Tim Sullivan

BWW Review: GLORIA at A.C.T.'s Strand Theater is a sharp, shrewd work that is bound to be a classic, and a chance to see one of the most skilled writers of our day at the height of his powers.

Wakey Wakey is a superbly-acted exploration of what it means to be alive in the modern world that will provoke you and ultimately lift you out of your seat with a deeper appreciation for the life you're leading.

If you're in the mood for an unconventional confection this holiday season, look no further than 42nd Street Moon's Scrooge in Love now playing at the Gateway Theatre. First performed here in 2015, this sequel to Dickens' classic tale captures the heart of the original while adding a great deal of hilarity.

Cirque du Soleil has produced a staggering number of shows in its 35-year history--there are no less than seven currently running on the Las Vegas strip alone--so one must marvel at the company's ability to ensure its quality matches its quantity. First seen in 2012, Amaluna is a breathtakingly beautiful and magical evening that exemplifies the best Cirque du Soleil can offer.

It may be an unfamiliar sport to most American audiences, but in Kate Attwell's ambitious new play Testmatch, cricket becomes a prism in which she explores the lasting legacy of British colonialism in the Commonwealth countries that regularly compete against their former rulers. Attempting to lob questions of race, gender, sexuality, and class across the centuries, it ultimately misses the wicket.

Gilbert and Sullivan are brought into the jazz age in this charming, if uneven, production of Hot Mikado by 42nd Street Moon at the Gateway Theatre. 

With exceptional direction, a brilliant and moving cast, and a script that is painfully relevant, this Top Girls is top-notch.

One of Shakespeare's least performed works, Measure for Measure, is also one of his best. With some of his most stunning verse alongside his bawdiest humor, it teeters on the razor edge between comedy and tragedy so delicately that it is considered one of his three "problem plays." This vibrant production at Marin Shakespeare elucidates much of the play's wit while not quite reaching the emotional heights of its soaring poetry.

Most theatremakers have to take on less creative professions to pay their bills, and in Michael Patrick Gaffney's one-man play The Oldest Living Cater Waiter, his side hustle is put front in center in relaying the story of his life as he balances his passion with practicality.

Eugène Ionesco's Rhinoceros is brought boisterously into the Trump era in this hilarious production directed by Frank Galati at A.C.T.'s Geary Theatre. Existentialist themes are explored through absurdity and a great deal of wit—if you've avoided avant-garde theatre in the past, Galati's version is strong enough to make you rethink the genre.

Max Vernon's new musical The View UpStairs sees its Bay Area premiere in Ed Decker's appealing production at the New Conservatory Theatre. This is a time-traveling tale that allows multiple generations of the gay community to intermingle and confront the complexities of building queer communities throughout the ages in the charming UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans, the site of one of the most violent incidents in the gay liberation movement of the 1970s. 

Dubbed 'the most ubiquitous contemporary American playwright whose name you may never have heard' by the Chicago Tribune, Steven Dietz's oeuvre contains nearly forty plays that are frequently produced across the country. With one of his most recent plays, This Random World, Dietz weaves coincidentally-related characters through serendipitous encounters across the globe in this charming, if modest, production by Left Edge Theatre.

Ovid's Metamorphoses has inspired countless adaptations in the two millennia since it was first published - Mary Zimmerman beautifully staged a revival of her version at Berkeley Repertory Theatre earlier this year. In Weightless, husband and wife composers The Kilbanes (Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses) hone in on one of the lesser known fables of Procne and Philomela to create a rich, carefully-crafted rock opera. Rather than juggle competing narratives like other adaptations, this piece provides focus and clarity that enables real empathy for the sisters at its center.