THEATRE REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Hamlet
“David’s Hamlet production is surely one of the boldest conceptual-art events in history.”
-Marc Mardon, The Bay Area Reporter
“David’s concept is catchy with unfettered creativity. Realism amplified.”
-Rona March, San Francisco Chronicle
A Queer Carol
“I’d say it’s pretty damn imaginative. The director, Clay David has turned this story into an eye-popping epic with splendid performances that make this play ‘like nothing you’ve ever seen before.’ It’s the Big Bang of the season. RATING: FOUR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!!! (Highest rating)”
-Lee Hartgrave, San Francisco’s Beyond Chron ‘The Voice Of The Rest’
Hit It!
“Under the direction of Clay David, Hit It is one of the most highly spirited, delightfully and audaciously crafted musical shows you will see outside a professional Broadway theatre.”
-J. Carlos Moore, Technical Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Dangerous
“Dangerous is brilliant. The direction by Clay David flows smoothly.. It is this mixture of emotions that pushes and pulls the audience through this sexually charged drama. It certainly is a dangerous combination. But, it is one that is like a magnet. You find yourself on that bed. Believe me! You’ll need Kleenex for this emotional performance. We are all callous. This play just shows us how much! RATING: FOUR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!!!”
-Lee Hartgrave, San Francisco’s Beyond Chron ‘The Voice Of The Rest’
Dangerous is a recipient of the Lee Hartgrave “Fame Award” for best Drama.”
“Director Clay David helms a very tight and fast production that seems like a film, with smooth and quick blackouts. Clay David directs this Machiavellian morality tale with severity, yet wisely grants the audience occasional moments of comic relief. With lots of imagination (and onstage furniture), he swiftly flies from location to location with a minimum of black-out time.”
-Tom W. Kelly, San Francisco Bay Times
Southern Baptist Sissies
“If Southern Baptist Sissies were not in better hands it would never be the spectacle of splendor and entertainment that it is. My hat is off to Clay David for this extraordinary directing job. If there is one play you see this year – make it this one! Director David is recipient of Lee Hartgrave’s FAME best play award and best ensemble play at the New Conservatory Center. They have had a very good year and are fast becoming the best Theater Company in San Francisco. RATING: FOUR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE”
-Lee Hartgrave, Theatre Critic, Beyond Chron ‘The Voice Of The Rest’
“Director Clay David gives a fluid and energetic staging of Del Shore’s controversial work, an irreverent, butt kicking, Southern fried humor play with dark undercurrents.”
-Richard Connema, talkinbroadway.com
Little Women
“I am constantly amazed with Clay’s innovation for staging, his ear for the delicacy of language, his unsurpassed visual sense and his deep humanity and concern for others. David’s play Little Women far surpasses the new Broadway production. This is the stuff legends are made of. Too much praise? Not, I fear, nearly enough.”
-Marc Craig, The Advocate
When We Danced
“The addition of Clay David to the creative process was a wise move, since he has a knack for pulling the very best out of the material he works with. He has something of a golden touch for finding hidden gems in scripts, pulling new depths of emotion from performers and turning works into something memorable. “Clay magic” was certainly evident in staging the new work.”
-Pat Craig, Contra Costa Times, West County Times, San Jose Mercury News
Riders on the Storm
“This forceful story of the Civil Rights Movement has been vividly retold in Clay David’s new musical drama Riders on the Storm where Bayard Rustin’s homosexuality is brought to center stage in no uncertain terms. This new opera leaves no doubt as to the allegory’s meaning-prejudice against gays and lesbians are no more just than prejudice against African-Americans. Other moments from the history of the civil rights are similarly reenacted, and the image of a white sheeted Klansman marching with a lynched African American dangling from an A-frame is not likely to be forgotten.”
-Travis Mason-Bushman, The Advocate
Phantom of the Opera
“Credit Clay David with conjuring up the musty atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the chill of the graveyard and the dank loneliness of the paintings, but they are re-staged with absolute faith and a shock of inventiveness. Phantom is strangely moving, and you can practically feel your spinal cord jump out. David has managed to poeticize the play’s essential pathos and impossibility with sensitivity and respect.”
-Susan Scaffidi, The Californian
Music Man
“Finding a new twist comes in taking the familiar and spinning it into gold, which David has done with Music Man. The cast explodes from the stage in flashes of movement and color that make the show leap to exciting levels and fill the theatre with the sort of exuberance audiences must have felt when the show debuted. This masterpiece needed some additional fireworks to rocket it to standout status. That, basically, is what Clay David has done. It’s a stunningly good performance.”
-Pat Craig, Contra Costa Times, West County Times, San Jose Mercury News
Lysistrata Y2K
Clay David’s Lysistrata Y2K could easily be the most exciting piece of theatre right now.”
-Rob Morse, San Francisco Chronicle