Among people of good will, legitimate differences can occur.  Based on a true story, Dead Man Walking deals with a difference of the highest order, the death penalty.  Advocates cite the rights of victims’ families to exact punishment and achieve closure.  Biblically, they note the dictum of “An eye for an eye.”  Detractors argue that killing a murderer doesn’t bring back the victim; precludes redemption; and rejects the Christian notion of turning the other cheek.

Despite its harrowing topic, San Francisco Opera commissioned Dead Man Walking, composed by Jake Heggie with libretto by Terrence McNally.  It has become the most performed 21^st century opera, and the company reprises it with a stupendous production on the opera’s 25^th anniversary.

At one level, Dead Man Walking can be perceived as the intimate story of an unrepentant killer and the nun who befriended him and acted as his spiritual counselor as he faced execution.  The opera however is grand in scale, having a great many principal roles and choruses.  It is blessed with melodious tonal music replete with rich categorical diversity and motifs; a libretto of immense thought and consequence; and breathtaking staging that reveals its heart-breaking scenes.

The opening captivates with its depiction of the lurid crime set to ominous music.  With a parked car at a lovers’ getaway onstage, its headlights attract the two rapist/murderers to the site like moths to a flame.  A young, naked couple on a blanket is ravaged and knifed to death senselessly – she 35 times.

We then jump to the final month before the execution, when Joseph de Rocher calls upon Sister Helen Prejean, a nun previously unknown to him, to comfort him.  The wonderfully cast Ryan McKinny is chilling as the vile Joseph, having a deep, expressive baritone voice delivered with menace and an authentic sounding Louisiana accent.  Though he seeks grace and deliverance, he verbally abuses and disparages those whom he asks for help.  In his aria “A warm night” when he first meets Sister Helen, he shares his sexual desires and conquests with her, showing contempt for her station.

The fine young mezzo Jamie Barton is Sister Helen.  She captures the nun’s gentility and complex reactions with a mellow and nuanced voice as she fights revulsion in trying to induce Joseph to confess and seek forgiveness.  Her dedication to her calling is revealed in the recurring hymn-like “He will gather us around,” and she realizes the watershed she faces in the reflective “This journey.”  But the journey is not only thankless, she is vilified by the victims’ parents, the warden, and even the prison priest.

Among the many highlights of the opera, a powerful and accusatory sextet “You don’t know” involving the victims’ parents, Sister Helen, and Joseph’s mother addresses the pain and grief the parents confront, down to remembering the last, inconsequential things that they said to their lost children.  In the end, an understated Mrs. de Rocher, performed by the redoubtable Susan Graham with tremulous restraint, faces grief as well.  One difference is that she knows that these will be her last words to her son, and in the attempt to keep alive her hope that Joseph is innocent, she begs his silence in the plaintive “Don’t say a word.”

The composer’s music engages not only in its operatic mode, but in pastiches of other styles.  Along with hymns, the score imitates blues and rock, and in a sequence that brought about some bonding, the two main characters share their love of Elvis, who Sister Helen had seen live in Las Vegas.  Heggie also utilizes motifs throughout the score.  But in addition to a recurring musical phrase identifying a particular character, when characters interact, their motifs sometimes do as well.  In the case of Sister Helen’s “This journey” motif, it is also adopted by Joseph in his confessional “I did it” as he takes the final steps in his journey.

Central to the stellar staging is the steely prison set.  Its daunting mobile components – catwalk, chain link fencing, and circular staircase towers are disturbing evocations of life behind bars, and dramatic lighting accentuates the isolation of prison existence.  But all of the scenery gives a strong sense of place, even the occasional fragmentary sets or the projection-based views of rural Louisiana when Sister Helen first drives to Angola Prison.

Even though the opera’s topic matter may be off-putting and though numerous personalities are unpleasant as well, the exceptional creative artistry and execution, as well as the significance of the story, overcome these objections.  The overall production is sensational with the orchestral music of Heggie’s appealing score conducted by the acclaimed Patrick Summers.  The only defect of note is that a number of artists sometime fail to project suitably so that much of the singing seems underpowered.

Dead Man Walking, composed by Jake Heggie with libretto by Terrence McNally, is produced by San Francisco Opera and plays at War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA through September 28, 2025.

Così Fan Tutte wastes no time in getting to the heart of the matter.  The title is ambiguous, but in the context of the libretto it loosely translates as “women all do it” – the “it” being partake in infidelity.  From the opening lyrics, the older and cynical Don Alfonso challenges the naïve young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, wagering them that their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi respectively, will betray their vows within 24 hours if given the chance.  The peacocks that they are, the young men bristle at the thought that their loved ones could possibly consider being unfaithful.  The whole opera is dedicated to that single issue.

Opera San José’s audience seems partial to opera war horses, and what could be more fitting than a popular opera uniting perhaps the most successful opera creating team ever.  Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, they produced three of opera’s most famous masterpieces – the others being Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.

OSJ’s production of Così is masterful, blessed with wit and warmth.  Credit excellent casting which results in an ensemble of six wonderful performers with mellifluous voices that complement one another beautifully.  Add fine direction from Alek Shrader as well as brisk and decisive orchestral support conducted by Joseph Marcheso.

