Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Novato Theater Company delights audiences with its second production in their brand new facility at Pacheco Playhouse. Pulitzer Prize winner, John Patrick, authored the sometimes dated, but still touching comedy [tag]The Curious Savage[/tag], and the production is brisk, if sometimes muted around the edges. Linda Reid, director, brings to life this funny and poignant story [...]

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Is it really possible that the holidays are already upon us? All it takes is a quick look at the retail stores to know it?s true. Virtually bypassing both Halloween and Thanksgiving kicked an early shopping season into gear. Fortunately, theatre companies from the South Bay to Sacramento offer a variety of alternatives to cutthroat [...]

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Vallejo Music Theatre is hoping to raise at least $5,000 this Friday at their Founder?s ?Hard Hat? Art Auction. The public may view the auction from 10 am to 4 pm on Friday, November 17. Later that evening at 6pm, a wine tasting from Hagafen Cellars of Napa, hors d?oeuvres and host bar will begin [...]

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A simple rhyme becomes the centerpiece of a cleverly crafted murder plot in [tag]Agatha Christie[/tag]?s stage adaptation of her popular 1939 novel [tag]And Then There Were None[/tag]. Continuing its 2006-2007 season, Contra Costa Civic Theatre attempts to capture the atmosphere, wit, and intricate criminal plan that have made the play as enduring and entertaining as [...]

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Richard Nixon was president. The Beatles broke up. Just under 475,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam, and love was sometimes a four letter word. It was 1970 when the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical Company opened on Broadway to rave reviews, and now in 2006, The Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond travels back in [...]

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[tag]Dead Man Walking[/tag] is playing at the Harbor Theatre in Suisun City through 29 October. It is a commentary on capital punishment and, unfortunately, the message gets in the way of the story. The story of Sister Prejean and her dialogue with Matt Poncelet, a convicted rapist and murderer, is told in a montage of [...]

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If your local radio station is OKKK, an organization called Smut Snatchers of the New Order is on a crusade to remove offensive words from your dictionary, and your neighbors think that Roots only portrayed one side of the slavery issue, you might be a redneck, but you?ve definitely landed in Tuna, Texas. The third [...]

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As John Wayne would say: ?Wahl, Annie Get Your Gun,? and the rest of you grab your hats and ride on out to see the latest offering at [tag]Solano College Theatre[/tag]. Director, Dyan McBride, has assembled a remarkable cast to present with high energy and precision the [tag]musical tale[/tag] of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. [...]

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War is like love. It finds a way. Why should it ever end?? – Chaplain, [tag]Bertolt Brecht[/tag]?s Mother Courage [tag]Berkeley Repertory Theatre[/tag]?s production of Brecht?s [tag]anti-war epic [/tag]finds dry humor in such statements as it tells the story of peddler Anna Fierling, [tag]?Mother Courage[/tag],? who sells to whichever side is near during the Thirty Years [...]

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A woman?s guide to love according to Beaumarchais? The Marriage of Figaro: ?Be beautiful if you can, be good if you must, but above all don?t get caught!? Thus the antics ensue in [tag]Center REPertory Company[/tag]?s production of the 18th century madcap comedy, now playing through October 7 in [tag]Walnut Creek[/tag]. Center REP?s new Artistic [...]

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Early 8/2006 – Hear a rumor that I?m nominated for an [tag]Arty Award[/tag] this year for playing Mrs. Potts in Solano College Theatre?s (SCT?s) Beauty and the Beast (B&tB). Would definitely be an honor but seems kind of unreal. That show was magical, and I loved the cast and design team. Must find out who [...]

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[tag]Urinetown[/tag]. Doesn?t sound very pleasant, right? It is quite possibly the worst title for a musical ever, and the characters know it. That?s part of what makes this [tag]musical-to-spoof-all-musicals[/tag] so clever, and if you can get past the title, you?ll find some laughs in Contra Costa Musical Theatre?s production at the Dean Lesher Regional Center [...]

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I recently filled a vacancy for a community theatre group that had lost some actors during rehearsals. I had two weeks to learn my lines which were, fortunately, not many. I could write about how another layer of Teflon is added with every passing year so that new information rarely sticks as easily as it [...]

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Corrupt and ineffective civil servants, wealthy socialites behaving immorally, and clever up-and-comers manipulating their way to the top. It could be an episode of The Daily Show, but it?s actually the 19th century satirical comedy [tag]Diary of a Scoundrel[/tag]. The play?s enduring themes from the pen of [tag]Alexander Ostrovsky[/tag], father of realism in Russian theatre, [...]

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How much does it cost to go to the movies these days? Tickets and concessions can run almost $30 for a couple and at least $45 for a family of 4. Yet some folks don?t attend live theatre, because ?I really can?t afford it,? and the statistics in New York show an average income for [...]

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