With the opening of their current production, Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along,” New Helvetia Theatre makes a big jump in its growth as a theater company. The barely 3-year-old company, under founder Connor Mickiewicz, has brought Sacramento audiences wonderful contemporary musical theater productions that, for one reason or another, would not otherwise be produced here. But taking on a play like "Merrily We Roll Along," by such a master as Sondheim, required a great deal of growth in almost every area for New Helvetia. I am happy to report that it has all come together and that their production is a critical success and should be a very rewarding experience for its viewers. The

Sacramento Theatre Company associate producer Michael Laun shakes up the STC Cabaret format with some good surprises. SacPress community contributor writer/photographer Barry Wisdom has a great preview of the latest show. Changes included the type of theme. Many previous shows have centered around specific composers. “Make Em Laugh” which runs for a short four show run this weekend on the STC Cabaret Stage, is centered around the title subject. It is a collection of songs, many of which are very well known songs by extremely well known composers from timeless shows. Many of the songs are also from “who wrote that”? Great song, but “what show”? Never heard of it. And it all works well tog

Wow! That is what I have to say regarding Broadway Sacramento's opening night performance of the current national tour of "West Side Story."  The sold out house at the Community Center Theater suggests others agree. While it is beautifully staged, with wonderful singing anddance, and good acting, it is the material that is the star here. The powerful music of Leonard Bernstein coupled with the equally powerfully words of Stephen Sondheim are enough to make "West Side Story" a show worth seeing. Add in the choreography of original "West Side Story" director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, which can move from strongly ballet to strongly modern dance in a moment, and it's hard to beat. A

Shows brought to you by the Disney organization and Cameron Macintosh come with high expectations. Fortunately for Sacramento musical theater lovers, the Broadway Sacramento production of "Mary Poppins" that opened last Thursday more than meets those expectations. Disney's first hit version of "Mary Poppins" was the 1964 film with major star turns by Julie Andrews as the title character and Dick Van Dyke as Bert. Disney had obtained the rights to the series of "Mary Poppins" stories by Australian author P.L. Travers. The first book was published in 1934, the last in 1991, five years before the author’s death. The movie also introduced the songs of brothers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherma

There have been certain shows over the history of musical theater that have been major game changers. In the 1950s the combined talent of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurent and Harold Prince created West Side Story. However, iI wasn’t just the talent. West Side Story took a very old story, Romeo and Juliet, and framed it in gangs and interracial relations. A Chorus Line was a game changer for the 1970s. The 70s was the era of the musical driven by the choreographer, such as Bob Fosse. Choreographer Michael Bennett conceived a musical about one group of performers: the chorus dancers. The show looks at who are the individuals that come together to perform i

Many of humanity's most enduring stories have been told in the simplest ways. Folk tales tell the truths of societies in ways that are outside of time, outside of specific culture, even outside of "reality" itself. But they can be true in ways that more sophisticated, contemporary stories can't hope to be. Thus, the power of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical, "Into the Woods," which opened at the Music Circus Tuesday night and runs through Sunday. First performed on Broadway in 1987 with Bernadette Peters, and revived many times since, most famously with Vanessa Williams in the role of the Witch in 2002, "Into the Woods" has aged beautifully. Under Glenn Casale's able direction