Mozart’s music always lifts a production.  However, it’s the cheery performances punctuated by outstanding comic acting by all of the performers that are the difference makers, moving the action along.  Particular acting recognition goes to soprano Nicole Koh as Despina, the maid.  In a featured role, she wins over the audience as she sashays, struts, flits, flops, and mugs like a fine comic actor and even sings in a comic manner when necessary.  Her singing does sometimes fail to project adequately, though she certainly possesses the power as she has sung The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute for OSJ.

Kudos to the other five cast members for finding the humor in their parts as well.  Among other slapstick acts, artists flop onto their backs, especially soprano Emily Michiko Jensen as Fiordiligi.  The exception is Joanne Evans as Dorabella who received a dispensation slip as she’s seven months pregnant!  Despite that, she sings with a wonderfully warm, exacting mezzo-soprano voice and charms with a bright, enduring smile.

In taking up Don Alfonso’s bet, which is aided by Despina’s involvement, the young men must disguise themselves as Albanians.  Using the plot device of fiancée swapping, each will lure the other’s love interest.  In most operas, the tenor and soprano are paired as the leads (and the good guys), and the baritone and mezzo are secondary.  In Così, the alignments are switched, except when the men are in their foreign guises – presumably so they won’t be recognized.

At first, the young ladies are steadfast, and Fiordiligi sings her anthem to fidelity, “Come scoglio.”  Jensen’s powerful top end is in evidence as well as her ability to make great vocal leaps, though she does fade a bit when in lower register and deeper into phrases.  When the men falsely feel that they have won the day, Ferrando sings his signature aria, the most noted piece from the opera “Un’aura amorosa” (“A breath of love”).  Jonghyun Park is Ferrando, and he commands the beautiful aria and the high tessitura of the role with ease.

Along the way, farcical events occur, allowing the young men to show their comic chops, as when Despina is dressed as a doctor and uses a giant magnet to withdraw poison from the men’s bodies as they writhe like cockroaches on their backs!

Ricardo José Rivera is delightful as Guglielmo, using wry facial expressions as well as dramatic gesticulations.  His baritone voice is easy and mellow, producing a great overall performance.  His vocalizations appeal throughout, and he blends especially nicely with Evans in their love duet “(Il core vi dono).” (“I give you my heart”).  Perhaps it is no surprise to the reader that the young women do fall under the spell of the “visitors,” and despite the men being crestfallen, they forgive their fiances.

Final recognition goes to the highly accomplished bass-baritone Dale Travis as Don Alfonso, the instigator of the plot (pun intended).  He brings comedy, authority, and a mellow voice to his characterization of the insightful but slightly underhanded Don.

At this point, I will observe that what makes this OSJ production particularly notable to me is that I am no fan of Così, and the production had to compensate for deficiencies in the opera to bring me on board.  To begin with, at three hours, it is too long for the simplicity of the story line.  Also, for a major opera, it has only six principals and no chorus or extras, making the opera seem less than grand.  And while there is a great deal of fine music, the execution of the plot is very static.  Much of the singing is stand-and-deliver, often with only two people, or even one, on stage, so that it seems more like a concert version rather than a fully-staged production.

Notwithstanding, the Opera San José rendering of Così Fan Tutte contains so many pleasures that it is a joy to behold.

Così Fan Tutte, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, is produced by Opera San José and plays at California Theater, 345 South 1^st Street, San Jose, CA through September 28 2025.

A common concern among minority-group populations that receives nary a thought from the majority population is how its people are presented in entertainment and media.  Whether Black, Latino, Jewish, or other, there is particular concern when it is someone of their own ethnic group who is depicting them in a bad light.

In 1906, Polish Jew Sholem Asch wrote the Yiddish-language play God of Vengeance.  A table reading was hosted by Poland’s most distinguished living Yiddish intellectual, Isaac Peretz, who at the end of the reading was so offended by the portrayal of fellow Jews that he said “Burn it Asch, burn it.”

In 2015, Paula Vogel wrote the metatheatrical play Indecent, which tells the dramatic history of the evolution of God of Vengeance and its impact on society and on its playwright.  Written with pathos and reverence for its characters and her culture, Vogel insightfully integrates scenes from Asch’s play into her own, cleverly and seamlessly as a piecemeal play-within-a-play.

What made God of Vengeance so controversial in the Jewish community?  It was innovative and daring beyond its time but in the opinions of many, its portrayals were blasphemous and disparaging.  Not only is the male lead a Jewish brothel owner who tries to buy respectability by his financial contributions to the synagogue, but in the end, he desecrates a Torah and consigns his own daughter to his brothel because of having a lesbian affair with one of his prostitutes.

Starting with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play, the incredibly potent and distinguished production of Indecent at Center Rep excels on every dimension and should not be missed.  Elizabeth Carter directs with consummate skill, marshaling all of her creative resources.  The feel of authenticity is palpable, highlighted by the breadth of costume design (Brooke Kesler); the often targeted and sepia-tinged lighting (Spense Matubang); and haunting klezmer music (Timothy Fletcher).  Useful projections (Lyle Barrere) complement the dialog to identify the frequent time, location, and language shifts.

