Steve Murray - Page 3

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is THE hot topic of the day, touted as the panacea for societies’ ills and capable of providing more leisure time and making life easier. The flip side is getting equal play time – we’re being overrun with technology, ostensibly losing our identity to algorithms, and reducing us to big data.

What did our critic think of MYSTIC PIZZA at Lesher Center For The Arts?

Almost four years after his COVID delayed Bay Area Cabaret appearance, Broadway star Max von Essen made it to the historic Venetian Room with selections from his 2019 CD of Broadway interpretations on which he was joined by Grammy winning composer and famed musical director, Billy Stritch who backs Essen for this show as well.

The World Premiere of Mina Lee’s At Home on the Moon is much more than a touching perspective on the love of one’s ethnic food which is handled lovingly. Lee taps the more disturbing issue of gentrification and neighborhood decimation to introduce an AI fantasy posing far more important concerns and elevating the play’s social import.

Fifteen years after MJ’s sudden death and his legacy continues strong with MJ The Musical, winner of four Tony’s. A sure-fire crowd pleaser, this jukebox musical includes Jackson’s biggest hits stunningly directed and choreographed by Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon.

A Christmas eve family get together turns into a didactic skirmish on many fronts; religious, familial guilts, gay equality, sibling rivalries and moral choices. It’s a lot to present, but playwright Leslye Headland manages to corral her characters idiosyncrasies with a well-crafted script and director Trip Cullman’s deft staging and casting. I

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the world’s premier queer chorus, heads to Hollywood and the silver screen with DRAG ME TO THE MOVIES!, a cinematic extravaganza that’s more dazzling than any Tinsel Town premiere. Featuring the 300-member San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, under the baton of Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, DRAG ME TO THE MOVIES! will premiere on Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 PM at Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco). Tickets are currently on sale at sfgmc.org.

TheatreWorks opens 2024 with a super trifecta winner with August Wilson’s deeply personal and revelatory How I Learned What I Learned: a brilliant, bravura performance by Bay Area legend Steven Anthony Jones, excellent direction by Wilson interpreter Tim Bond, and of course, the profoundly poetic and incisive words of Wilson that resonate just as clearly today as when written and performed by him in 2003.

What did our critic think of EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Center Repertory Company? Individual thoughts, moments and actions help define the lead characters evolving and ever-growing list in this poignant and uplifting one man performance piece starring  William Thomas Hodgson with direction by award-winning Jeffrey Lo (Vietgone, Chinglish, The Great Leap).

What did our critic think of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Golden Gate Theatre? That Harper Lee’s 1960 novel of racial prejudice and social justice is just as prescient today is a sad indictment of American culture. Academy award winner Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and Director Bret Sher (Tony Award winner, South Pacific) have crafted a beautifully staged and wonderfully acted production that has taken the nation by storm and hauntingly illuminates the social rifts as seen through the eyes of three children representing the innocence of youth.

What did our critic think of RUTHLESS at New Conservatory Theatre Center?

What did our critic think of GUYS AND DOLLS - A MUSICAL FABLE OF BROADWAY at SF Playhouse?

What did our critic think of DRAGON LADY at Marin Theatre Company?

What did our critic think of HARRY CLARKE at Berkeley Rep? Would that we could all disassociate from our childhood traumas and morph into bold, confident self-creations. For young Philip Brugglestein life in rural South Bend Indiana is a nightmare of paternal abuse and anti-gay bullying. His escape is talking in a Cockney accent culled from British movies, and after the death of his parents Philip moves to NYC and re-creates himself as Harry Clarke, replete with a fake history as tour manager for Sade.

What did our critic think of JOSHUA HENRY - AN EVENING OF BROADWAY AND SOUL at Venetian Room? Bay Area Cabaret opened its 2023/24 season with Tony-nominated (Carousel, The Scottsboro Boys, Violet) and Grammy Award-winning artist Joshua Henry who presented his take on retro-soul and R&B to an enthusiastic audience.

What did our critic think of WE ARE CONTINUOUS at New Conservatory Theatre Center?

What did our critic think of ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS at Cutting Ball Theater?

What did our critic think of MRS. CHRISTIE at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley?

Little actual work is being done at the family travel agency being run by sisters Ayamma and Dede. Ayamma dreams of becoming the lead actor in a new movie by Nigeria’s hottest director even though she can’t act, while Dede paws through gossip magazines for details on Wale Owusu, Nigeria’s Sexiest Man Born and never misses her favorite Oprah-esque talk show ‘Adenikeh’.

What did our critic think of POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIV at Berkeley Repertory Theatre?