Category Archives: Theater

Partners — Brexit 1776, Hamilton (the musical)

Posted on June 25, 2016 by carto

A slow recovery from pneumonia is more pleasant if you take a good book from your library and play some music — I’ve been listening to Hamilton (the original cast recording) and reading along in Hamilton—The Revolution. Two hours of glorious, … Continue reading →

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Sam Shepard—Return of the Curse

Posted on July 24, 2012 by carto

As the stage lights come up in the intimate Pigott Theater on the Stanford campus, we see a realistic kitchen of the 70s complete with range and refrigerator, and we are introduced to the down-and-out Tate family. Last night Weston … Continue reading →

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Love, Murder and Ritual Execution: Atwood and Homer Telling the Tale

Posted on April 10, 2012 by carto

Odysseus’ boat riding the waves of Penelope’s flowing hair, illustration by Sarah Burgess Cherry. Once upon a time, in the tiny island kingdom of Ithaca off the coast of Greece, Penelope ruled while her husband Odysseus was away: first he … Continue reading →

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Valentine’s Day Poet—Pablo Neruda

Posted on February 14, 2012 by carto

The 1971 Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda was a prolific writer of love poems. His first poetry was published in Chile in a small volume titled in Spanish: Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a … Continue reading →

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Thornton Wilder: Our Town Survives Deconstruction

Posted on November 17, 2011 by carto

The house dims, the curtain opens and the stage lights come up; revealed at the back of the bare stage is an older man in white dinner jacket that shines brightly in the stage lighting. He is the Stage Manager. … Continue reading →

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Orpheus and Eurydice in the Rain Forest of Brazil

Posted on November 3, 2011 by carto

Imagine! The opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Gluck is playing at the restored Teatro Amazonas opera house deep in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Three foreigners enter the theater lobby: Marina (an American doctor looking stylish in a long … Continue reading →

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Oedipus—A King in Torment

Posted on August 1, 2011 by carto

The lights dim in the tiny Nitery Theater on the campus of Stanford University and the packed house hushes. The lights come on again; dimly. Chorus appears at the edge of the empty stage and we hear Seneca’s lines of … Continue reading →

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Harold Pinter: Tense Memory Play Recalls Old Times

Posted on July 11, 2011 by carto

There is no proscenium curtain at the Pigott Theater on the Stanford University Campus. The 200 or so seats in this intimate theater look directly onto the stage. When I attended the Summer Theater 2011 production of Harold Pinter’s Old … Continue reading →

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Gay Tales from San Francisco

Posted on June 20, 2011 by carto

It’s nice living near San Francisco, but sometimes the SF presence is overpowering. The city becomes so full of itself that it seems to pulse and glow in the northwest sky above my home in Palo Alto. The latest world … Continue reading →

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Hairspray al fresco on Mt. Tamilpais

Posted on May 30, 2011 by carto

Hairspray, the musical, fit the day like a glove. It was sunny and warm in the gorgeous amphitheatre atop Mt. Tamalpais where Mountain Play is bringing the Broadway hit to the outdoor stage in its 98th annual production. On this … Continue reading →

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