Performance, Theater

ART – Shotgun Players

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“ART” a play by Yasmina Raza
Shotgun Players
Thursday, March 27, 2026 7:30 pm

“What sort of friend are you?”
The sentence above is on the cover of Shotgun Players current production of “Art”. Three men, actors Woody Harper (Yvan), Benoît Monin (Serge) and David Sinaiko (Marc) portray friends who meet to view Yvan’s acquisition…an all-white painting. The painting provides the opportunity for them to discuss their friendship, their life stories and a wide range of personal, problematic and “art” concerns. It is troublesome and very funny.
The actors are all very good (although Stagebridge ‘miking’ of actors often distorts their lines).

Yvan has bought the painting. Seeing it gives Serge the opportunity to ‘decompose’ his life on stage; Marc, objecting to the painting, provides ‘critical’ judgement on art…and his friends. The play moves very fast, through dialogue, stage activity, furniture moving and ‘scotch tape’ repairs to the set. Beneath the humor and the interaction, the characters offer their various stages of ‘mid-life’ reflections and critical observations.

Serge’s life crisis involves his ‘forthcoming’? marriage and all the interference of the participants. Yvan defends his painting with his particular ‘vision’. Marc, the ‘older mentor’ comments wisely (?) on the others. The play gives the audience an unusual opportunity to deal with men’s ‘crises’…a scenario not often handled in the theater among men themselves. (More often these crises are set in family contexts.) There is humor and irony in the text of “Art”, providing an important perspective and lots of. (but often) grim fun.

“Art” is translated (from French) by Christopher Hampton; Directed by Emile Whelan. It first appeared in Paris, (1994), then London then New York (where this reviewer saw a more sedate production). Stagebridge offers a delightful opportunity to see three fine lively actors give you “Art”.

 

Dance, Uncategorized

SF Ballet – Frankenstein

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San Francisco Ballet
“Frankenstein”
March 20, 2025. 7:30 PM
Opera House, SF

The Legend: Dance/Drama

The “Frankenstein” story goes back to 1818 when Mary Shelly wrote the novel which, in later story and film history, became a well-known film. Boris Karloff, playing the monster, is considered the most popular portrayal of “Frankenstein.” The ballet gives us greater dimension: the family history of Victor Frankenstein, his scientific studies and the ‘monstrous’ results.

The cast includes Joseph Walsh as the student, Frances Chung as his fiancé, Ricardo Bustamante as his father, Sasha Mukhamedov, his mother… and the amazing Wei Wang in the role of the ‘monster’. The ballet’s, world premiere in London, (2016) had its San Francisco premiere in 2017. The choreographer for both these events is Liam Scarlett. The composer is cited as Lowell Liebermann.

As with complex story ballets, all this takes careful attention since the events go back and forth in time. The leading characters are danced as children bringing charm and amazement to the future events. The children were delightful danced by; Santiago Stack Lozano (young Victor) and Luka Simone Keiko Ganaden (young Elizabeth). It is crucial for the audience to follow these characters as they all appear in later scenes. One prop is central to the plot: the student Frankenstein is given a “red” book of scientific information. That becomes the source book of his experiment and all that follows. As a student in the anatomy lab, still in shock with his mother’s recent death, he experiments with “creating a living creature”. What follows are many scenes that haunt him and every character in the complex story.

The cast shows amazing skill in their portrayals as the various characters. Although the 19th century ballet vocabulary is the basis of all their technique, they are extraordinary in the range of movement they perform and the subtle acting that the parts demand. Victor and Elizabeth (Walsh and Chung) dance several duets: in one Walsh collapses in Chung’s arms. In further scenes, the Creature demands a mate and is refused. By Act III, his revenge is achieved, the leading characters are all dead.

All this ‘acting’ and dramatization demands not only superb dance technique. but also focused acting projection in order to portray the complex characters and story line. Walsh, Chung and Wei Wang have developed strong acting abilities to accomplish this. ”The most important feeling in this ballet for me is self-discovery. The creature is trying to find answers for himself and find out why he is not loved and left behind by his creator and society.”

We, the audience follow these remarkable events and the cast’s performance with admiration and amazement. The San Francisco Ballet cast, in “Frankenstein” has achieved a level of theater that cannot be surpassed. Bravo to all!

Credits include: Scenic and costume design: John Macfarlane; Lighting: David Finn: Projection Design; Finn Ross. And of course, we are continually delighted by the SF Ballet Orchestra and Martin West, its conductor.

Dance

SF Ballet: Raymonda

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Raymonda
San Francisco Ballet
Saturday, March 1, 2025, 8 PM

So Much…Raymonda!

San Francisco Ballet, under the leadership of director Tamara Rojo, has brought a revised production of Raymonda to an appreciative audience. Rojo is also credited with direction and choreography. She apparently had produced this work in UK in previous years (she cites 2021). In the program she notes, “This adaptation relocates Petipa’s story from the Crusades to the 19th century Crimean War, and challenges traditional expectations around women’s roles during wartime”.

We travel with Raymonda from her “grand family home” in Britain to Crimea, to “a camp outside Sevastopol”. There, her ‘childhood’ friend, John de Bryan and his fellow soldiers prepare to leave for war. He asks Raymonda to marry him on his return. To complete the promise, John gives Ramonda the scarf his mother gave him. He also introduces her to Abdur, a prince from the Ottoman army.

It is important to follow this narrative since each scene is enacted with mime, expressive gesture and several dance events, (group dances, pas de deux, solos for several women and many lively “native” dances. The costuming helps define, in somewhat exaggerated manners, the country differences between the participants). Act 1 concludes with a “dream” ballet: John and Abdur both appear in her dream. Raymonda dances with both, caught between the two men.

This section, the “dream sequence” was, for this reviewer, the most dramatic and balletic of the work. As series of “pas de deux” complete with extraordinary lifts, turns and displays of technical brilliance, it was the dance achievement for dancers Sasha De Sola, Joseph Caley (John) and Fernando Carralå Colomar (Abdur). It was also delightful to recognize Joanna Berman, a former ‘star’ of SFB, in the role of Raymonda’s mother.

Act III is the “wedding day” for Raymonda and John. Again, there are many dance numbers, for bridesmaids dancing with soldiers (from John’s regiment). It is a joyful continuum of group works beautifully executed. Not surprisingly, Raymonda, torn between John and Abdur, leaves the wedding (“and faces a decision that will determine her future”). She receives the ‘scarf’ as a present from John and wears it as she leaves.

A touching note from music director Martin West. He tells us that Ramonda’s composer, Aledander Glazunov was the director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music, when West’s teacher, Ilya Musin, was a student. West notes, “It is a special moment for me, indeed, to be bringing my own tiny part of the legacy of Glazunove to the ravishing ballet score.” West’s conducting of the SF Ballet Orchestra is among the major delights of the SF Ballet’s performances.

There is a complex narrative for the audience to follow, as there are many amazing solos and group dancing.

The evening lasted from 8 PM to 10:45 PM. It is wonderful to see such skill and endurance in the dancers abilities.
For an audience, rushing to make trains and family events, wonderful as it is,, it is ‘much’ Raymonda.