When I checked my Cal Shakes review I was surprised to see I hadn't updated it in 12 years. I…read morecan't remember whether we subscribed the season following my initial review, but we have attended several productions over the years and liked them. Most recently, Nina and I attended "The Winter's Tale" last season. It was the first play we had attended anywhere since the start of the pandemic and we were thrilled. We took the shuttle bus up the hill and bought dinner from the concession stand. I remember it as being very good. Our seats in the amphitheatre were well placed w/ good sightlines. The acting was excellent, as it always is. "The Winter's Tale" is one we have seen many times and a play we love. We enjoyed the production a lot until the very end, which we both found disappointing. The play is about reconciliation, forgiveness and redemption and those qualities were given short shrift because of the cuts/edits that were made by the adapters, Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly. I have no issues w/ people editing Shakespeare's plays, reimagining the settings, etc, as long as that works in the service of the play's intent. Cutting out the heart of what the play is about doesn't do that. When the play was over we looked at each other in disbelief and disappointment because the rest of it had been so complex, colorful and well done. We will keep an eye out for future productions and will check the reviews, but like Berkeley Rep, we probably won't subscribe.

Sorry to see that this venue has gone out of business. We enjoyed it while it was there.read more

Best customer service Beautiful experience…read more Popcorn is delicious Seats are comfortable Parking safe and convenient

Terrible sound system. Antiquated ads from the 1959s to…read more70s. Poor selection of concessions, the popcorn was terrible and no brand name soft drinks. Plus the theater was freezing and I'm always hot.

My daughter has been with SingOut Theater throughout this entire year. She auditioned in to the…read morekids competition and performed 'Junglebook' with her team in Sacramento. An intense, exciting time! They won an award for choreography at JTF West! She also did Triple Threat and High school Musical this summer. So to say the least, We Are FANs! We feel so lucky to have Chelsea teaching our daughter! A lovely personality and mentor, a highly skilled dancer and choreographer, a patient and kind Director. The Music Director Kevin warmly and patiently builds the student's musical understanding and performances. His contribution keeps musical standards high and performances enjoyable. The Business Director/Producer Rachel adds the no nonsense behind the scenes taking care of business ballast for all this creativity. We are grateful for her expertise to keep SingOut thriving. My daughter is attending a performing arts school in the fall. We will still be attending Tue/Thurs Musical Theater at SingOut. It is top notch and she loves it!

There is something confusing about the discussions regarding the Diablo Light Opera Co & Diablo…read moreTheater Company. They were one and the same. Originally named DLOC in 1959 when they formed a company performing Gilbert & Sullivan Light Operas. Eventually they changed the name to Diablo Theater Co. They had a youth program called STARS 2000, which continues to this day to operate. Diablo Theater Co. that use to produce large scale Musicals & Light Opera productions at the Lesher Center For The Arts in Walnut Creek, is no longer in business. STARS 2000 continues as their own company. There is no other youth program that is under the auspices of the Diablo Theater Co. and in fact their studios were sold and are under the ownership of Performing Arts Academy.

Our daughter has been taking violin lessons with Dr. Jim, the owner of Alma for three months now…read more We have been nothing but happy so far with him, the service, and the school in general. Our daughter looks forward to her lessons each week, and Dr. Jim makes learning the violin fun for her. When I needed to reschedule a lesson, as we had a conflict, they were happy to give us a different time slot that same week. We attended the open mic night, which was so entertaining and fun. Dr. Jim has a way of helping the kids feel comfortable performing in front of an audience. I'm guessing the reason that ALMA isn't open in the morning is because kids are in school, and they are not yet giving lessons. So, for the people who were continually getting frustrated by going to the store before noon, they maybe should have figured that out and gone later in the day when there are always people there. Haven't noticed that they seem like crooks, but if I do, I'll come back to the website to let you know! Hope this is helpful.

