Robert Hitchcox
Robert Hitchcox is a playwright, critic and fiction author, who reviews live theatre.
Fences – a Triumph at Cygnet
Unequivocally, Cygnet's production of August Wilson's Fences, under the brilliant direction of Delicia Turner Sonnenberg,is the best production I've seen this season.
Sweet Charity – The Coronado Playhouse
Choreographer Trevor Peringer's dance designs are wild and, at times, zany. Director Burns' final touches give the numbers just the right edge.
The Daddy Machine – Diversionary Theatre
The star of the show is Stonewall (Jacob Caltrider), the family dog. As with any dog, the world revolves around him, his toys, and the number of pats on the head he gets from the family.
This is Our Youth – New Village Arts
Sex! Drugs! Rock and Roll! Unless you are over 80, these three touched your teen years. Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth is set in 1982, 35 years after the official birth of Rock and Roll.
The Cemetery Club – It tops at PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre
It has been just over ten years since I last saw The Cemetery Club at Scripps Ranch Community Theatre, just apiece down the road from PowPAC.
Anton in Show Business – 6th@Penn Theatre
Prolific playwright Jane Martin, who has written several plays about theatre, created this wonderful satire. Anton in Show Business is currently at 6th@Penn Theatre.
String of Pearls – North Coast Repertory Theatre
The pearls have some serious ordeals: the strand breaks, they get lost and found, they get buried, they have, effectively, a life of their own.
A Christmas Carol – La Jolla Stage Company
Director Jessica Seaman takes David Wiener's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to a new level of entertainment.
Off the Ground – New Village Arts
Playwrights Amy Chini and Tom Zohar's Off the Ground may well become the alternative Christmas play. It has the elements that make for a good holiday play.
The Shape of Things – Looking Glass Theatre
In the '50s the Detroit Institute of Arts was doing a clean-up on 'The Wedding Dance' created by Pieter Bruegel the Elder around 1566.
The Night of the Iguana – OnStage Playhouse
Another couple staying at the inn are 39-year-old artist Hanna Jelkes (Holly Stephenson) and her 97-year-old poet grandfather, Nonno (Ed Eigner).
Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical – The Broadway Theatre
The Nuns are at it again. In 1985 playwright Dan Groggin's highly successful Nunsense opened of Broadway. There have been over 5,000 productions worldwide, translated into 21 languages.
The Man Who Came to Dinner – Patio Playhouse
After almost 80 years, The Man Who Came to Dinner still has lots of life. Over the years is has been a play with many revivals, a musical, a film, and a radio production.
Cry-Baby – La Jolla Playhouse
With shades of Romeo and Juliet, a balcony scene, and West Side Story, bad gang good kids, Cry-Baby cries out for an award for the most brazen offering of the season.
Torch Song Trilogy – Diversionary Theatre
Script by Harvey Fierstein. Direction by Tim Irving. Cast of Matthew Weeden, Barron Henzel, Sidney Franklin, Amanda Sitton, Tom Zohar, and Jill Drexler.
The O’Conner Girls – Scripps Ranch Theatre
I really didn't belong there. I wasn't invited. I didn't know these women. I felt like a voyeur observing the most intimate moments of a family's life.
Jerry’s Girls
This week's was PowPAC's very ambitious Jerry's Girls directed by Jeffrey Gastauer with Rich Shaffer as Musical Director and Alisa Williams on the choreography.
Fifth Annual North Park Playwright Festival – North Park Vaudeville
Play festivals abound in San Diego. Theatre abounds in San Diego. One local theatre critic told me she had gone to over 200 performances last year.
Side By Side By Sondheim – Coronado Playhouse, Coronado, CA
It is pure pleasure to hear the singers and narrator unencumbered with mikes and amplifiers in an acoustically balanced room.
Dracula Takes a Bite at the North Coast Repertory Theatre
Dracula was abetted by two lovely Vixens (Michelle Procopio and Sunny Smith) as well as a couple of Attendants (Dylan Seaton and Beryln James Wieland) who kept things moving on stage.