 A fine ensemble of actors, all but one in multiple roles, perform admirably.  Of particular acting note is that of Adam KuveNeimann, primarily as the younger Sholem Asch, gentle, yet assertive in his self-belief and in his play that he feels tells a side of his community’s life that needs to be told.  When Asch assembles his entourage, the inexperienced Lemml would become his traveling stage manager. Played with great touch by Vincent Randazzo, Lemml would begin in a humble and halting fashion, later becoming demonstrative and challenging his mentor.  Michelle Drexler’s elan shows as various sharp-edged characters and as the loving prostitute Manke who loves Rivke, the daughter of the brothel owner.

Despite condemnations and discouragement from his close circle, Asch took God of Vengeance on the road.  It was well received in Yiddish and in translation in the cultural capitals of Europe.

Though Asch would live mostly in the U.S. as a safe haven free of pogroms from 1914 onward, his adopted home would become a major source of his discontent.  Only when the controversial play premiered in the sanctimonious United States in 1923 did participants in the production suffer legal repercussions for travesties like showing the first same-sex kiss on the American stage.  Unlike in Europe, he had to make eviscerating changes to the play to placate criticism, and eventually he became so disconsolate that he would remove the play from the market so that it couldn’t be performed.  Later, he would re-emigrate to England to avoid prosecution from the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Vogel incorporates Asch’s work into her own in such a smooth manner that it becomes difficult to disentangle them.  It feels that Asch’s drama and convictions are Vogel’s own and that the two plays are really one riveting story.

As introduced earlier, a number of messages resound, starting with the humanity of the lesbian relationship of the two women.  Perhaps the signature scene from God of Vengeance is the rain scene in which the two young women share a loving embrace that is regarded as a Romeo and Juliet scene for lesbians, which is beautifully presented in this production, even with “rain” falling on the two women.  But beyond the particulars of the women, this sequence is a plea for acceptance that equally applies to Christians accepting Jews in their midst, and, dare we say, political conservatives accepting liberals in their midst.

Another notion is the hypocrisy of false piety which persists across religions and national boundaries.  It particularly plagues this country now, as purported Christians from the religious right act in ways antithetical to Christ’s preaching and make deals with the Devil to enhance their power, not their righteousness.  In doing so, they are undermining the very democracy that enabled their religious freedom.  Do they not realize that the revolution often devours its own children?

Paula Vogel’s poignant Indecent reminds us not that “it” could happen here but that it is happening here.

Indecent, written by Paula Vogel, is produced by Center Repertory Theatre and Yiddish Theatre Ensemble, and plays at Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA through September 28, 2025.

Charismatic and queer, Josh has been kicked out of an alcoholism half-way house for fermenting his own hooch.  Meanwhile, his tough-love mother, Patricia, has confiscated his driver’s license and credit cards and won’t let him return home until he’s been sober for 90 days.  She believes that the addict won’t get it right unless there’s been a memorable price to pay.  What is a young man to do?

So opens Jake Brasch’s compelling dramedy The Reservoir, now playing at Berkeley Rep.  Full of strong performances of well-differentiated characters, this dark but funny semi-autobiography holds the attention throughout.  The play strengthens as it progresses as Josh’s unappealing self-indulgence, is somewhat supplanted by touches of humility and redemption in Act 2.

Not uncommon with young writers is the tendency to cram a lot of the ideas that have consumed their early lives into one package.  This is the case with The Reservoir, which benefits individually from all of its threads, but not all are essential for a cohesive narrative.

Two dominant narrative themes fuse through a modest linkage.  Josh’s alcohol addiction dominates his part of the storyline. Ben Hirschhorn as Josh gives a bravura performance as the conflicted and immature youth, both when besotted and when recovering.  His heavy drinking has resulted in occasional memory loss and blackouts, which includes missing a full day in which he was to bear responsibilities that he failed to fulfill, causing great consternation to others and repercussions to himself.

His memory loss ties into the second theme.  Josh has left NYU to return home to Colorado where his single parent-mother and both sets of grandparents live.  Dementia in general and Alzheimer’s in particular will sweep through his grandparents like an epidemic.  The sadness of the associated catatonia leads to great reflection and many touching moments.  There is much discussion of the technical aspects of dementia and clever metaphors about the processes involved, which also reveals the reason for the play’s title.

The play also identifies as being intergenerational.  Indeed, Josh tries to connect with his grandparents, and he is not totally successful.  He finds that they have their own lives to live, and partly due to his own missteps, he is not invited by all of them to be part of it.  But he also objects to the politics of his paternal grandparents, arguing that if they loved him, they would accept that he is gay, and that in itself would change their politics.  His relationship with his mother is fractious and one dimensional at this point, and her relationship with Josh’s grandparents is not really explored, so the intergenerational aspect is a bit underdeveloped.

A final theme relates to Judaism.  The maternal grandparents are Jewish, and paternal grandparents are not.  Triggered by grandfather Shrimpy (played by a sly and witty Peter Van Wagner), much humor is Jewish, especially because of his having a second bar mitzvah at age 85.  The rest of the humor from the grandparents understandably centers on old people’s issues such as bad hips and bodily functions.  The ethnic element however seems more like the playwright’s simply wanting to share personal information as it adds nothing to the essential concerns.

