I had read all the critical acclaim for "Master Harold and the Boys" Athol Fugard's masterpiece of a play set in 1950 apartheid South Africa playing in the Sacramento Theatre Company Pollock Stage. I finally found time to go see it and found out I could barely get a ticket to tonight Friday's show.  The show ends this weekend and is well worth seeing. I saw one of the early productions of the play at the Seattle Repertory Theater in 1984.  Not surprising it is the only play I remember from that season.   Michael J. Asberry, Rob Anthony, and Will Block all give outstanding performances.  All the more amazing for the 18 year old Block a graduate of the STC Young Professionals Conservatory

A major theatrical event took place in Sacramento on Saturday night, April 27, with the Sacramento Theater Company’s world premiere of “A Little Princess.” It is a musical with close creative ties to Sacramento, a show with a potential to reach a huge audiences, given its launch in a Sacramento Theater Company production that could not be more pitch perfect in any way. William J. Brooke has created a wonderful playbook based on popular English-American writer Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s novel of the same name. Burnett is best known for her children’s books published just before and after the turn of the 19th century, “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” “The Little Princess” and “A Secret G

Performer photos by Barry Wisdom "How Long Has This Been Going On?-A Tribute to George and Ira Gershwin" opened the fifth season of cabaret at Sacramento Theatre Company Thursday evening to an enthusiastic audience. Although the Gershwin's music goes back to the 1930s and George died tragically in 1937 at the age of 38 the music they created endures as some of the best examples of the Great American Songbook. Ira Gershwin went on to compose with several other lyricists living to the age of 87. STC producing director, Michael Laun who created the cabaret series, enlisted Jerry Lee ("Musical of Musicals the Musical!!," "Frankenstein"-recently closed at STC) one of Sacramento's best youn

Delightful. Entertaining. Deliciously fun. What more could you want from a theater experience designed to celebrate the 40-year career of one of Broadways best and brightest? Sacramento Theatre Company presented the last in its 2010-2011 Cabaret Series Thursday night with “From Godspell to Wicked: The Musicals of Stephen Schwartz.” “From Godspell to Wicked” was a whirlwind tour of the 40-year career of one of Broadway’s most renowned composers and songwriters, Stephen Schwartz. The show presented melodies from some of Schwartz’s more famous stage plays, including “Godspell,” “Pippin,” “The Baker’s Wife,” “Children of Eden” and “Wicked,” and even included a few songs from some of Schwart

In the 1980s, even though he had written numerous highly successful plays (“The Odd Couple,” “The Sunshine Boys”), Neil Simon’s career and his own satisfaction with his work was at a low point. By looking back on his own life as source material, Simon was able to go from seriously funny to a funny and serious play. The result was “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” a fictional look at his childhood in the seaside neighborhood of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York. It is the fall of 1937. The world is in the worst depression ever and on the brink of the World War II. The Jerome family is typical of the many Jewish families that settled in Brighton Beach. They are trying to live as normal a life as p

All photos: Barry Wisdom In my recent review of Sacramento Theatre Company’s “A Christmas Carol,” I mentioned Caleb Salmon, who plays the young Ebenezer, the tailor and the second suitor (at Fezziwig’s party.) I’d like to elaborate on the program that Salmon has gone through to get where he is now. Salmon has gone through the Sacramento Theatre Company’s Young Professionals Conservatory. He is now attending college and is an Equity Membership Candidate.  Caleb Salmon as Ebenezer Scrooge and Ella Isaguirre as Belle Actor’s Equity Association, commonly known as Equity, is the union of actors and associated theatre trades. Having an Equity card is the doorway to a professional acting car

 Want to end your children going “I’m bored!” this summer? You can for at least two weeks by enrolling them in one of Sacramento Theatre Company School of the Arts Summer Camp programs. STC Summer Camp Director Lynn Baker wants parents to know that kids spend a full day and are very busy being exposed to many aspects of live theater. It's like “a full year of master classes in two weeks," she said. What’s in it for the kids? First off, it is just plain fun. It is a great opportunity to make new friends. Kids also learn skills they can use all their lives, whether or not they continue in theater arts. Baker encourages kids to attend with their friends. Most importantly, no previous experi