Parents, please do not send your poor children here. They take your money and have no…read morequalifications to teach anything. I wouldn't even allow these people to pet sit let along try to educate. I sent my child here for close to a year to learn piano and she learned nothing. Here are my main concerns: 1) teacher showed up 10 minutes late every time for 30 mins session and of course they continued to charge me for the full session 2) they try to teach using technology but their Wi-Fi is down. Therefore the rest of the class they spend trying to figure out how to connect to Wi-Fi which first hand observing, was painful. 3) the place is owned by a clown with the biggest ego. I went in there to watch my child after realizing that the sessions were not helping her at all. The clown that owns this place was fumbling around trying to get tech support to turn his computer on. He refers to himself as a "doctor" which further shows what a narcissistic clown he is. He also was upset that I hadn't been in there before to introduce myself to him. I don't think the moron realizes that parents have to work to pay for extracurricular activities like his clown school. He literally was offended that I didn't come in to introduce myself!? 4) the pianos and other instruments looked like they were picked up at the local dump. I can't sing and I am more tuned than the piano my poor daughter was trying to learn on. 5) the worst part is that I asked them to cancel my daughters sessions. That night I noticed that he had gone in and quickly charged our credit card for next month. What a crook and phony. Horrible place disguised as a teaching institute.

My fiance and I LOVE our Friday night salsa lessons with Tomaj. We have so much fun, and it's…read moreamazing how much you can learn in a progressive series class like his. We had occasionally dropped in at Allegro for salsa classes about two years prior to our beginner series with Tomaj, but neither of us remembered a thing by the time we started Tomaj's classes. By the end of the class, we actually knew a pattern and immediately signed up for the intermediate session. We've made a lot of new friends, and we're very excited to sign up for the next series. We are of the opinion that Tomaj is a very good instructor. That being said, there are plenty of people who disagree--we've had quite a few dropouts in our class, and a couple of the other students sticking with it complain about him. My observations are follows: people who take his criticism personally or want only "positive reinforcement" don't do so well with his teaching style. I don't think he's particularly harsh, but it can feel like he's picking on you at times. My fiance just laughs it off every time Tomaj shakes his head and stops the music because of some mistake he made. There is a really big difference between his beginner and intermediate classes. He's extremely patient in the beginner class, and it moves very slowly with lots and lots of repetition. Once we hit the intermediate class, we spent a good portion of the class confused and tripping over our own two feet because the degree of difficulty skyrocketed. To be fair, he does warn you in the beginning that the intermediate class is no joke. Also, from his perspective, he really does have to ramp it up, because he has people who have taken his intermediate class several times--if he kept it at the same slow pace, he'd never have repeat students. As a result, his intermediate class is definitely not for everyone. You have to be willing to keep trying and making a fool out of yourself. You can't give up or get too frustrated. And you absolutely cannot take his criticism personally. I also think that it's ultimately you who determines what you get out of the class. As I said before, we've gotten to know a lot of our classmates, and I think that's made a really big difference with our experience. There's a real sense of camaraderie when you're able to commiserate AND get advice from classmates.

I highly recommend Tomaj's classes. I've had lessons at 4 east bay venues (allego ballroom,…read moreshboom, etc.) - all are run by wonderful people, but Tomaj is the best - hands down. You just have to try them out and it will be immediately clear. He is focused, explains things very clearly and knows how to pace the class so that everyone learns. He's also the only one to have his classes on DVD so you can practice at home - this alone has immeasurable value as it's virtually impossible to take notes in a dance class. (Do yourself a big favor - if you're going to put the time investment into taking classes, start watching the DVDs and practice at home. They're inexpensive and you'll progress much faster.) He also has a wonderful staff that always jumps in to help balance out the gender ratio when needed - something more dance studios should do. And hey - he's a really nice fellow on top of all that!

Beautiful location with a lot of history. Was here for a work event and we rented out their board…read moreroom. Nice mix of the old and the new with the nice flat screens.. Good food for lunch, not sure if it is from there but catered. The pictures of the past presidents was interesting...hopefully they have more diversity moving forward.

The club is very struck with member's guests. The club charge everything…read more As a member, you will get charge for the chair that your b friends sitting on.

A great place if you're looking for original pieces…read more It is a beautiful art establishment that hosts different guest artists. The refreshments are top notch as well as you peruse the art. If you're looking for an original piece from a local artist, this is the spot.

Beautiful original pieces in a lovely space in downtown Orinda across from the movie theater.read more

We hired Oya for my husband's 40th birthday and boy did she bring down the coffee house with the…read moresong "Amazing Grace." I can't rave about her enough. She is an amazing person with an incredible gift who went above and beyond what I asked for. She was honest and transparent about her process and prices because she's a woman of integrity. I highly recommend her for your next event whether you need a singer or speaker, she's the one.

Five-star service for decades! My company has worked with Oye Productions over and over, and they…read moredeliver every single time. True pros--we're batting 1000%!