As Josh’s recovery waxes and wanes, he finds a surprise ally, his maternal grandmother.  The wonderful Pamela Reed plays Bev, gracing her with deadpan sardonic humor, a foul mouth, and crack timing.  Like Patricia, she shows tough love as well.  However, she takes a more proactive role in trying to fix Josh by getting him to appreciate the small things in life that add up and make it worthwhile.  But Josh finds her to be an enigma.  While offering to pay his way back to NYU when his mother won’t, Bev still pushes Josh away.  She doesn’t want to be friends but rather a grandmother who sends impersonal Hanukkah cards once a year, and he can’t understand why.

The Reservoir, with direction by Mike Donahue, plays on a spare set, so the focus is very much on the acting.  Behind a strong lead, a fine ensemble gives excellent performances of a slightly flawed but thoughtful and entertaining play.

The Reservoir, written by Jake Brasch, is produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre and plays on its stage at 2025 Addison St., Berkeley, CA through October 12, 2025.

For the remainder of the year, my San Jose and Peninsula theater reviews will be posted on Talkin’ Broadway with only introductions to those reviews on this site]. Please continue to https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj297.html for full review.

No modern humorist playwright can compete with the accomplishments of Neil Simon.  A winner of three Tony Awards plus numerous recognitions for movie and television works, he remained a theatrical institution for four decades.  While many of his plays were a product of his upbringing, conspicuously Jewish and set in New York City or its suburbs, others were neutral and could take place across the country.  Rumors, one of his many beloved plays, does take place in the New York suburbs, but it could be anywhere.

Debuted in 1988, well into his middle-age, Rumors departed from Simon’s bedrock.  He had written relationship comedies of many sorts with a focus on a clutch of well-defined principal characters and usually of the middle class.  This play involves an ensemble of ten in a wealthy suburb and is Simon’s first attempt at farce, embracing ridiculous situations demanding over-the-top acting.

Pacifica Spindrift Players, an all-volunteer community theater, has chosen well.  The play suits the cast which delivers an entertaining product, extracting humor at almost every turn.  For a small theater, Spindrift’s stage is very large.  All of the action occurs in the living room of a large house, and Alexis Orth’s white with black set is striking and effective.

To celebrate their 10^th wedding anniversary, Charley and Myra are throwing a party with four other couples at their home.  All are part of the Porsche/BMW-driving, swanky tennis club belonging, set of rich professionals – analysts, doctors, lawyers, and such.  The playwright needles the snobbish and conspicuous life style of this class of people as every reference to past events they’ve attended is a fund raiser for a charity.  Making the farce seem sillier, the guests are dressed to the nines, with women bejeweled in party gowns and men in formal wear.

Ken and Chris are the first arrivals and have to let themselves in.  Soon, they hear a gunshot, and Ken runs to the master bedroom to find Charley bleeding from a bullet through his ear lobe, which Ken assumes was a suicide attempt.  Myra is nowhere to be found, and the first rumor to be mentioned is that she’s having an affair.  Of course, we know that covering up an incident often creates more complications than facing up to the truth.  Ken’s instinct is to protect Charley, and he and Chris first try to hide what has happened from the other guests.  However, when the next couple, Lenny and Claire, arrive, Lenny starts sniffing it out…………

[For the remainder of the year, my San Jose and Peninsula theater reviews will be posted on Talkin’ Broadway with only introductions to those reviews on this site]. Please continue to https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj296.html for full review.

Some characters in plays leave an indelible imprint on the audience.  Occasionally, it is not the title character who earns that distinction.  So it is with Gypsy.  Mama Rose, who is the real central figure and the real gypsy, represents the archetype of the stage mother – bumptious, brazenly ambitious, and living through the successes of her children to the point that she sacrifices all else in that quest.  This musical is biographical, and one performing daughter that Rose became estranged from ultimately became stage and screen actress June Havoc.  The other would become the most storied stripper of her era and perhaps the most famous of all time, Gypsy Rose Lee.

The musical debuted on Broadway in 1959, enjoying a highly successful but not historic run.  Gypsy was nominated for eight Tony Awards but won none.  Yet, it is viewed by most critics as one of the finest musicals ever written and by several influential ones as the greatest musical written up to that time.  Several Broadway revivals have followed, most recently in 2024-5, starring Audra McDonald, who has won the most Tonys of any performer and received a nomination for this one.

It must be daunting to step into the legendary shoes of many of the greatest and most iconic actresses.  Among others who placed their stamp on the role, Ethel Merman created Rose for the stage, and Rosalind Russell starred in the movie.  Palo Alto Players has enlisted Caitlin Gjerdrum as Rose, and she is absolutely stupendous.

First of all, Gjerdrum has the pipes, with power to spare.  She blasts away buoyantly and optimistically on composer Jule Styne’s “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” in which she gives encouragement to her no-talent daughter Louise (Whitney Hisako Moore), who would become Gypsy Rose Lee.  Among lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant formulations, this song not only conveys Rose’s need to dominate but plays effectively on her name.  Rose also reveals her ambition in “Some People” in which she notes that a sedentary life is okay for others, but not for her.

Gjerdrum brings compassion as well in the hopeful and beautiful “Small World.” She has a long, warm relationship with their act’s managing agent Herbie (Ray D’Ambrosio), and in the song she notes all of their complementarities which make them a fine couple……………..

