I have spent a lot of time thinking about musical theater during this holiday break, especially as our current decade nears its end. As a decade-long, and will-be lifelong lover of musical theater, I often catch myself ruminating on productions I saw in the past. I have recently been reconsidering the touring production of “Anastasia”…

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“Beautiful– The Carole King Musical” has joyously returned to the SHN Golden Gate Theatre for a limited two week engagement. Its stellar touring cast effectively propagates a unique dialogue with San Franciscan audiences and emphasizes “Beautiful’s” tonal complexity and engaging narrative. The Tony and Grammy-winning musical centers on the life and career of singer/songwriter Carole…

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The SHN Orpheum Theatre was poppin’ this past Wednesday, to say the least. The theater was filled with students who sang along to “The Hamilton Mixtape,” danced in the aisles and broke out in thunderous applause before anyone even graced the stage. When a few students walked onstage for simple microphone checks, the crowd went…

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The Axe Committee’s train whistle blasts a battle cry. Hoover Tower is set ablaze in a fiendish red light. A skewered stuffed bear sacrificially crowns The Claw fountain, which is filled with crimson blood. Though dazed and confused tourists ignorantly gaze upon these war sites, Stanford affiliates understand their true meaning. The “big” football game…

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When “A Raisin in the Sun” received an instant standing ovation on opening night, a sense of solidarity reverberated through the audience. A few tears sprinkled the ground, many jaws were agape and most found themselves at a loss for words. An unspoken understanding that something very, very special happened pervaded the space. After the…

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“Fun Home” shoves overdone musical theater tropes, narrative structures and themes onto a mortician’s table for reexamination. Based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel of the same name, the musical is filtered through the eyes of a 43-year-old Alison as she illustrates moments from her childhood and young adulthood. These moments are primarily set in her…

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