Second Row Center Blog
The plight of British laborers dealing with the changing economic world in the 1980’s has been a major plot element in a number of successful musicals. From the redundant steel workers of The Full Monty to the striking coal miners of Billy Elliot, the issue of (mostly) men dealing with job elimination often took a …
Continue reading “The Last Ship at the Golden Gate Theater (Aired: March 11, 2020)”
The Hunchback of Notre Dame finally makes its North Bay debut with a production offered up by a local music education center. Cotati’s Music to My Ears is presenting the musical at the new Rancho Cotate High School Theatre Arts Auditorium in Rohnert Park through March 8. A blend of Victor Hugo’s gothic novel and …
Continue reading “The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Rancho Cotate High School (Aired: March 4, 2020)”
If your taste in musicals runs to the light, bouncy, and life-affirming, you might want to take a pass on the Spreckels Theatre Company’s latest production. If, however, your taste runs more to the dark and twisted, then you won’t find Urinetown, the Musical too draining. It runs in Rohnert Park through March 1. Set …
Continue reading “Urinetown at Spreckels Theater Company (Aired: February 26, 2020)”
Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, running now at Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse through February 23, may not be his best play (that’s Death of a Salesman) or even close to his most produced work (probably The Crucible). What it is is a punch-to-the-gut look at of one man’s destructive obsession and the …
Continue reading “A View From A Bridge (Aired: February 19, 2020)”
A vacant downtown San Rafael storefront is being haunted by the Ghosts of Bogotá. They are characters in playwright Diana Burbano’s darkly comic autobiographical look at a group of siblings dealing with some disturbing family history. It’s AlterTheater Ensemble’s latest “pop-up theatre” and runs through Feb. 23. Siblings Lola (Liva Gomes Demarchi), Sandy (Carla Pauli), …
Continue reading “Alter Theater’s Ghosts of Bogota (Aired: February 12, 2020)”
It’s Christmas Eve and a family readies their home for guests. Gifts are placed under a tree. Food is prepared. Mass will be attended. Millions of Americans will do the same. This is the first Christmas this family will spend as American citizens. Eight years after fleeing Iraq, Noura (Denmo Ibrahim), Tareq (Mattico David) and …
Continue reading “Marin Theater Company’s Noura (Aired: February 5, 2020)”
Plays and films set during World War I are few and far between, at least compared to those that use the Second World War or Vietnam as a framing device. It’s been a little over a century since the Armistice, and while there have been a few books and films on the subject – like …
Continue reading “Mary’s Wedding at Main Stage West (Aired: January 29, 2020)”
Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre kicks off the New Year with Simon Stephens’s Heisenberg. The two-character dramedy about a May – December romance runs through February 2. The title does not refer to either character, but to German physicist Werner Heisenberg. The Nobel Prize winner is best known for his 1927 uncertainty principle that, in …
Continue reading “Heisenberg at Left Edge Theater (Aired: January 22, 2020)”
Comedies and dramas occupied North Bay stages for the bulk of 2019. Here, in alphabetical order, are my Top Torn Tickets, the best and/or most interesting comedic and dramatic stage work done in Sonoma and Napa counties in the past year: After Miss Julie (Main Stage West) Just one of several outstanding productions at this …
Continue reading “Harry’s Top Torn Tickets of 2019, Part 2 – The Plays (Aired: January 15, 2020)”
After having attended over one hundred Bay Area theatrical productions in 2019, it’s time to clear out the file cabinet of a year’s worth of theatre programs and select my Top Torn Tickets. Here, in alphabetical order, is my list of the best and/or most interesting work done in the musical genre by wine country …
Continue reading “Harry’s Top Torn Tickets: The Musicals (Aired: January 8, 2020)”