A jukebox musical paying tribute to a singer depends on two factors for success – a historic figure who resonates with the audience and a performer who engenders nostalgia for the original.  Not only was Janis Joplin an iconic figure, but her flame burned bright and was tragically extinguished in the most distinctive and storied post-WW II decade – the 1960s.

The ‘60s brought with it a sea change of strong influences including involvement by teens and twenties in music, politics, civil and women’s rights, religion, clothing, and intergenerational clashes.  San Francisco sat at the epicenter of these dramatic shifts, highlighted by the Summer of Love in 1967.

In the same year and only two hours down the coast, Monterey Pop would become the prototype for Woodstock and other massive rock music festivals.  It provided quantum lifts for Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and a band little known outside of San Francisco – Big Brother and the Holding Company.  Its lead singer Janis Joplin would deliver one of the most memorable and electrifying performances recorded in rock history.

Sonoma Arts Live brings Janis to life in the person Libby Oberlin, who replicates the icon with exceptional flair.  She sings with Joplin’s urgency and raw emotion.  She punches the air, waves her hair, and jitters and stomps around with the same gesticulations. And she talks with Joplin’s signature raspy voice and laughs with her nervous giggle.

Those who enjoy the jukebox format and who like or are curious about Janis Joplin will relish the experience.  The performance of over 20 songs dominates the evening, supported by a live band of eight instrumentalists.

Smatterings of somewhat sanitized connective tissue, much about growing up in Port Arthur, Texas, give the show some narrative.  But it largely ignores the ridicule and ostracism she suffered as a teen and her massive addiction problems when she entered the entertainment world.  And while the part of her that is the Southern Comfort-drinking free spirit comes across, we see little of the web of contradictions that include her self-doubt and vulnerability.

In one sense, A Night with Janis Joplin is a one-woman show, as the title character is the only one with dialog.  However, the physical energy and vocal demands of the role are punishing, and a clever script design brings timely relief and recovery to the Joplin character.

Joplin grew up with the blues, and her musical influences included Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Etta James, and her contemporary, Aretha Franklin.  Scattered through the show, performers impersonate and sing works from these great blues singers.  An odd one out that is included is the girl group the Chantels, whose anthem “Maybe” was a Joplin favorite.  In addition to giving the lead performer a respite, these intervals add variety and context.

All four of the additional singers contribute well, as soloists and as backup singers to Joplin.  Particularly notable is Safira McGrew who plays Aretha and other parts.  Her voice is stunningly bright, accurate, and penetrating.

Of course, Janis and her songbook are the main attraction.  Most moving are “Piece of My Heart” and especially “Ball and Chain,” with their gruffness and wailing.  Yet, more laidback pieces strike the fancy as well, like “Me and Bobby McGee” and the a capella “Mercedes Benz” that delights the audience as a sing along.  Finally, the uniqueness of Janis’s style comes across in songs that are sung two ways – by others in earlier versions and later by Oberlin as Janis.  The distinctiveness shows particularly in “Summertime” and “Maybe,” which also demonstrate how versatile a good song can be.

The one caveat of the evening’s entertainment concerns the format itself.  As a musical compendium with a little history of the title character thrown in, there is no dramatic arc, so it doesn’t feel like a play.  But it will work well for anyone who enjoys treatments of the music of one of rock-and-roll’s queens.

A Night With Janis Joplin is written by Randy Johnson, produced by Sonoma Arts Live, and plays at Sonoma Community Center, 276 East Napa Street, Sonoma, CA through September 21, 2025.

I can’t remember the last time at a play that I laughed so hard that I cried.  And amid a drama-driven narrative replete with messages that resonate with timeliness and relevance.  The central issue concerns the politics of vaccinations.  As this country suffers from a benighted, anti-science administration with a Secretary of Health and Human Services who fires esteemed scientists wholesale and replaces them with political hacks, the considerations could not be more chilling.  But first, the setup…..

Jonathan Spector’s brilliant Eureka Day was commissioned and premiered at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre in 2018.  Since then, it has gone to New York not once, but twice, and its recent Broadway run resulted in the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.  The present iteration is produced by Marin Theatre in cooperation with Aurora, with the latter’s Artistic Director Josh Costello directing, as he did the original.  This version is spectacular, with the vibrant script supported by exemplary acting and direction.

Eureka Day is a fictional private school in Berkeley that deals with socio-political issues common to the Bay Area.  The matter of the moment is a mumps outbreak and how to deal with it.  But more than dealing with the public health challenge is how to construct messages.  Does the school board say that it is following the guidance of public health officials or take responsibility itself? Then there is the issue of dealing with those who don’t agree with the solution in a society that is becoming more bifurcated, driven by political persuasion.  Already, a group of parents has said that if all students at the school aren’t immunized that they are pulling their kids out, which could cause the school to close.  Conversely, a group of anti-vaxxers could take the opposite position, rejecting any mandate, and bringing down the school.

Against this backdrop, an omnium gatherum of Berzerkeley types seek a solution.  The board chair is Don, who is played hyper and over-the-top by Howard Swain.  Don is a smiling bull, charging through problems, hushing people’s objections, and playing to the goodwill of others in hopes of getting them to band together.

