Matthew Ozawa Modernizes Beethoven’s Ode to Justice by Jennifer Ann Charron Beethoven, with help from friends like Matthew Ozawa and the cast, orchestra, and crew of SF Opera gave me two-plus hours of unadulterated joy. Ozawa’s new “Fidelio” updates Beethoven’s opera about triumph over tyranny—delivering a contemporary win over political injustice. Ozawa’s modern detention…
Duncan Macmillan’s Boy Next Door Finds Hope in Lists by Barry David Horwitz We all hope we can be as resilient and warmhearted as the Narrator that William Hodgson ardently brings to life in this stunning one man show. Hodgson is our own Tom Hanks. In Macmillan’s “Every Brilliant Thing,” Hodgson is charming, warm,…
Thornton Wilder’s Time Travelers Turn into Glorious Ghosts by Barry David Horwitz When I moved to Berkeley in 1960 for school, I thought I’d landed in Thornton Wilder’s ideal small town. We left our doors unlocked, we talked to our neighbors, and even helped each other out. It was “Our Town” re-discovered. Well, that…
Marga Gomez Tells Touching Tale of Growing Up Lesbian by Barry David Horwitz Marga Gomez charms with her wry smile as she regales us with the story of her Catholic school girlhood in Washington Heights, next to Harlem in New York City. For a bright young girl, it’s always a dark comedy poised between…