By Ande Jacobson
Sacramento’s 2012 Saxophone Christmas is history, but San Jose is in for a treat on 15 December. In addition to the many favorites on the program, founder Ray Bernd promises three special new arrivals at this year’s San Jose event. Alas, he’s keeping them close to the vest until show time. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
Hillbarn Theatre has brought back an early Andrew Lloyd Webber favorite for this year’s holiday season, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. While the work is Lloyd Webber’s second musical collaboration with Tim Rice immediately following The Likes of Us, it was his first to be publicly performed as a short, though it wasn’t fully staged until after Jesus Christ Superstar made its successful debut. With its catchy music, Joseph… is a colorful, family-friendly show based on the biblical story of Joseph’s coat of many colors. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
As the holiday season approaches, the one event that stands out above all others isn’t Santa Claus’ arrival. No, for a reed player at least, it’s that San Jose tradition – Saxophone Christmas. This year marks the 19th annual gathering where saxophonists of all levels and ages convene on the third Saturday in December (this year the 15th) to renew friendships and make merry playing holiday music on every kind of saxophone one can imagine. From the tiny, pen-sized soprillo, to the 1.9 meter tall contrabass sax, this is an event not to be missed. Fear not, the standard alto, tenor, and baritone saxes that you’ve seen in school bands will be there as well, along with many others. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
March, written by Sharyn Rothstein, marks the end of an era as the little Dragon roars one last time in its cozy Palo Alto home. Starting as a group of nomadic thespians in 1999, Dragon Productions Theatre Company settled into its Alma Street space in 2006. After this production seven seasons later, Dragon will be moving to Redwood City to usher in the 2013 season, but first let us look at the finale to 2012. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
Well known British playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, born Tomáš Straüssler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, has a reputation for his writing and romances not unlike Henry’s, the main character in his play The Real Thing currently running at the Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View.
In the partially autobiographical story, Henry (Michael Champlin) is an extremely witty playwright who is fixated on the proper and exacting use of language. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
In 1978, Ira Levin’s famed play Deathtrap started its four-year Broadway reign combining the nail-biting tension of a thriller with carefully timed witty repartee to lighten the mood. Levin’s play later moved to the screen in 1982 in a film of the same name starring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, and Dyan Cannon, although the final resolutions of play and movie diverge from one another. There are even passing references to both Michael Caine and the movie Sleuth in the play’s script foreshadowing Levin’s desire for the screen adaptation. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120 is thought by some scholars to be one of the composer’s crowning achievements. It’s a work that takes a mediocre 32-bar waltz written by Anton Diabelli and expands it into a 55 minute work of 33 variations exploring every nuance of the theme, or at least as many as came to Beethoven’s mind. There are several conflicting theories as to the genesis of Beethoven’s opus, and playwright Moisés Kaufman has drawn from many of them to weave an intricate and captivating tale in his play, 33 Variations, now enjoying its regional premiere at TheatreWorks. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
Imagine seeing life through the lens of a camera. Now imagine spending your days capturing life in war torn regions of the third world, making time stand still in the photos you shoot, memorializing the events you witness, but not changing them no matter how disturbing they may be.
TheatreWorks’ production of Donald Margulies’ Time Stands Still starts there – when we meet freelance journalist James Dodd (Mark Anderson Phillips) bringing his longtime lover Sarah Goodwin (Rebecca Dines) home to their Williamsburg, Brooklyn loft. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
This isn’t a review as that would be rather inappropriate given the author is part of the band. This is instead a view from behind the wall of City Lights’ current production of “Chicago” – behind the wall because that’s where the clarinet player sits. The experience is quite different “working” at City Lights than it is attending the opening gala intent on writing a review of the production. Continue reading
By Ande Jacobson
While there’s no shortage of theatre to see in the SF Bay Area this summer, A Good Reed Review will be short on reviews until September as this writer is once again moving back into a musician’s role for a time playing a stretch of performances in Saratoga and San Jose. Continue reading
A Good Reed Review 