The nemesis to agreement is the emotional Suzanne, who smiles and engages when she thinks things are going her way, but who can be prickly when threatened.  Her fixed North Star is that corporate cabals drive bad decisions in health care.  An anti-vaxxer, she represents a class of people who are among the least susceptible to accepting facts.  She lost a child shortly after a vaccination, and though doctors attributed the death to other factors, Suzanne cannot be dissuaded from her conclusion.  Her position reflects the real-life examples of those who conclude causality based on correlation.  Studies have debunked theories that vaccines cause autism and that breast implants cause cancer, but particularly those people with correlated personal experiences are often unwilling to give in to evidence that doesn’t conform with their biases.

Leontyne Mbele-Mbong is Carina, a new board-member and a black woman whose reserve and quiet reflection belie firm convictions that surprise and bring her into conflict with Suzanne, who also makes some wrong and prejudiced assumptions about Carina.

A critical issue in the management ethos of the school is the by-laws mandate that the board rule by consensus, so that when Carina calls for a vote, she is gently rebuked and told that the board doesn’t vote but must rule by consensus.  However, while the accepted definition of consensus is general agreement, it is interpreted by the board as unanimity.  Thus, one contrary member is able to veto the wishes of the other four members.

The two remaining board members are having an affair.  Eli (Teddy Spencer) is the rare type that you find almost only in the Bay Area.  Employee Number 10 at Facebook, he is one of those grotesquely rich youths whose wealth is attributed to the random luck of having been hired by a company that thrived and remunerated early employees largely in shares of stock.  While he seems carefree and non-aligned, he will have a personal experience that will crystalize his position.  Meiko (Charisse Loriaux) is often quiet and moody and also unpredictable.

The hilarity in the scenario comes when the board creates a “community activated conversation” to discuss the mumps options.  The board meets in person but parents join in virtually, and the chat bubbles of the virtual attendees scroll on projections.  They come so fast and are so screamingly funny that it is challenging to also pay attention to what the live performers are saying.  It is an unimaginably well-designed and executed sequence with one big laugh after another for several minutes.

The parents are in a totally different universe than the board, and all the archetypes are there.  People get insulting (“THESE ARE THE FACTS …..” or “You’re a real c***” or “I said the IDEA was idiotic, not her”).  Some make corrections (“I think you mean f***, not duck”).  Others get totally off task (about a former school family – “I think they moved to Vancouver” “No, I’m sure they moved to Montreal” “I visited them and I assure you it’s Vancouver”).  Even the lame brain who does nothing but flash the thumbs up icon after every several comments prompts considerable laughter.

One element that makes the play work is that diverse opinions are given voice.  However, the political correctness of granting equal play to all points of view comes with a downside.  When positions based on faith or fantasy rather than facts are aired, they are likely to be adopted by others who are easily persuadable.  This gives rise to even more unreasoned thinking which cannot make us a stronger nation.

Eureka Day, written by Jonathan Spector, is produced by Marin Theatre in partnership with Aurora Theatre Company, and plays on Marin Theatre’s stage at 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, CA through September 21, 2025.

Now that Travel and Leisure has anointed Santa Fe as the 2025 “Favorite City in the U.S.” and Condé Nast Traveler as the 2024 “2^nd Best City,” the secret is out – at least among their readers.  But to many, it is still a distant, exotic mirage.  My wife, Karin and I, have spent a week per summer in Santa Fe for 15 years (and we’ve visited in several off-seasons as well), primarily for the Santa Fe Opera, for which I’m an invited reviewer, and secondarily for Indian Market.  But each year we find new things to do and leave wanting more.

Rather than a typical travelogue narrative, this commentary will be organized by categories and focus in a cryptic fashion on the many firsts, superlatives, and other distinctions that make Santa Fe an unlikely and unique destination that “punches above its weight class” like no other.  “The City Different” of 80,000 residents lies an hour from Albuquerque, the 32^nd most populous metropolis in the U.S., and 400 miles from the nearest major markets – Denver and Phoenix.  Yet, it has far more quality and diversity to offer than cities many times its size.

FURTHER OVERVIEW

• Oldest state capital city in the United States and second oldest city (est. 1598, but area occupied by Native Americans for centuries), after St. Augustine, FL.
• Highest elevation of state capitals – 7,000 ft, and set within beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains
• Large Mexican-American population there for generations, but also many second-homers, artists, and retirees, especially from Texas, New York, California, and Colorado, plus celebrities.
• Climate is high desert, four seasons.  Summer days can be relatively hot (80s) but dry with cool nights, so home air conditioning not essential.  Winter is moderately cold with snow but dry and sunny.

