Theatre Eddys Presents
“The Eddys”
Our San Francisco Bay Area Top Theatre Productions, 2015”
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| Ed & Eddie (aka as "The Eddys") Announce Their 2015 Bests |
Even for us, attending 144 live theatre
and opera productions in 2015 has been a record, 131 for which a full review
was posted on Theatre Eddys. Of those 144, we rated 53 as “5 E” (our top
rating), representing 21 different theatre companies. This year, the most “5 E” ratings went to
American Conservatory Theatre and TheatreWorks (5 each), followed closely by
San Francisco Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Company (4 each).
Choosing “Top Lists of the Year” is made
complicated by so many outstanding productions in a region blessed with so many
phenomenal companies of all sizes (over 300 stages in the SF Bay Area). Here is Theatre
Eddys take on the best of the best for 2015:
Theatre Eddys Top 10
Plays in 2015, San Francisco Bay Area
A winter storm rages outside; but inside a
shuttered Indian restaurant, things have only started to heat up as the two
grown-up children of the diner's owner gather to ponder the legacy of their
recently deceased father. The appearance
of Dad's mysterious bookie (and possible best friend) only complicates their
memories and confounds their assumptions about a man they thought they knew.
In anticipation of her birthday, Shelah’s
family and friends gather at her home in the Head of Passes—the mysterious
shifting marshlands at the mouth of the Mississippi River. As the guests appear, so do ghosts from the
past; and Shelah’s convictions about her life begin to dissolve, along with her
home in the Louisiana rain. Inspired by
the book of Job.
A retelling of the myth of Orpheus from the
perspective of Eurydice, his wife. In
this adaption, Eurydice must choose between returning to earth with Orpheus or
to stay in Hades with her father.
An ode to what happens when lovers share a
stage kiss — or when actors share a real one. When two actors with a history are thrown
together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose
touch with reality as the story onstage follows them offstage.
An accident-prone dare devil and a corrosive
masochist navigate friendship and love. Doug
and Kayleen meet in a school nurse's office, beginning a lifelong intimacy that
is revealed through the physical and emotional injuries they sustain over 30
years.
A southern white woman shows up at the home
of an African-American man in Chicago and claims to be his half-sister,
impelling them to confront a shared past. In their search for the truth, they
must navigate the fragmented memories of the man’s aged mother to discover
where their roots intersect.
A retired police officer
faced with eviction is living with his recently paroled son, Junior. They struggle to hold on to their rent-stabilized
apartment on Riverside Drive while colliding with old wounds, sketchy new
houseguests, a church lady, and city hall cops demanding an end to a disability
lawsuit.
In the midst of a terrible
snowstorm, Mollie and Giles Ralston open Monkswell Manor, a remote guesthouse. While they struggle to manage their first day
of business, a policeman arrives to investigate a grisly murder. Comedy and chaos ensue, and then – murder! Who did it?
9. How the World Began, Catherine
Trieschmann, Custom Made Theatre Co.
A Manhattan woman travels
to a rural town in Kansas recently devastated by a tornado to take a teaching
job in a makeshift high school. But when
she makes an off-handed remark regarding the origins of life, she unleashes
community outrage and the particular distress of a disturbed young boy.
10. The Convert, Danai Gurira, Marin Theatre Company
Southern Africa. 1896. Against her family’s wishes, a young Shona
girl escapes a forced marriage arrangement by converting to Christianity and
becoming servant and student to an African evangelist. However, as anti-European sentiments rise
among her people, she must face an impossible choice between colonial and
ancestral ways of life.
Five Honorable Mention
Plays in 2015 (in no particular order)
Theatre Eddys Top 10 Musicals in 2015, San Francisco Bay
Area
A gay, high-tech scientist
learns that his New York lab was once the site of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire and discovers his mysterious connection to several of its Jewish
immigrant victims. In this musical,
parallel affairs unfold a century apart, interweaving two star-crossed couples
willing to risk everything they have -- and believe -- for love.
