Oscar Wilde Taunts Powerful Hypocrites—SNL Style by Barry David Horwitz Filled with rapid fire wit and snide satire, “The Importance of Being Earnest” sizzles like Saturday Night Live. Under Josh Costello’s deft direction, we feel Oscar Wilde ripping the mask from our illusions about millionaires, marriage, and masters. In Costello’s “Earnest,” delight rules, tweaking…
Philip Dawkins Bares Nuts & Bolts of Two Geniuses by Barry David Horwitz “The Gentleman Caller” is almost too beautiful to write about. It will take a second visit to luxuriate in the wit, depth, and confidence that Philip Dawkins has poured into his delightful play about two famed, gay playwrights of the 50s,…
Hershey Felder Stages Virtuoso Piano Tribute by Barry David Horwitz The setting is Debussy’s Paris in 1900, and pianist Hershey Felder is offering us a blueprint for the artistic life—full of love, romance, and inspiration. The stage is set with two little Parisian bridges, with Hershey Felder’s magnificent black concert grand between them. This…
Geoff Sobelle’s Family Festival Telescopes Time by Barry David Horwitz It’s like watching the set do acrobatics. Only the circus can compete with the inspired building and raising of a two-story house onstage in front of our eyes. Theater magic at its finest—the genius of Geoff Sobelle transforms Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre into a…