Stephen Adly Guirgis’ comedy-drama “The Motherf**ker with the Hat” begins so explosively in its excellent SF Playhouse production, it’s hard to imagine where it can go from there.
What’s so great about the play, which opened on Broadway in 2011, and about Bill English’s fearless direction, is that it goes to lots of places — places that are at various times violent, comic, profane and poignant.
Read More
Challenging as it is for a small nonprofit theater to take a quantum leap, the San Francisco Playhouse — the downtown company that has endeared itself to audiences and critics alike since its inception in 2003 — is clearly ready. To wit: In recent times, more than 1,000 patrons were turned away over the course of a couple of popular runs.
This month, the company, which specializes in stellar productions of contemporary plays, opens its season in a nearby, but much larger, venue.
Read More
A big musical in miniature, up close and personal, SF Playhouse’s “My Fair Lady” is a win-win proposition. For those few who haven’t experienced how Eliza Doolittle “could have danced all night,” it’s an excellent introduction. At the time, for the zillion veterans of stage presentations or the classic film, director Bill English’s production is a new experience.
Read More
At the beginning of SF Playhouse’s production of Tennessee Williams’ self-described 1960 “serious comedy” called “Period of Adjustment,” former Korean War hero Ralph (a restless, conflicted Johnny Moreno) eagerly awaits the arrival of his best friend and war buddy, George (a riveting Patrick Alparone), and George’s new bride, Isabel (MacKenzie Meehan in a deeply empathetic portrayal).
Read More
Under English’s direction, San Francisco Playhouse has entered the age of social media. On Thursday, a select number of eligible applicants are invited to attend a performance of the acclaimed play “Tigers Be Still,” and tweet during the show.
Read More
The talent is top-notch in SF Playhouse’s West Coast premiere of the new, family-friendly minimusical “Coraline.”
For starters, there is Neil Gaiman’s dark, “Alice in Wonderland”-ish children’s book upon which the show is based. In it, an adventurous English schoolgirl — with distracted, workaholic parents — wanders through a mysterious door in her house to find herself in a parallel universe.
Read More
URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/topics/bill-english?quicktabs_1=0