2. Fire on the Mountain, Randal Myler, Dan Wheetman, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
With relatively few spoken
words but instead with three dozen songs and several score of projected,
vintage photographs, Fire on the Mountain tells a moving, powerful story
of the Appalachian coal miner. The might of the media used in this
timeline history that covers much of the twentieth century is felt in every
minute of the ninety as large black-and-white, Dorthea-Lange-like images
illustrate the lyrics being belted across the stage.
Based on 1988 cult film.
Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful, teenage misfit hustles her way into the
most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High, the Heathers. But before she can get comfortable, Veronica
falls in love with the dangerously sexy new kid J.D. When Heather Chandler kicks her out of the
group, Veronica decides to bite the bullet and apologize, but J.D. has another
plan for that bullet.
4. Dogfight, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul,
Peter Duchan, San Francisco Playhouse
Vietnam’s darker cousin to WWII’s joyous
On the Town. Three young Marines troll the alleys and cafes of 1963 San
Francisco to find the ugliest girl possible as a date in their last night
before heading to Vietnam jungles for what they feebly hope will be a few
months of testosterone adventures. Each
seeks to win a pot of cash contributed by fellow buddies who are rip-roaringly
following a proud (and pathetic by our standards today) tradition of Marines on
their last night before shipping off to war.
5. Chicago, Fred Ebb, John Kander, Bob
Fosse, Palo Alto Players
Musical set in Prohibition-era
Chicago and based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas
Watkins about actual criminals and crimes she reported on. The story is a
satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept
of the "celebrity criminal."
6. Company, Stephen Sondheim, George
Furth, San Francisco Playhouse
It’s today in Manhattan,
and Robert is unable to make a commitment of his own as he makes the circuit of
his married friends, alternately observing and participating in the ups and
downs of their relationships.
In 1892, Lizzie Borden was the primary
suspect for her father and stepmother’s brutal murder. Though eventually acquitted, Lizzie became a
tabloid sensation and the most controversial figure of her time. Did she do it? Four women and a driving rock score meld this
infamous 19th century story with a modern-day twist.
An all-black prep school
for boys is the setting for a play with music that provides sometimes direct,
sometimes allusive commentary in a coming-of-age work that explores the tug
between tradition and self-expression in young, African American men. The effeminate Pharus wants nothing more than
to take his rightful place as leader of the school's legendary gospel choir. Can he find his way inside the hallowed halls
of this institution if he sings in his own key?
9. Mighty
Real, A Fabulous Sylvester Musical, Anthony Wayne, AnthonyKen LLC at
Brava Theater Center
Musical concert that celebrates the life of
the 1970's SF Disco Queen Sylvester. With songs like "You Make Me Feel
(Mighty Real)", "Can't Stop Dancing" and "You Are My
Friend,” the show tells the life story of Sylvester through his music and his point
of view.
Musical adapted from the
novel by Jane Austen. The town's young and beautiful matchmaker is meddlesome
in other's affairs and clueless about her own feelings.
Three Honorable Mention
Plays in 2015 (in no particular order)
-->Candide, Leonard
Bernstein, John Caird, Hugh Wheeler, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John
Latouche, Lamplighters Music Theatre
Theatre Eddys Top 5 Solo Shows in 2015, San Francisco Bay
Area
Bobby Kennedy's words, struggles, and ideals
come to life in this one-man tour de force of the late politician and committed
advocate for civil rights, the poor, and racial minorities.
One man show that reprises Bruce's Curran
performance from 54 years ago. His
routines and style influenced George Carlin, Cheech & Chong, Dick Gregory, and
others. They also stretched new
political, sexual, religious, and cultural boundaries into territories
previously considered too taboo, vulgar, and obscene for the public's ears.
Gay comedy pioneer Karen
Ripley tells the stories of lesbian life in the '70s/early 80s in her solo
show.
4. Loveland, Ann Randolph, The Marsh
Franny Potts faces up to
the loss of her mother while flying from LA to Ohio surrounded by strangers.
How will a 6-year-old Oakland boy be able to
buy the "perfect" gift he's found in a White Front department store
for his mother?
We hung out at this place in evening last week before heading out to our next destination. While we were at San Francisco event venues we found the service to be quick and attentive. Probably because it was early on a Friday and it was still kind of empty.
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