Second Row Center Blog
“Battle of the sexes.” That phrase dates back to at least 1914, when the notorious filmmaker D.W. Griffith (he of “Birth of a Nation”) released a blatantly sexist film with that title. “Battle of the Sexes.” Over the years, what that phrase means and how that particular battle is fought, has vastly evolved. Consider, for …
Continue reading ““Venus In Fur,” “My Fair Lady” – May 18, 2016″
The writings of San Francisco playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb have always been a balance of the weird, the wondrous, the sensitive, and the cynical. Nachtrieb likes to test artistic and cultural boundaries, daring his audience to surrender its expectations. He likes happy endings, but he also likes to subvert them and stand them on their …
One recently-opened Bay Area stage show takes place under the Sea, where fish creatures dwell, another takes place on the Sea, where dangerous men scheme and battle for buried gold. One show features fish on roller skates; the other presents pirates and parrots. Both have singing and dancing—though only one is a musical. One is …
Continue reading ““Treasure Island,” “Little Mermaid” – May 11, 2016″
For several years, the lack of strong roles for women has been the talk of the theater world, lighting up blogs and theater-related websites. With the problem so prominently under discussion these days, Santa Rosa Junior College’s currently running production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ is eye-opening, to say the least. Marking the 400th anniversary …
Anne Boleyn lost her head. Everyone knows that. Little else is known about the infamously short-lived second wife of King Henry VIII. Largely because her husband all but erased her memory from the history books, scraping her name from all monuments, burning her pictures, making it a crime to speak her name aloud—all of which, …
When is a play not a play? When it’s a concert. Because concerts have no plots, and plays have plots That’s the argument some have made against the recent rise of so-called “Juke box musicals,” shows that are basically just a catalog of songs from a specific artist, time period, or style. Now, to be …