Area audience members at the beautiful San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Playing now through October 2 this dramatically lush musical, featuring our favorite phantom specter, is spectacular.

San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre plays host to the provocative and still darkly daring, Cabaret now through July 17. Set in 1931 Berlin, on the cusp of all that was to come with the rise of the Nazis, the Kander and Ebb musical revolves around the Kit Kat Club and its cast of characters who are determined to ignore the outside world. 'We have no troubles here! Here, life is beautiful,' shouts the garishly made-up emcee. He and the club's performers do their best to convince us that indeed, 'life is a cabaret' and, for a moment in time, it seems to be true. Yet they set aside the warning signs at their own peril. Coming directly from Broadway and originally directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, SHNSF's Cabaret is a spectacular sleight of hand, giving us sinfully sexy performances even as the real depravity lies in wait like spider outside the doors of the Kit Kat Club.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Enchants at the Orpheum Now Thru July 10!

San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre plays host to the provocative and still darkly daring, Cabaret now through July 17. Set in 1931 Berlin, on the cusp of all that was to come with the rise of the Nazis, the Kander and Ebb musical revolves around the Kit Kat Club and its cast of characters who are determined to ignore the outside world. 'We have no troubles here! Here, life is beautiful,' shouts the garishly made-up emcee. He and the club's performers do their best to convince us that indeed, 'life is a cabaret' and, for a moment in time, it seems to be true. Yet they set aside the warning signs at their own peril. Coming directly from Broadway and originally directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, SHNSF's Cabaret is a spectacular sleight of hand, giving us sinfully sexy performances even as the real depravity lies in wait like spider outside the doors of the Kit Kat Club.

Broadway San Jose's Motown the Musical is a solid gold hit and played to an enraptured audience last night at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Motown the record company was dreamed up by Berry Gordy in 1959 and the music world has never been the same. Gordy and his cavalcade of artists defined the sound of the sixties and seventies, breaking down racial barriers with a signature soul/pop sound that cut across the black/white divide at a time when segregation was still the law of the land. Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and the Temptations were just a few of the artists that made up Motown. The staggering amount of talent, creativity and love that was the Motown Sound and the story behind its founder Berry Gordy -- all brought to the Broadway stage in Motown -- will touch your heart and put the beat back in your feet. Playing now through June 26 it is a must see song celebration and surely a show for your theatre bucket list.

A.C.T. Presents Will Eno's THE REALISTIC JONESES Now Thru April 3

With a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by the great and powerful Wizard of Broadway, Stephen Schwartz, Wicked has won over 50 major awards and, as Variety stated, it truly is 'A Cultural Phenomenon." All the elements of great theater conspire and come together in this gravity defying show. Playing now through April 16, Wicked is guaranteed to thrust you into the stratosphere of sheer artistry and visual delight even if you've seen it before and especially if this is your first time.

Woodminster Summer Musicals celebrated opening night of The Producers, the hit Broadway musical based on the 1968 Mel Brooks film of the same name. With a Book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan and Score by Brooks, The Producers won 12 out of its 15 Tony nominations in 2001. It tells the story of a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his nervous accountant, who together come up with a scheme to make a million dollars (each) by producing the worst flop in Broadway history. They embark on a search to find the worst script, the worst director, the worst designers, and the worst actors. The scheme backfires, with many comic consequences, when their gloriously offensive Springtime for Hitler turns out to be a huge hit. Running now through August 16 at Woodminster Amphitheater in Oakland's Joaquin Miller Park, The Producers is one show you won't want to miss.

FEINSTEIN'S AT THE NIKKO WELCOMES GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING SINGER, SONGWRITER MELISSA MANCHESTER, FOR TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY JULY 10 & 11, 2015!

The first ever San Francisco theatrical event on record was held on June 22, 1849. Lacking a true venue, that performance by 'Jeemes Pipes of Pipesville' took place at the police station and didn't exactly put the City by the Bay on the map. They couldn't know then that the San Francisco Bay Area would grow to be the third largest theatre center in the country, boasting over 400 companies in nine counties.

It was a night to remember as the Oakland Youth Chorus (OYC) took to the risers and promptly raised the roof on the 1st Presbyterian Church on Broadway in Oakland, belting out some amazing Broadway tunes and putting on an all-around great show for the sold-out crowd. This was not just a concert for doting parents and dewy-eyed devotees. These kids can sing! The performances from the many choral groups that comprise OYC were impressive and fun and definitely high-energy entertainment.

Riding the wave of enthusiasm for his newly released book 'Ham: Slices of a Life,' singer and entertainer extraordinaire Sam Harris played to a sold-out crowd at Feinstein's at the Nikko in San Francisco. They came expecting a great show and he did not disappoint. Calling his performance a 'liter-usical,' a combination of literary book tour and Broadway musical extravaganza, he alternated between reading juicy morsels (amuse-bouche, if you will) from his book with songs that served to highlight the chapters of his life.

Tucked away in a corner of the Nikko Hotel is Feinstein's - a 140 seat, intimate nightclub with cozy banquettes and tables graced with crystal chandeliers and a stage on which the Steinway holds pride of place. As the 8 o'clock hour approached, smartly dressed San Franciscans along with tourists in casual wear made their way into the hotel, the buzz in the air clearly indicating that they were here to enjoy the best that San Francisco had to offer. And tonight that 'best' was powerhouse performer Joan Ryan.

Celebrating the release of his new book, HAM: Slices of a Life (a collection of stories and essays), Tony Award nominee Sam Harris will make his Feinstein's at the Nikko debut in a show of the same name on Friday, January 24 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, January 25 at 7:00 PM.

The enchanting musical Beauty and the Beast delighted audiences at San Francisco's Curran Theater on opening night and is the perfect dose of holiday entertainment for children of all ages. Disney's timeless tale of love and transformation is touring the country and will be in San Francisco through January 5, 2014. A NETworks Presentations event, this show forgoes some of the more costly set designs of the original Broadway show but loses nothing of the melodic magnificence of Menken, Ashman and Rice's original masterpiece. Musical Director/Conductor Kevin Francis Finn helms the lush orchestrations of Danny Troob, while the beautifully crafted book by Linda Woolverton brings her animated original to the stage in superb fashion.

San Francisco, please join me in welcoming Tony Award winning 'Voice of Broadway,' Betty Buckley to the BroadwayWorld SF page! She brings her acclaimed show, 'The Vixens of Broadway,' to San Francisco's Feinstein's at the Nikko for 8 performances -December 5 - 15, 2013.

'The Book of Mormon' has been hailed as one of the top musicals of the decade and now through January 19, 2014, San Francisco audiences will have the opportunity to judge for themselves as to whether a musical about Mormons on a mission to win converts to the Church of Latter-day Saints deserves such an accolade.

Berkeley Rep's Tristan & Yseult is one of those shows that combines the best elements of modern theatre with good old-fashioned storytelling and does so with amazing brilliance.