Victor Cordell
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Recent Articles:
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The Best of The Second City Front Page
Residency at Berkeley Rep for Storied Improv Troupe
By: - Jul 19th, 2024The vaunted Chicago-based troupe performs sketches, quick-hitters, and enough improvisation to display their fast reaction chops. Old skits are updated, and enough local references are integrated for the production to feel home grown. The cast of six operates black-box fashion, effectively and entertainingly employing mime to represent invisible props.
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Accused! Front Page
The Victorian Ladies Detective Collective Trilogy is Complete With a Case Involving Terrorism
By: - Jul 15th, 2024London is under threat. One woman has been murdered and another killed in a bombing, with anarchists being implicated. Three intrepid female sleuths find evidence that suggests otherwise. Patricia Milton's script is literate and replete with revelations about social and political issues of the day.
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La Voix Humaine and Dido & Aeneas Front Page
Festival Opera Fine Production of Divergent Works
By: - Jul 14th, 2024Carrie Hennessey gives a sterling performance in the Francis Poulenc work, "La Voix Humaine," as a woman who talks to her lover on the phone while learning that she is losing him. Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" is given a fine treatment as well, led by the chorus and orchestra.
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Mongolia Travelog Front Page
Distant, Exotic, and Exciting
By: - Jul 07th, 2024A nine-day tour reveals a complex and contrasting country geographically and politically. Diet, weather, and many cultural norms are extreme. Although on-the-ground costs can be quite reasonable, organized tours which tend to be expensive are highly recommended. It is a rewarding journey for the experienced and inquisitive traveler.
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The Lifespan of a Fact Front Page
Do Facts Constitute Truth? Is Truth Objective and Unassailable?
By: - Jul 06th, 2024In this account of a true story, essayist John D'Agata wrote a piece about the suicide of Levi Pressley who jumped from the top of Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. Fact checking showed that D'Agata fabricated numerous but inconsequential details for the sake of style. The philosophical differences between the author and the fact checker provoke a thoughtful consideration of what constitutes truth. It's more complex than you might think.
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Evita Front Page
Rags to Riches and Glamor Foreshortened
By: - Jul 04th, 2024In this Weber/Rice musical biography, the charismatic and adulated Eva Peron insinuates herself into the highest level of Argentinian politics while in her 20s. Deploying an unusual device, an activist narrator, Che, skulks about and cynically undermines the public face of the title character.
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Seeing Stars Front Page
Steve Budd's Personal Memoir at The Marsh Berkeley
By: - Jun 18th, 2024Most people are unaware of the dedication and sacrifices that actors make to pursue their passion. In this brief insight, we learn of the struggles of one man to put bread on the table while seeking the limelight. We also learn of mental health issues that have plagued his family.
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Being Alive - A Sondheim Celebration Front Page
TheatreWorks Bright World Premiere Revue of Sondheim Love Songs
By: - Jun 11th, 2024Now that Stephen Sondheim has passed, this poignant collection of 36 songs is the first revue to span his whole life of works, from towering anthems to obscure hidden gems. Performed by an ensemble of six as a run through followed by a dress rehearsal with little additional commentary, it lets the songs do the telling.
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Innocence Front Page
San Francisco Opera's Chilling Modern Masterpiece
By: - Jun 09th, 2024Kaija Saariaho's last opera leaves a lasting impression. An ominous score supports a nerve-wracking story told in two time frames. A teenage shooter in Finland murders a number of his schoolmates. Ten years on, the perpetrator's brother is marrying a bride from Romania who does not know the connection. However, the waitress at the wedding reception dinner, whose daughter was a victim, recognizes the groom.
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Doubt, a Parable at Altarena Playhouse Front Page
A Chilling Allegory of Injury Caused by Faith
By: - Jun 02nd, 2024Middle school principal Sister Aloysius possesses unerring certitude concerning her faith. Father Flynn's appearances and actions trigger the nun's belief that he has had inappropriate contact with young boys. Her unproven allegations prove damaging.
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The Magic Flute at San Francisco Opera Front Page
A Fairy Tale About Love and Aspiration
By: - May 31st, 2024Tamino falls in love with Pamina's picture and runs the gauntlet in order to meet and marry her. His sidekick Papageno also seeks marriage but lacks the courage to confront the challenges before him. Both will succeed, but one more than the other.
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The Lehman Trilogy at ACT Front Page
From Immigrant Family to Wall Street Tycoons
By: - May 30th, 2024Upon Henry Lehman's immigration to the U.S., he peddles textiles in Alabama. The result of the ingenuity of Henry and later family members is one of the great investment banking firms in the country. Long after the family has exited, the firm's failure represents one of the signal episodes in the financial collapse of 2008.
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Cabaret at Lesher Center for the Arts Front Page
Hedonism and Persecution in Between the Wars Germany
By: - May 29th, 2024English nightclub entertainer Sally Bowles lives on the edges of society in the hedonism of Berlin during the Weimar years. Aspiring novelist Cliff Bradshaw alights from America and becomes both Sally's lover and her mark. This dark musical also explores the rise of Naziism through a young convert and the relationship of an elderly couple, one of whom is Jewish.
