Jonathan Jacobs

Latest Articles

Mixed Magic’s muddled Life’s a Dream

A sword, but no sorcery
'Tis a lumbering theatrical beast to try to chain, but billing the old Spanish war horse Life Is a Dream as Life's a Dream is not enough to tame it for modern theatergoers. Mixed Magic Theatre is staging the 1635 classic by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, directed by Jonathan Jacobs (through November 27).
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 15, 2011

Review: 2nd Story's uproarious The Good Doctor

When Neil met Anton
Neil Simon may not be the most subtle of playwrights, too often tempted beyond endurance to go for the gag at the expense of motivation.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 30, 2011

Review: Mixed Magic's Art of Attack

Games people play
Both the first and the last line we hear in Art of Attack , by Asa Merritt, is: "You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest where two and two are five and the way out is only wide enough for one."
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 29, 2010

Hot and bothered

2nd Story’s hilarious Underpants
Shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater and you get one response. Shout “Die Hose!” (women’s undies) in a German theater back in 1911 and you got another kind of uproar.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 12, 2010

The con goes on

2nd Story’s The Voysey Inheritance
David Mamet has always had a professional fascination with confidence men who pretend to be businessmen.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 31, 2010

Doing the right thing

2nd Story’s inspiring To Kill a Mockingbird
There are plenty of stories that harken back to a Golden Age, but Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird was different.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 24, 2009

Laugh to keep from crying

Timeless optimism in You Can't Take It With You
Rarely did a play arrive with better timing than You Can't Take It With You , the joyfully optimistic paean to the American spirit that earned its Pulitzer in 1936, when the country was licking the wounds of collective Depression.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 15, 2009

The Front Page

Breaking news: timeless fun at 2nd Story
The Front Page 's timeless fun at 2nd Story
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 28, 2009

Triumph of the will

2nd Story's stirring Miracle Worker
It's easy enough— unavoidable, actually — to admire and be amazed by the accomplishments of Helen Keller, but it took the account by playwright William Gibson for the remarkable work of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, to be so widely appreciated.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 26, 2008

A battling brood

2nd Story’s stormy Another Part of the Forest
Although Lillian Hellman wrote Another Part of the Forest as a prequel after The Little Foxes , it was by no means an afterthought.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 09, 2008

Satan's little helpers

Thrash legends Wargasm only 99 percent pure evil
Everyone knows that metal is the most evil of all music, what with all those references to the occult, destruction, drinking, the color black, and long hair.
By BARRY THOMPSON | September 10, 2008

The circle game

Befuddlement rules in Fuddy Meers
It’s a very funny reminder that laughter can make such absurdity almost worthwhile.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 20, 2008

Seeing Red

2nd Story’s Sunset scares up some laughs
Theatergoers just like to have fun. If you agree with that statement, or at least don’t sputter, you might enjoy 2nd Story Theater’s take on Charles Busch’s Red Scare on Sunset .
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 12, 2008