How Sweet the Sound
Fifth show of 2010: Wretch Like Me, 142 Throckmorton Theatre, January 18.
David Templeton. Photo by Amber Templeton
I reviewed this one in today’s Marin Independent Journal, so pick up a paper if you’re in the neighborhood or check it out online.
Also you should check out the show. It’s a good’un.
Loving Loveland
It took a long time for me to catch up with Loveland, Ann Randolph’s latest solo show at the Marsh. It opened back in October as a follow-up to her previous hit Squeeze Box, both the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly’s pick for best solo show of 2002, which enjoyed a much-extended eight-month run at the Marsh last year. And I have to admit, I missed that one entirely. I also missed the initial run of Loveland but had a second chance when it returned this month for another extension.
The Sorry State of Arts Journalism, Part the Millionth
I just had to share this:
Silent, Yet Outspoken: SF’s Mime Troupe Celebrates 50 Years.
“Silent”? Really?? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a zillion times: They’re NOT THOSE KINDS OF MIMES!
Next up: An article about how it’s cruel for UC Berkeley to use live bears for sporting spectacles.
A Rosensweig by Any Other Name
Although San Jose Rep and TheatreWorks had both done the play in the past, the late Wendy Wasserstein’s 1992 Broadway hit had somehow never made it to San Francisco until now, so I’d never seen The Sisters Rosensweig before Saturday night—nor, if truth be told, had I seen any of Wasserstein’s plays. I had some vague notion that it had something to do with Chekhov’s Three Sisters, because of my unexamined assumption that anything with three sisters had to be informed by that play, from Lear’s daughters to Daisy Duck’s nieces. Turns out the Rosensweigs aren’t Chekhovian in the slightest, although Wasserstein tosses in a few Three Sisters references in the same offhand, apropos-of-nothing way that distinguishes a lot of play’s bon mots.
Regarding Ella
First show I caught this year was Ella: The American Dream at Cinnabar Theater January 2, and the review’s up on the Marin IJ site.
Old Year, New Blog
Top Ten Theater Productions of 2009
Although I started 2009 reviewing theater for one paper and ended the year reviewing for another, when I look over the list of the 108 shows I saw over the course of the year to determine my top ten, I realize that none of my favorite shows are ones that I actually reviewed. Those respective papers have space, money and geographical constraints, and it just happened that there was no overlap between the shows in my review docket and those in this year’s top ten.
