Tag: camille bounds

Long before they took the plot from the opera “La Boheme” and created a contemporary version that became the Broadway hit “Rent,” Douglass Wallop and George Abbott took “Faust” and turned it into a rollicking, joyous, wacky tribute to baseball and enduring faithfulness. “Damn Yankees” is a feel good romp that has all the elements of a great musical. “Damn Yankees” opened on Broadway May 5, 1955 and starred Gwen Verdon with choreography by Bob Fosse. It walked away with eight 1956 Tony Awards and has continued to captivate audiences around the world through the years.

Take English American Sign Language, a deaf actor, an award-winning play by the deaf actor’s (hearing) wife, a director that carries a super able cast, mix well and you have an enlightening glance into the life of a non-hearing man who refuses to be silent.

Nora and Delia Ephron (sisters) took the book “Love, Loss and What I Wore” by Ilene Bacmerman, added stories of some of their friends and their own experiences, and came up with a delightful production that hits home with most women and can tickle the funny bone of the guys in the audience. Sadly Nora Ephron died this past summer and left an enormous library of plays and books. Best known are “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and this play.

When Charles Dickens wrote “Oliver Twist,” a heart wrenching/sentimental story about the poor and the mistreatment of children in the early 1800s, I imagine the last thing on his mind was a musical about his hero's journey from orphan to finding his upper class family.

The audience at the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse received South Valley's Civic Theatre production of “Fiddler on the Roof” - the final production of the season - with well deserved kudos. If this is an example of what is coming next season, run – don't walk – to purchase next season’s tickets. This was an extremely well done show with an excellent cast. This wonderful piece of theatre is reincarnated with exuberance and energy, and is a joy to watch.

“A Minister’s Wife” has been transposed from Bernard Shaw’s “Candida” into a musical that makes for interesting theatre.

Colman Domingo's Gil – his hero in “Wild with Happy” (a play he wrote and stars in) – wants to do the right thing. His dynamic mom dies and he has to tie up the loose ends on limited funds and a heavy, guilty heart.

Planning a getaway to Monterey or San Francisco? Think Sonoma Coast and the Russian River region for a serendipitous adventure into relaxation, beauty and great food and wine just a few hours and a gas tank away.

You will love this production if you are a Green Day fan, and you will likely take it as a feast of Green Day music. If you are not a fan, you will be exposed to the wild and unrepressed music of the ’90s and have an experience to wonder about.

You will probably never see four more hard working actors that play the dozens of roles in this San Jose Rep's offering. This is an edgy, dark, sometimes humorous production. Director Kirsten Brandt (also the Rep's associate artistic director), shows the patience of a stern understanding mother, she moves her characters at times with the force of a hurricane into a gentle breeze of a summer day. She had to have a definite deep attachment for this work to not only direct it but also adapt it from Christopher Marlow's original play for the Rep's stage. This was no easy task.