Ray of Light Theatre

This is such a cool, fun place. The production was the same, cool, fun and a bit campy. We will go back for sure!

Went to see the 2014 season Yeast Nation west coast première at Victoria Theatre. The show started off slow but finished strong. Acting was good. The dancing and singing, although not without misses, were enthusiastic. Can’t say I am a fan of the songs or the story but it was an enjoyable production overall. It is definitely not at Urinetown level but I am glad I went to see it.

I am also reviewing CARRIE THE MUSICAL. This was such a delightful experience! Amazing performances and vocals from Heather Orth (Carrie’s religious nutcase mother) and the young Cristina Oeschger (Carrie) set the theater on fire last night! (LOL) I am a big Stephen King fan, and I did not know what to expect from a musical version of his classic debut novel, but this was an awesome experience. I was truly touched by Carrie’s character because she was brought so much to life in this play in ways that the movies, and even the book, do not. My only negative opinion was toward the infamous prom night scene where the blood is dropped on Carrie and everything goes to hell. I don’t think the play is really meant to be true to the real story’s horrific moment, but still I was expecting at least a little bit of horror and scariness. Instead the scene was more dramatic and artful, and not scary. Overall, like I said, this was a delightful Halloween night out. Bravo to the cast and crew!

This review is for the Ray of Light theater TROUPE on their performance of «Carrie: the Musical», at the Victoria theater.
I have to firstly applaud the troupe for doing such a stellar job on their casting. Unlike many troupes I’ve seen before, RoL seems to find actors that can parallel their characters and really fit the bill. The actress who played Carrie in this musical? She’s actually a real live high school student. An amazingly talented one, at that.
Carrie’s mother was phenomenally convincing as the overly pious god-​fearing woman. Carrie was played out more angelically than I recall her being in the movie (her cinematic character was definitely naïve and innocent, but not as spirited as she was on stage).
I couldn’t help but sit perfectly still, maybe even holding my breath, during some of the harmonies between Carrie and her mother or Carrie and her gym teacher.
Just a stunning cast full of incredibly talented and passionate individuals. The crew were awesome too! Can’t wait to see more of their performances.
Bravo!

Into the Woods was terrific — super entertaining and thought-​provoking. I had a terrific time and I think I might have to go back to see it again. Thank you.

Cozy theater. Not a bad seat in the place– you can still see people’s expressions from the back row. Can get a bit hot in the theater so I would recommend removable layers. Also the seats are very close together so may be a bit cramped.
Saw Into the Woods. Very entertaining.

This place is right next to the Safeway. It’s a cozy theater and Into the Woods was great! The production, cast, orchestra (one person playing winds — awesome), costumes and overall performance was awesome. I never saw this musical before and it was well worth it.
The seats are small so if you’re 200+ pounds, it will not be comfortable. The seat are so close you can smell the next person’s BO or «musk». Other than that, I would come again.

The seats are very old and cramped.
I love Into The Woods — I’ve seen it several times. This production had an amazing set; excellent musicians and choral singing, but the lead roles were very uneven.
Given it’s a community based theater I would have been very happy with the production.
HOWEVER there were TONS of kids and parents in the audience and this is NOT a kid fairy tale play — it’s an adult take on twisted fairy tale, and the family behind me kicked the seats and talked the ENTIRE time. It was a waste of my ticket price. I know the theater wants to fill deats but this is not a show for 4 year olds — it’s almost 3 hours long and very adult.

We came here to watch Sweeney Todd. The theatre itself is quite small so any seat would be a good seat. The seats are shoulder stacked so your view is conveniently in-​between the shoulders of the patrons in front of you and you don’t spend the whole show bobbing your head back and forth behind some Big Head. The womens bathroom has three stalls and only two worked (take note if you’re drinking). They did a good production of Sweeney Todd and the main character playing Sweeney was remarkable. Cute place and great production.

Came here to see «Sweeney Todd» last week. I, too, didn’t see the movie or read the synopsis of it prior so I was a little lost but during intermission read a summary and got caught up. Very good production w/​strong vocals… enjoyed it and hope to return to see other shows. Came on a weekday so i took public transit. Not sure how the parking situation is like on the weekend. It may be easier.

I just saw Sweeney Todd last night, and WOW. I was blown away by the talent.
The show was superb! What an amazing cast! The costumes were on point. I thought every single actor and actress looked and preformed with the greatest of skill. The set was incredible. The sounds were well balanced. Top notch.
The staff was incredibly friendly, and helpful. The venue is easy to get to, and street parking wasn’t that great but I only had to park 2.5 blocks away, which hey, in San Francisco, isn’t bad.
I like that you can bring drinks in, and they have really cool beer.
I look forward to seeing another show here.