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Tewa Peoples settlement around 1050.
• 1610 city formally founded by Spanish conquistadores; 1821 Mexico’s independence from Spain; 1848 New Mexico becomes U.S. territory; 1912 NM becomes 47th U.S. state.
• Flag adopted is yellow with red Zia emblem – Pueblo Indian symbol of sun with four sets of four lines designating cardinal directions, seasons, stages of life, person’s being (body, heart, mind, spirit).
• Terminus of Santa Fe Trail and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
• Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass fought in Santa Fe County in 1862 carried strategic importance as it ended Confederate hopes of controlling the Southwest
• Though NM voted not to incarcerate Japanese-Americans in WW II, federal government created high security detention facility in Santa Fe

ARTS

• Third largest retail art market in the U.S. after New York City and Los Angeles – Miami has a larger art festival market.
• Home to myriads of artists.
• Canyon Road is the largest concentration of art galleries in the world with over 80 along and near one street.  250 galleries are found in the city in total with other bunches downtown near the Plaza and at the Railyard.
• Genre concentrations are abstract, figurative, and Southwestern contemporary painting and statuary
• Santa Fe Indian Market is the oldest, largest of its kind in the world, with Native American vendors from all over North America. Hundreds of kiosks, main wares being jewelry, art, pottery, apparel.  Market itself over weekend, but activities through previous week including artist receptions at galleries, thematic films through Smithsonian, panel discussions, galas, award ceremonies.
• International Folk Art Market is the largest in the world
• Traditional Spanish Market – oldest and largest juried art show of its kind in the U.S.
• State capitol building and grounds house over 600 beautiful, curated art pieces by NM artists and is model for other states’ collections and display.
• Meow Wolf House of Eternal Return – This unique immersive visual experience was founded in Santa Fe.  Other variations now operate in four major markets, with Los Angeles about to open.  Over 250 artists were involved in realizing the concept, which has 70 immersive stations, ranging from a Chinatown street to a darkened room of trees comprised of colored neon tubes.  You may find yourself walking through a refrigerator or crawling through a fireplace to get to the next installation.

RETAIL

• Jewelry – Especially silver, turquoise, and coral.  Traditional and modern western and Native American motifs plus broad contemporary styles. My wife has three statement pendants and a silver Mayan cuff all from Santa Fe or Albuquerque.
• Garments – Stylish Western, Native American, and broad contemporary garments, boots, hats.
• Furniture – Contemporary design and antiques, the latter driven by the estate consignment market.

MUSEUMS

• 20 distinguished museums, several of which are on Museum Hill.
• International Folk Art Museum has largest folk art collection in the world.
• Las Golondrinas – a poor man’s Williamsburg, with 34 historic structures, 500 acres including rare desert wetlands, Spanish/Mexican colonial activities
• Several museums related to NM culture, history, Native American and Western contemporary and historic art
• Single-artist museum – Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (expanding to 55,000 sqft museum plus campus).  She started movement of artists settling in NM.

SANTA FE OPERA

Like so much else in Santa Fe, it amazes that the opera company exists in the world-class form it does.

• Its annual budget ranks in the top 10 in the country, despite having such a tiny home market; being so isolated; and being limited to five productions and eight weeks of summer performances per year.
• Its opera house is among the most innovative in the world (see Architecture).
• Its summer apprenticeship program, which includes behind the scenes creatives as well as singers, is the best of its kind in the country.
• While its ticket prices for good seats at full operas are expensive, its Apprentice Scenes, typically 8 semi-staged extracts from different operas is a tremendous value at $20 per seat.
• The Sangre de Cristo Mountains setting, desert chic ambiance, including tailgating in the parking lot, make for a very special experience.

ARCHITECTURE

• Most uniform and harmonious that can be found in the U.S.  – Virtually all structures are adobe, finished only in earthen colors – virtually all limited to 2-3 stories – Two main styles in housing – Santa Fe, with flat roofs and often with a row of horizontal vigas (full timber beams) protruding from near the top of the structure, which are exposed as ceiling beams inside, plus kiva fireplaces, portals, walled courtyards – Territorial style, with pitched, metal roofs, facilitated by shipping available from railroads arrival
• Plaza – Downtown center, considered one of the best public plazas in the country – vendors on blankets in portal of Palace of Governors; shops, galleries, cafes; music in bandstand; center of all downtown annual festivals and markets
• Palace of Governors is the longest continuously occupied public building in the U.S.
• San Miguel Chapel is the oldest church in the U.S. (est. 1610, rebuilt twice).
• Oldest neighborhood in the U.S. is Barrio de Analco.
• Oldest house in the U.S. is 215 E. De Vargas St. (around 1620, not rebuilt).
• Capitol building – Footprint in shape of Zia, the state emblem that appears on the flag
• Santa Fe Opera House – 2,000 seats, similar in size to most great European opera houses with unique design, open to nature on the sides, open backwall to stage, huge acoustic arc as ceiling, wind baffles on windward side, outdoor terraces for intermissions – It can be toured without attending opera.
• Loretto Chapel – Spiral staircase whose lack of support seems to defy physics.

FOOD – CUISINE

• Home of New Mex / Mex cuisine – Distinctions include ingredients like piñon (pine) nuts, blue corn, Hatch chiles, local wild game, cabrito (kid goat), nopales (cactus leaves), cactus pears, abundance of the 3 Sisters (corn, beans, and squash, which are all indigenous only  to the Americas) and preparations like sopapillas (puffed triangles of fried dough, often served with honey), layered rather than rolled enchiladas, pozole, green chili cheeseburgers, green chile stew,  chile con carne, piñon blue corn pancakes, Frito pie, torta de huevo, huevos rancheros NM-style, gorditas, chiles rellenos northern style, stuffed sopapillas, calabacitas, squash blossoms, panochas, biscochitos.
• Birthplace of contemporary Southwestern cuisine – Mark Miller of Coyote Café is godfather of this fusion of American, Mexican, Native American, and cowboy cuisines.
• Official state question – “Red or Green?”  Other acceptable answer being Christmas, meaning you’ll have both red and green chile sauce.