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Something Rotten Front Page
Hillbarn Theatre's Riotous Romp
By: - Apr 28th, 2024In the 1590s, wannabe playwrights Nick and Nigel Bottom fail to compete with theatrical powerhouse Will Shakespeare. Nick consults with soothsayer Nostradamus who tells him that musicals are the coming thing. The outcome is the world's first musical "Omelet." Hmmm.
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A Strange Loop Front Page
ACT-SF's Outstanding Production Of A Daring Musical
By: - Apr 26th, 2024Usher is an overly introspective wannabe playwright who obsesses over his weight, color, and sexual orientation. In this audacious musical, the central character is surrounded by his thoughts. That is, the other characters are designated as Thought 1 through Thought 6. His internal conflicts and clashes with his parents prompt existential questions that may never be answered.
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Forever Plaid Front Page
42nd Street Moon's Take On This Revue of Male Pop Quartets
By: - Apr 23rd, 2024This oft revived piece celebrates the smooth sound and close vocal harmonies of male ensembles in the pop era. An unsuccessful pop foursome returns from the dead for one last concert. Along with many songs for multiple voices, the guys sing solos to strut their stuff and pull off comic gags to add to the fun.
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Florencia en el Amazonas Front Page
Magical Realism Receives Exquisite Treatment By Opera San Jose
By: - Apr 22nd, 2024This 1996 work was a breakthrough for Spanish language operas. Florencia, an opera singer, is returning to Manaus in the Amazon by boat and to great anticipation. In addition to performing there, she hopes to find her lost lover, a butterfly hunter, who disappeared into the jungle 20 years previous. Traveling incognito, she finds a passenger who has been collecting information for her biography and, unbeknownst to her, a spirit person who bridges the worlds of reality and magic.
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Tiger Style! Front Page
Walking Challenging Line Between Being Chinese And American
By: - Apr 16th, 2024Raised by Chinese-American tiger parents, adult siblings Albert and Jennifer are stereotypically accomplished and conflict avoiding. But when Albert is passed over for a promotion that goes to a less competent European-American, he reaches wit's end. Neither sibling speaks any Chinese, but they feel that they will be better received in China than at home in the U.S. What could go wrong? What doesn't in this broad but provocative farce?
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Julie Benko in Standby, Me Front Page
Stage Performer Ready To Stand-in For A Principal Unable To Go On
By: - Apr 16th, 2024In an engaging cabaret entertainment, Julie Benko recalled her experience as all manner of stand-in performer with beautifully crafted songs from those shows and witty vignettes. She's also made it to the top, having played Fanny Brice, the lead in "Funny Girl," on Broadway over 180 times.
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The Kite Runner Front Page
Broadway Tour of an Insightful Look into Growing Up Privileged in Afghanistan
By: - Apr 10th, 2024Twelve-year-old Amir comes from wealth and the dominant Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan. His only close friend, the illiterate Hassan, is not only from the deprived minority Hazara tribe but is the son of the servant of Amir's father. Hassan's kite running skills allow Amir to compete at the highest level in this important activity, but Amir will betray the trust of friendship, and the consequences reverberate.
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Birds and Balls Front Page
Two Lively One-Act Operas From Innovative Opera Parallèle
By: - Apr 07th, 2024Imagine one opera about the heralded 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match and another about an obscure Belgian bird singing competition. How would they be packaged in a program? Of course, by framing them as broadcasts from ABC's Wide World of Sports, with Howard Cosell at the mic. Innovative production techniques lift these already interesting little gems.
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Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord Front Page
ACT Presents an Award Winning Autobiographical Pandemic Experience
By: - Apr 05th, 2024When Kristina Wong's performing career was shut down by Covid, she turned to a skill that many Asian women learn from their mothers - sewing. Using social media and meeting technology, she organized a brigade of "aunties" who produced many thousands of cloth masks when masks were in short supply. In a high energy performance, she frames this personal experience in the context of the political world of 2020-21.
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Pal Joey Front Page
Rodgers and Hart's Greatest Cad
By: - Apr 01st, 2024Nightclub entertainer Joey Evans attracts a patroness, Vera, who stakes him to a club of his own. But she is older, domineering, married, and hot for him. He's a footloose schemer with the morals of an alley cat. What could possibly go wrong? Happily, the clashes of nightclub life are revealed with liberal doses of the beautiful tune "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."
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Queen Front Page
TheatreWorks Fine Production About Bees and People
By: - Mar 26th, 2024In 2017, the world's bee population has plummeted, putting the food supply at risk. Two research assistants at University of California Santa Cruz have produced research that identifies the source of the die off, but then one last data collection undermines the previous results even though their paper is about to be published. The play confronts the dilemmas that researchers deal with.
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King Liz Front Page
Breaking Down Barriers in City Lights' Smashing Production
By: - Mar 25th, 2024Overcoming odds, Liz Rico has become a highly successful basketball agent. She now must represent a first-round draft pick who lacks college experience and maturity. Further, he has a police record that the media could pick up on. In this dramedy, she must determine how to handle the conflicts of managing the relationship with the client and the broader community.
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