Dangerous Common Sense

Henry V

By Galen|2018-03-05T20:02:55-08:00March 5, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Henry V Ensemble as Chorus. Photo by Jenny Graham. by William Shakespeare directed by Rosa Joshi Daniel José Molina (Henry V) and other cast members deliver many truly spectacular moments -- especially in Act II -- which make this Henry a must see. Unfortunately, Director Rosa Joshi's choices diminish the impact of the play itself and leaves the audience to appreciate master-class acting set in a confusion of activity. I think the audience is supposed to [endlessly] appreciate the turmoil and indiscriminate horrors of the machine of war. Toward that end, actors push [...]

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Sense and Sensibility

By Galen|2018-03-04T18:35:29-08:00March 3, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Sense and Sensibility Ensemble. Photo by Jenny Graham. by Jane Austen adapted by Kate Hamill directed by Hana S. Sharif This "updated adaption" is, in fact, a completely uninspired snoozefest of outdated manners humor unworthy of the acting talent and craft workers it wastes. We went into the performance expecting that S&S would be a frothy comedy. But, maybe our expectations were raised too high by the thought that it had been adapted to be more modern. But, whatever. It was not amusing enough to create a bubble of happiness, much less froth. If [...]

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Destiny of Desire

By Galen|2018-03-03T20:23:03-08:00March 3, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Destiny of Desire by Karen Zacarías directed by José Luis Valenzuela Destiny of Desire is an evening of a schlocky, cheesy, unbelievable, perfectly-executed, spectacularly entertaining, brilliantly-written live telenovela. Before I write my 1000 words of "Oh my God, I loved it, here's why...", a picture: Vilma Silva, Ella Saldana North, Esperanza America. Photo by Jenny Graham. The photo is truly worth more than 1000 words of descriptive praise. (Click on it to see it full size.) But, here goes... Director José Luis Valenzuela has directed Destiny at four theaters -- everywhere it's been produced (or [...]

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Othello

By Galen|2018-03-03T19:01:35-08:00February 25, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Othello by William Shakespeare directed by Bill Rauch I know I have seen Othello before, at least a couple of times. But, I never experienced this deliberate, painful story with believable Evil, blinded goodness, and flawed purity. Other Othellos were classic SHAKESPEARE. This was 2018 artistry. I left the theater wondering if Othello's tragedy is personal or is the real sadness that racism, dislike of foreigners, faux-Christian superiority and male dominance has changed so little in 400+ years? Othello (Chris Butler) is certainly flawed and succumbs too completely to Iago's (Danforth Comins) suggestions of marital infidelity. [...]

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Imaginary Comforts
or the Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit

By Galen|2017-10-29T09:36:53-07:00October 29, 2017|Berkeley Rep, plays|

Berkeley, CA at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre Opening Scene of IMAGINARY COMFORTS, OR THE STORY OF THE GHOST OF THE DEAD RABBIT Imaginary Comforts or The Story of the Ghost of the Dead Rabbit by Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) WORLD PREMIERE I am unreasonably pleased at not knowing how to start a discussion of Imaginary Comforts. The locally-produced theater I've seen in the Bay Area in the past decade has been linear, easily described, one-dimensional. Some productions, especially recent Theatre Rhinoceros shows, have been quality, great fun events. But, none has risen to the gob-smacking, "I got to think about this" level [...]

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Henry IV, Part 2

By Galen|2017-08-27T09:58:12-07:00August 22, 2017|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Henry IV, Part 2 By William Shakespeare Directed by Carl Cofield Daniel Jose Molina as Prince Hal. Photo by OSF/Jenny Graham. This production is unique in my Ashland experience. Not in a good way. At all. The Festival is allowing an actor to go onstage who does not know his lines and cannot read them from the script he's holding on a clipboard. It is bizarrely unbelievable that this nationally-known repertory theater has hired an actor for a single role which he cannot do. And, they have left him in the role, [...]

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Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical

By Galen|2017-06-29T09:22:38-07:00June 29, 2017|plays|

Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco at Theatre Rhinoceros Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Musical By Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott Directed by John Fisher Photo by David Wilson, Theatre Rhinoceros The more I think about this production, the better I like it. And, I left the theater damn happy to begin with! The musical Priscilla follows the basic story of the original movie and adds in about every disco/pop hit of the late 70's and 80's in a supremely fun, colorful, and fast moving montage that makes the 2 1/2 hours running time go too quickly. [...]

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Why I Had to March in Pride this Year: #SFPrideResist

By Galen|2017-06-27T15:19:24-07:00June 27, 2017|Politics, San Francisco|

I marched in the Pride Parade this week for the first time in many, many years. I needed to. Recent Pride festivals have been all celebration and parties. Great fun! And, a real spectacle for the just-arrived refugees and asylum seekers that my church has been helping settle in San Francisco. I loved showing off the Chief of Police marching in Pride to a man who was beaten by his hometown police just a few months ago. And, of course, the floats and marching contingents with scantily clad eye candy impress newcomers and jaded old men alike! I have watched [...]

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UniSon

By Galen|2017-04-25T13:08:59-07:00April 25, 2017|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Steven Sapp (Poet), Asia Mark (Apprentice) photo from OSF UniSon A new musical by UNIVERSES Inspired by August Wilson's Poetry In association with Constanza Romero WORLD PREMIERE UniSon is a brief, brilliant, shotgun wedding between poetry and drama, lubricated into position with just the right amount, and right style, of original music. UNIVERSES and collaborators pulled off a transformation. Wilson's original poetry, supplemented by UNIVERSES verses, are used as the dialogue in a coherent, sensible, sensitive narrative. No longer just words, even vivid words, the views and observations in poems are given context [...]

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Hannah and the Dread Gazebo

By Galen|2017-04-23T12:54:51-07:00April 23, 2017|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Hannah and the Dread Gazebo :: Photo OSF Hannah and the Dread Gazebo by Jiehae Park WORLD PREMIERE At least half of the audience has a wonderful time seeing a fun show with amusing characters. But, make no mistake about what's amusing: Asian stereotypes speaking pigeon English while committing cultural faux pas that annoy the very "American" 20-something children of the butt of the jokes. 2017 audiences would not put up with a performance whose entertainment value hinged on older African Americans portrayed as lazy Stepin Fetchit's. That racism would not be considered amusing. But, apparently it's [...]

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