Robert Sokol

If your sum impression of the Edward Albee canon is his magnificent WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? then SEASCAPE, Pam MacKinnon's refreshing resident directing debut at American Conservatory Theater, will surprise you.

PARADISE SQUARE is a glorious if frustrating addition to the musical theatre canon, blessed with an exceptional cast, a stirring score, and the unbelievably exquisite choreography of Bill T. Jones. Yet, despite these riches, the opulent production trips self-consciously on its own ambition, with the whole adding up to something less satisfying than the sum of its exceptional parts.

In a production where the whole is certainly equal to the sum of its parts, Tuck Everlasting could emerge as a pleasing and long-lasting alternative to splashier or too familiar seasonal holiday fare.

The humor in many Sedaris pieces comes from the obvious anguish of social misfits forced to contort themselves into a publicly presentable form, or, conversely, the observer's schadenfreude in having the misfit revealed for their true, damaged self. Neither of those elements is really present in Santaland, where the stage David-Crumpet presents as a fairly well-adjusted fellow forced to take on a seemingly demeaning survival job.

A Bronx Tale has been a "family" affair for decades. This musical adaptation is its next evolutionary step following the 1993 non-musical film, which was drawn from an earlier autobiographical one-man Off-Broadway and later Broadway play written by and starring by Chazz Palminteri.

In Pike St., now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, playwright and actor Nilaja Sun single-handedly presents a stage full of dynamic, three-dimensional characters engaging with each other in rapid-fire conversation and scenes of vigorous interaction.

'If you allow your ego to kind of let go of the expectation of what you think your performance is supposed to be, you can open yourself up to finding so many richer and deeper colors and dimensions that will take you in places you never thought you could go.'

For well over a year the Tony-nominee Christine Andreas has been very focused on the Edith Piaf canon, performing an assortment of set pieces built around the renowned Frenchwoman's work, culminating - so far - in a new CD and the solo production PIAF: NO REGRETS.

Volta, the latest Cirque du Soleil tour never stints on athleticism but leaves your breath mostly untaken and your heartstrings unplucked.

Roger Grunwald has brought THE OBLIGATION, his solo performance on the Holocaust, directed by acclaimed Bay Area theatremaker Nancy Carlin back to Potrero Stage in a welcome and powerful revival.

It would be easy to make FUN HOME a dour polemic about LGBT oppression from within and without, but the gifts of Kron, Tesori, Bechdel - which director Robert Kelley artfully deploys - are the moments of lightness and pure joy that make the losses all the more tragic.

The Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of fairview is disturbing. That's good. If you are white and liberal and experiencing mild to major discomfort by the end of the performance, that's even better.

BroadwayWorld-San Francisco Senior Editor Robert Sokol takes Creel on a trip down memory lane to revisit his Main Stem alter egos in advance of his debut at Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel as part of producer Marilyn Levinson's fifteenth anniversary season of Bay Area Cabaret in San Francisco.

SWEAT neither romanticizes nor demonizes the factory worker or their situations. You know most of these people voted for Trump, but they are at worst, desperate, not deplorable. They face hard choices with honesty and determination, understanding the limited cards they have been dealt.

SCHOOL OF ROCK is a fleetingly affable evening composed by Lloyd Webber for lyrics by Glenn Slater (Sister Act) and a book by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey). The kids are more than alright, saving the night and earning an 'A' for natural talent and a refreshingly unaffected stage presence.

San Francisco native Francis Jue (M. Butterfly and Pacific Overtures on Broadway) reflects on becoming an actor, being an Asian-American actor, and the intersection of THE KING AND I and SOFT POWER, the new 'play in a musical' by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori.

The new musical A WALK ON THE MOON, based on the 1999 film written by Pamela Gary, does a fine job of telling its story, and patrons will have a good time at this nice musical. In the era of making things great again are fine, good, and nice enuf?

This weekend marks the world premiere of UNBREAKABLE, an original work by composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa, co-commissioned by a nationwide consortium of ten gay choruses and featuring Lisa Vroman, Britney Coleman, and Marcus J. Paige.

Tony-nominee Carmen Cusack is returning to San Francisco to perform May 19 at the annual 'A Twist of Limelight' gala for Bay Area Musicals followed by rehearsals for this fall's VICTOR/VICTORIA in Los Angeles, part of the Reprise 2.0 relaunch season.

Vietgone by Qui Nguyen is a refreshingly upending night of theatre. It's also an extremely funny, sexy, tender, and truthful night of theatre.