This production of Die Walküre was quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen – including the SF Opera’s production of the Ring two decades ago. This was full of surprises.

Is playwright Alice Childress' play as relevant today as it was when it debuted in the mid-50s?

Dynamic and flashy, the Rep's production even conveys a sense of Matrix-like cutting edge.

To be or Maccabee…

Filled with all of the majestic themes, oversized characters, and gentle poetry that earned Williams his exalted position in American theater, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale was written in 1951 and debuted on Broadway in 1976 after being fine-tuned by Williams for 25 years.

The dancers move more like an octopus, each an appendage of the whole beast, so you can focus on individual tentacles slithering or watch the whole beast move across the stage. I’d love to see this number again and again.

Between each of the three hysterical, exhausting “acts,” the affable Canadian takes a short break on stage as himself to talk to the audience. And after the finale he once again steps out of character with a short epilogue explaining the genesis of the show and how he ultimately obtained permission from Lucasfilm to continue parodying their intellectual property.

Legendary blues singer Duffy Bishop brought soul to spare in her numbers, channeling an agreeable mix of Bette Middler and Janis Joplin.

It's mostly guilt free, and at the SF Playhouse opening night Becky Shaw reminded me perhaps of the last (only?) good reason to be married: so I don't need to play the dating game.

American Idiot is by far the most compelling performance I’ve ever seen at the Orpheum here in San Francisco.