A few San Francisco/Berkeley 2022 mentions (tours and smaller productions)

[bear88]

Posted: 1/2/23 at 3:50am

I'm veering a little away from Broadway on this post, except for tours and shows I assume are intended for Broadway or New York City, but I saw the nominations for best San Francisco-area productions and performances and thought a few were overlooked. The other thing, for me, is this was the first year since the pandemic started that I saw enough shows and was very impressed by several of them. This is hardly an exhaustive list, as I didn't come close to seeing everything.

Favorite musicals of 2022: Tie between Follies at the San Francisco Playhouse and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 at Shotgun Players in Berkeley. The former is legendary but never has had a full-scale production in San Francisco. I was optimistic about the San Francisco Playhouse version, as the company does a fine job on its musical revivals, and this one was excellent. Natascia Diaz, a longtime New York City and Broadway musical theater actress, was a heartbreaking and wonderful Sally Durant Plummer. The supporting cast was quite good, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention Lucinda Hitchcock Cone (whose rendition of "Broadway Baby" is everything I could have asked for) and the terrific Jill Slyter, a former Broadway performer, as Solange. Terrific direction by Bill English. 

I had never seen a show at Shotgun Players in Berkeley, and I wondered how a small, non-Equity company could pull off Great Comet. I shouldn't have worried. The show and the atmosphere surrounding it were wonderful. Jacqueline Dennis was a luminous Natasha and I finally got to experience the intimate production everyone praised at Ars Nova. I was very impressed with the cast. The show has been extended several times, through early February, although tickets are limited. I'm headed back in three weeks. It's hard to single out a particular cast member, because I liked them all, but I was struck by Angel Adedokun as Helene.

Favorite play: Dana H. at the Berkeley Rep. It's pretty much the same production that director Les Waters did on Broadway, but with Jordan Baker as Dana. The "gimmick" of the play isn't distracting because it has the effect on forcing you to focus on what Dana is saying.

Runner-up: Heroes of the Fourth Turning at the San Francisco Playhouse. Strong ensemble cast with some standout performances.

Best Actor in a Musical: Conor Ryan in the touring production of Moulin Rouge! He was really good in what is a tricky role to make work, even if most of the audience is rooting hard for him to pull it off.

Best Actress in a Musical: Diaz, from Follies, is impossible for me to ignore. But Amber Iman, in the flawed but sometimes-fantastic Goddess at the Berkeley Rep, is as captivating as she must be. 

Biggest Disappointment (tryout show category): Swept Away at the Berkeley Rep. The show has an impressive Broadway pedigree (directed by Michael Mayer, stars include John Gallagher Jr. and Stark Sands) and it has its moments. But the Avett Brothers' songs don't really advance the thin plot (they weren't written for the show) and the only interesting character is Gallagher's. He does his best, as does Adrian Blake Enscoe as a young character, but the musical feels less tragic than dreary - in part because of a framing device that makes the outcome inevitable.

Runner-up (tryout show category): Goddess. The first 15 minutes of the musical are so much fun and captivating that I'm glad I saw it. And Iman, as mentioned above, is terrific, as is the choreography, set and costume design, as well as an energetic supporting performance by Rodrick Covington. But I didn't think Jocelyn Bioh's book worked at all. Even if the score stayed as good as the first two songs, that would be a problem. The stakes aren't high enough, and the story (which focuses on a political dynasty when it isn’t missing opportunities to dramatize the goddess’ dilemma) isn't interesting. 

A few other honorable mentions: Kimberly Marable as Persephone and Chibueze Ihuoma as Orpheus in the touring production of Hadestown, the San Francisco Playhouse production of Indecent, Berkeley Rep production of Octet, Jon Steiger as Scorpius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Curran, Hernan Angulo and Maria Victoria Martinez as the lead characters in Sanctuary City at the Berkeley Rep

I’m looking forward to seeing more shows in 2023.

Updated On: 1/3/23 at 03:50 AM