I went to see Sweeney Todd. I’d never watched the movie or looked into what the story was, so it was all new to me. I’m not the biggest fan of musicals, but I thought it was a good production. The leads were great. The one performer I didn’t care for played Johanna, but opera style singing is still growing on me.

Been to two productions from the Ray of Light Theatre in the last few months, The Full Monty and on Saturday to Sweeney Todd. Both were excellent, along with the house band, top notch.
Sweeney Todd was powerful, the acting and singing of this local cast amazing. Like the other reviewer said, all this great talent is hard to contain in this small theatre. I have been delighted by the Ray of Light Theatre and love to support the local talent. Looking forward to their next production, whatever it might be!

After being blown away with Assassins, I decided to come back for their production of Sweeney Todd.
Absolutely top notch. Although I had my own criticisms at certain parts, it’s because I’m a really annoying Sondheim snob.
The vocal talent of the cast is amazing. For some reason I don’t know why I still feel that finding singer/​actors of that caliber for such a small production would be neigh impossible. They have it. At times the theater felt too small to contain the pure vocal strength of some of the actors, in particular the one who plays Anthony. Kudos to the ensemble too! Few people would praise them because they are in essence, background people, but all of them were excellent. Despite having only 5 people they gave the efforts of a whole choir.
I think they also took a number of liberties with the original play, adding in a number of small songs and changing some dialogue. It was fine by me, it changes things up as I felt like I knew too much of what was going to happen, down to the stage direction.
The actor who does Sweeney Todd is absolutely phenomenal. Amazing stunning awe inducing. I run out of adjectives for him. Ray of Light theater does a fantastic job finding talent.
The worst comment I heard about this play was a very enthusiastic and complimentary, «This was almost the movie!» NO. UGH. UNCOUTH PLEBEIAN. This small production of 30 people was 10 times the Sweeney Todd that the movie was. The movie WISHES it could be half as good.
My only complaint: too many tweenies going to see this because they love Johnny Depp and their only knowledge of Sweeney Todd comes from the movie.
/​hipster.

I’ve seen about 4 shows here in the last 2 years, and their productions are always highly entertaining. The house band is *ON POINT* and the actors they use are among the best among Bay Area «up and comers».
The ambiance in the lobby is very down-​home and welcoming, and the outside area is great on warm SF evenings for the intermission or right before the show starts. 1 minus for the tight (and uncomfortable) proximity of the seats, but everything else is A-​OK. Please patronize ROL Theatre, especially if you’re a student and want to see live entertainment for bargain prices.

I saw their production of The Full Monty and was completely blown away. The cast was incredibly talented and the small, intimate theater was perfect. The Eureka Theater is just a few blocks from the Ferry Building, and the area is gorgeous. Also, ROLT offers discounted tickets to students! Their shows are wonderful and affordable: win-​win!

As a Chicagoan, I can’t visit Ray of Light productions very often; if i were a San Franciscan, I would be a subscriber. I saw their production of Sondheim’s Assassins back in June and was awed by it. The production was excellent and the small theater was comfortable and perfect for this show.
If you live in the Bay Area and love musical theater, be sure to patronize ROL. And if you are coming to Chicago and want to know of similarly excellent theater companies here, shoot me a line.

Well, I am most terribly biased when it comes to posting reviews about anything artistic and in the support of our Fine Arts delivery in the Bay Area, but I was most impressed with a recent performance caught here, at the Eureka Theater by the Ray Of Light Theater.
A friend of mine took me to the New Year’s Eve Gala, a «Greatest Hits» show which featured a variety of their musical pieces culled from previous seasons. Helming this fantastic musical review was Eli Newsom, the new artistic director of Ray Of Light Theater.
The performance was wonderful, showcasing several amazing talents whose voices were quite intense in their delivery. My background is in classical performance (piano) so I had accompanied several vocal majors back in the day. Jessica Coker’s solo rendition of «Somewhere Over the Rainbow» from Wizard of Oz was fantastic. A soprano (I doubt an alto) with a full-​bodied voice and very smokey were the vocal results. I was most taken by Mike Padilla’s voice… he sounded like a baritone to me, strong mature bass tones melding with the rich mid-​range octaves of a tenor. His performance with the talented Mia Fryvecind in the lovely duet «How Could I Even Know» from the musical Bat Boy was absolutely exquisite.
For the end of the year musical tribute, it gave the audience a wonderful experience of what amazing talent and artistic performances are available to San Francisco.
I’m looking forward to their 2007 season!

Just saw a fantastic production of Bat Boy: The Musical put on by Ray of Light. A really strong set of actors who bring a lot of enthusiasm to the stage. I’m looking forward to their next big thing.

Well, I suppose I am a bit biased because I work as a director and actor for this company, but for what it is worth…
ROLT provides quality musical theatre to San Francisco audiences at affordable prices. All productions feature local actors. Please come see a show sometime!