Here’s to you, Frankie Payne!

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birdsbannerBy Ande Jacobson

Pear Avenue Theatre’s May production is a fun one. Birds of a Feather, written by local playwright Paul Braverman, is the third and final chapter in the Frankie Payne trilogy. We follow Payne’s unpredictable path through Boston’s criminal underworld. She strikes sometimes uneasy (and often humorous) alliances with the shady characters there to right the wrongs that the police can’t always correct. This episode takes place in Boston from 31 October – 3 November 1965 and has a few surprises in store for audiences. Continue reading →

Solve “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at SCP

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drood-sceneBy Ande Jacobson

Sunnyvale Community Players concludes its 45th season with The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This musical, written entirely by Rupert Holmes, turns the unfinished Dickens story of the young Edwin Drood on its head. From the time they walk into the theatre, the audience members will be invited to join in the fun as the Music Hall Royale tells the tale as a play within a play. Dickens never finished his novel because he had the audacity to die prior to penning an ending. As such, the company members can only go so far with the story on their own. Every performance, the company will ask the audience to vote on a variety of important plot points such as determining the identity of a detective who shows up in Act 2. They’ll also be asked to identify the murderer, because let’s face it, a mystery just isn’t worth its salt without a murderer. Finally, there will be one other outcome on which to vote, but you’ll have to come see the show to find out what. Continue reading →

Georges captures the many colors of life

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Sunday in the Park Production 5_David AllenBy Ande Jacobson

Foothill Music Theatre just opened their production of a rarely done, but arguably the most ethereal show in the Sondheim canon, Sunday in the Park with George – a musical based on the Georges Seurat painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The painting is surreal, an example of Seurat’s Pointillism technique that was a vivid departure from the approach used by the impressionists of his time. Pointillism is essentially a mosaic of complementary colors that, when viewed at a distance, causes the brain to fuse the colors and register a complex color, such as seeing violet emerge when only blue and red are actually painted. Likewise, this first collaboration between composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and playwright and director James Lapine whisks the audience members into a surreal world of color and light worthy of Seurat. Continue reading →

It builds!

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www.siliconvalleydesigns.comBy Ande Jacobson

Build, by Michael Golamco, is enjoying its Northern California premiere at City Lights Theater Company. In his previous career, Golamco was a software developer, but now he’s a veteran writer for stage and screen. He is currently one of the staff writers for the television show Grimm, though unlike Grimm, there aren’t any monsters in Build. The play is rife with storytelling and technology, and the script presented City Lights with several significant challenges. Fortunately director Lisa Mallette and the rest of her creative staff were able to meet those challenges head-on. Continue reading →

Two of the best pianists in the ____

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2Pianos4Hands-10_KevinBerneBy Ande Jacobson

Remember The Great Dane? No, not the dog. Victor Borge, the Danish pianist who combined his piano prowess with a comedic delivery that both wowed audiences and had them rolling in the aisles with laughter. 2 Pianos 4 Hands, the current production at TheatreWorks, contains much of the same musical and comic genius that made Borge famous, particularly the opening as the two actor/pianists clad in concert tails take the stage in front of two grand pianos. What follows seems like two Borges for a while, but they are not. They are Darren Dunstan and Christopher Tocco portraying the co-authors of the play, Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt. Well, in this case, it’s fair to say that Dunstan and Tocco literally “play” Ted and Richard given how much music they make during their performances, and they are guaranteed to delight audiences throughout the run. Continue reading →

Enjoy 2 FREE holiday musical treats on 19 and 20 December

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A Musical Theater ChristmasBy Ande Jacobson

It’s December, and Christmas is fast approaching. What better way to get into the holiday spirit than with the gift of music – and the best part is that this gift is free! First, “A Musical Theater Christmas” will be presented at 7:30 PM on Friday, 19 December, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in downtown San Jose. Next, on Saturday, 20 December, it’s time for the 21st Annual San Jose Saxophone Christmas (sjsaxmas.com) with two performances only at 2PM at Christmas in the Park in San Jose and at 5PM at Vallco Shopping Mall in Cupertino. Continue reading →

Join WVLO for an Oklahoma hello!

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wvlo-ok-eller-curleyBy Ande Jacobson

WVLO’s fall production of Oklahoma! enters its fourth week this holiday weekend. Fear not though. The show runs through December 6th, so there’s still time to enjoy the folksy warmth that will engulf you when you come to Saratoga to catch this classic Rodgers and Hammerstein show. Even if you don’t know the story, you’ve likely heard some of the music such as “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” and the title tune “Oklahoma!” Continue reading →

Dragon’s stage is haunted this Halloween

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dragon-woman-in-black-2By Ande Jacobson

The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, is an impressive ghost story set in a small Victorian theatre and currently haunts the Dragon stage. Susan Hill’s 1983 horror novella of the same name was the source for this stage version, a play that has been running in London’s West End since 1989. It’s tough to tell an effective ghost story on stage, but this one is riveting. The plot follows Arthur Kipps, a man haunted by a terrible secret from early in his career as a London solicitor. He hires an actor to help him reenact the events that have haunted him so his family and friends will finally understand the horror that he’s been living with. Then he hopes he can bury the past and move on with his life. Sounds simple, right? Continue reading →

“Gypsy” swoops onto the Sunnyvale stage

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gypsy-photoBy Ande Jacobson

Sunnyvale Community Players proudly opens its 45th season with the theatre classic – Gypsy – the story of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee’s mother Rose, the person who defines the archetypical stage mother. This well-known musical includes songs such as “Some People,” “Together, Wherever We Go,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and “Rose’s Turn,” along with several others that will be familiar to many audience members. Continue reading →

Stanford Rep continues its Orson Welles festival with a visit from Mars

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War.Frank.Chen-3By Ande Jacobson

Could the earth be overtaken by invaders from Mars? On October 30, 1938 a lot of people thought so when the Mercury Theatre on the Air presented a radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. The broadcast took the form of a series of radio news reports, many on location as the invasion was supposedly taking place. Even with the disclaimer at the beginning of the broadcast that what followed was a fictional story, widespread panic ensued, in part because many listeners didn’t tune in at the top of the hour and missed the announcement. They were late because they had been listening to the Charlie McCarthy Show on a rival network, but that was in 1938. In the summer of 2014, Stanford Repertory Theater continues its Orson Welles festival with a must-see, fully staged version of this famous radio play. Continue reading →