Stage Reviews
Driving Miss Daisy This show is an all-star reunion, with actress Janice Read Hoberg and Dale O. Black reprising their Elly-award-winning performances from a production of the same play at Garbeau’s 10 years ago. This time around, they’re joined by James Wheatley, a multiple Elly winner who’s one of the best actors in town. The direction is a little loose, but this is a very strong show otherwise. The story, of course, involves a 25-year relationship, strained at times, between an aging Atlanta matriarch and her black chauffeur. Alfred Uhry’s script (for which he won a Pulitzer in 1988) is warm but not as sentimental as the subsequent film. Some episodes, such as the bombing of a Jewish temple, echo events we’ve experienced all too recently right here in River City.
Garbeau’s Dinner Theatre, 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 12:30 p.m. Sunday; $17-$34. 12401 Folsom Boulevard, Rancho Cordova, 985-6361. Through November 3. J.H.
Just the Guy Jack Gallagher returns for another limited run of his recent one-man show. Gallagher contrasts his working-class youth (as an Irish-American kid back east) against his close encounter in Lotus Land with prime-time TV stardom. The show is peppered with jokes, reflecting Gallagher’s past as stand-up comic, but also contrasts two very different work ethics. It’s also a cautionary tale about the Hollywood meat grinder, and how Gallagher managed to survive the experience with his better sense intact.
B Street Theatre , 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $20-$25 or $15-$19 for subscribers. 2711 B Street, 443-5300. November 5 through November 17. J.H.
The Queen of Bingo Sisterhood really is powerful—and pretty funny, too—in this winning little comedy. But the two middle-aged characters in this show are anything but self-empowered; they’re playing bingo in a church hall, grousing about another lady who’s taken their lucky chairs, relating tales of junk-food excess and getting giddy when they get a winning card. Sue Madden and Trish DeBaun bring sympathy, energy and insight to what easily could have been less-dimensional characters.
Thistle Dew Dessert Theatre , 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, $14-$18. 1901 P Street, 444-8209. Through November 23. J.H.
Toyer This psychological thriller sounds terrifying. A psycho stalks women and, instead of killing them, stabs them in the cerebral cortex, thereby disabling them for life. This may have worked in Gardner McKay’s novel, but the book doesn’t translate into good theater. Shrinking this novel into a two-scene drama also shrinks everything else: the plot, the characters, their reactions and, ultimately, the suspense. And because so much was tossed out in the process of getting it onstage, the biggest loss is logic. With so much stacked against it before it even starts, this Celebration Arts production doesn’t stand a chance, though the theater company gives it a valiant try.
Celebration Arts Theatre , 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $6-$12. 4469 D Street, 455-2787. Through November 9. P.R.
The Woman in Black Prepare to be scared. A woman in black is haunting the Delta King. Her ghostly figure is beckoning from aboard the Old Sac paddleboat. You say you don’t believe in ghosts? Well, this production of a chilling story of creaking floors and spooky English moors will make a believer out of skeptics. Because most of the action is left to the audience’s imagination, this play is truly theater of the mind, with language and illusions locking this haunting story in your head and fear in your heart. This is one ghost who will stay with you throughout the witching hours of Allhallow’s Eve.
Delta King Theatre , 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $14-$16. Aboard the Delta King, 1000 Front Street, Old Sacramento, 995-5464. Through November 16. P.R.