FOOD – RESTAURANTS

Befitting a major tourism destination, Santa Fe is blessed with an abundance of restaurant options with a raft of James Beard Award designees.  This list is just a beginning and represents only restaurants that I’ve eaten at.

• Fine Dining – Sazon, Martín’s, Geronimo, The Compound, Zacatlan, Pink Adobe
• Mexican – Escondido (innovative regional fusion), The Shed, Tomasita, La Choza
• Casual Brunch – Clofoutis, Dolina’s, The Pantry, New York Deli, Jambo Bobcat Bite
• Other Notable Ethnic – Alkemé (fine Asian fusion), Jambo (African, Caribbean), El Farol (Spanish tapas – also Santa Fe’s oldest restaurant and center of local flamenco culture).

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND INDULGENCES

• Sports – Hiking offers the greatest general interest and variety, but there is also snow skiing just out of town, rafting on the Rio Grande, horseback riding, and more.  For those who yearn for beaches and a large variety of golfing, Santa Fe is not the right choice.
• Spas – The city rates in this category as well.  Several in-town hotels have significant spas, while outside of town, full-service destination spa resorts Ten Thousand Waves, Ojo, and Ojo Caliente have beautiful, extensive grounds including multiple outdoor pools.
• Festivals – Besides arts festivals already mentioned, Chamber Music (50 years old, destination festival having internationally known musicians), International Literary, Beer and Food, Wine and Chile, Wine, and Renaissance Faire festivals and more.

DAY TRIPS

A wide variety of options are available which enhance the Santa Fe experience. (Apologies for format issues under Taos and Albuquerque. It must be a poltergeist.)

• TAOS – 1 ¼ hrs drive
  • Taos Pueblo – UNESCO site – living community, continuously inhabited over 1,000 years with rich cultural history
• • Earthship – Important off-grid community not subject to normal building codes, with homes made of recycled materials like car tires, soda bottles using solar power, recycled gray water
• • All things Kit Carson
• • Arts community like a mini Santa Fe
  • Scenic drive along the beginnings of the Rio Grande with wineries en route

ALBUQUERQUE – 1 hr drive

• Old Town
  • Sandia tram – longest gondola ride in U.S.
• • Hot air balloon rides and festival
• • Museums
• • Wine tasting – esp. Gruet sparkling (best value in category in U.S.), others mostly in Old Town
  • Movie and TV production tours

• TURQUOISE TRAIL – ½ hr drive
  • Old western towns Madrid, Cerrillos
  • Jewelry, arts retailers

• CHIMAYO – ½ hr drive
  • Sanctuario de Chimayo – Renowned pilgrimage site.  Small, charming, primitive church with best and worst of religious sites – Nice touch with wall of pictures of locals who served in military – Dirt floor with well for taking dirt said to have healing powers – Wall of canes said to be left by those whose lameness was claimed to be healed at Chimayo.
  • Rancho de Chimayo Restaurant – most historic and respected Mexican restaurant in northern NM

• LOS ALAMOS 3/4 hr drive
  • Bradbury Science Museum – History of Atom Bomb, created in Los Alamos
  • History Museum – Housed in structures used during the Manhattan Project

• ABAQUIU 1 ¼ hr drive
  • Georgia O’Keeffe Home and Studio
  • Ghost Ranch

[For the remainder of the year, my San Jose and Peninsula theater reviews will be posted on Talkin’ Broadway with only introductions to those reviews on this site]. Please continue to https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj295.html for full review.

1968 was a tumultuous year socially and politically in the United States.  It was also the year of Neil Simon’s Broadway blockbuster Plaza Suite, one of the many successful comedies that the playwright brought to the stage.  Hillbarn Theatre offers up a riotous version full of laughs that will leave the audience in a good mood despite the dark sides that underlie the narratives in the play.

The first tenet of writing fictional literature is to write about what you know.  Neil Simon came from a Jewish family and neighborhood in New York City’s Bronx borough.  Shy, poor, and from an unstable family, he grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, and later, having been married four times also informs his writing.  Despite seeming anomalies for the Peninsula marketplace, Simon is Hillbarn’s most presented playwright, this being its 23^rd production of his works.

Interesting incident-related plots that are hard to expand into full length works present problems to authors and producers.  One solution is to band several together into a compendium with some common thread, though outcomes can be disjointed and uneven.

With Plaza Suite’s three stories, the threads are a suite at the iconic New York hotel and marriage at various stages.  The foundations are very provincial with references special to the New York City environs; the implied Jewish ethnicity; and, all of the characters being from the City or suburbs, even though the action is in a hotel.  In addition, the social mores reflect those of five decades ago, yet the issues and situations prove universal and timeless.  And while the stories are not profound, the Simonesque humor throughout also binds the trio of vignettes together………..

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Plaza Suite, written by Neil Simon and produced by Hillbarn Theatre, appears on its stage at 1285 East Hillsdale Ave., Foster City, CA through September 14, 2025.