Promo

“Speak English” will change perceptions

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By Ande Jacobson

The San Francisco Fringe Festival 2025 is sponsored by the EXIT Theatre and runs at the Taylor Street Theatre on weekends from Friday, 8 August – Sunday, 24 August 2025 offering performances that break new ground across multiple disciplines. Some are fairly standard theatrical faire, while others are more performance art stretching the imagination and perception. One latter-type offering mixes the fiber arts with movement and other theatrical devices to reach audiences on an emotional and sensory level challenging basic assumptions about fiction/non-fiction, narrative/non-narrative, sense/non-sense, and even basic meaning as we understand it. Speak English, conceived and presented by Vanessa Kamp, encourages audiences to come to their own conclusions through a solo performance highlighting nuance, color, pageantry, sound, and emotion with very little verbal exposition. In fact, less than five minutes out of the 60 minute performance are spoken at all, yet the characters Kamp brings to life speak volumes through other means. As such, the title comes from a place of awareness attempting to break barriers and preconceived notions, in this case stemming from one of the characters and scenes in the performance. Continue reading →

Come hear (or play) SaXmas this December

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By Ande Jacobson

Over the years, I’ve written several articles promoting the annual holiday tradition – San Jose’s Saxophone Christmas (or SaXmas for short). Saxophone Christmas is the brainchild of founder Ray Bernd, a man who is a walking saxophone encyclopedia and strives to bring saxophonists together to share their love of this unique and often misunderstood family of instruments. While not exactly a flash mob in the traditional sense, SaXmas is a one day festival of holiday music to brighten the season. The players gather in the morning to renew old friendships and spend a couple of hours together playing through a set of holiday tunes, most of which are arranged for this momentous ensemble by Ray himself. After a short break, the group then plays two free concerts in the local area that afternoon. Ray always tries to schedule the earlier concert at an outdoor venue, and the second concert at an indoor location. That way even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, there will be at least one concert, and with any luck, two. The San Jose SaXmas is always on the third Saturday of December. This year that puts the 29th annual event on 16 December 2023. The San Jose SaXmas concerts will take place as follows:

  • San Jose’s Christmas in the Park from 2-3pm, weather permitting
  • Eastridge Mall from 5-6pm no matter the weather

For those in the Sacramento area, there’s a SaXmas for you as well! The 11th annual Sacramento SaXmas concerts (both inside) will take place on 2 December 2023 as follows:

  • KP International Market – Rancho Cordova (inside the market – by the food court) 2-3pm
  • Sunrise Mall – (inside mall – near entrance of Macy’s south) 5-6pm

Continue reading →

Make your appointment with ‘Sweeney Todd’

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Alea Selburn as Mrs. Lovett and Steve Allhoff as Sweeney Todd (Photo Credit: SCP)

By Ande Jacobson

‘Appointments’ are going fast for Sunnyvale Community Player’s (SCP) production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street this fall. This is a show that should not be missed. I was fortunate to be granted an early appointment to catch a little more behind the scenes at the first full dress rehearsal with all of the elements in play. As a music director and player, it’s not often that I have been able to observe this part of the process from quite this vantage point, i.e., from the house without a musical score in front of me, though I had to take a quick peek backstage before the run-through started to see the pit setup (with permission of course). That said, this is not a review. This is partially a continuation of my earlier orchestra chronicle expanded to the production overall. Continue reading →

The Sweeney Todd orchestra adventure

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By Ande Jacobson

While I have no plans to return to performance myself, I recently had the privilege of attending the first orchestra rehearsal for Sunnyvale Community Players’ (SCP) upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, not as a player, not as the music director, but as a very interested observer. I arrived early as the orchestra members trickled into the lobby of the theater to assemble the ensemble. Once everyone was in place, some of the players were noodling a bit or practicing some of the challenging sections of their parts while others were talking quietly. Eventually, the music director arrived carrying an amp for one of the keyboard players. He set up the amp, handed out a revised cut sheet, and then took his place in front of his orchestra to begin the rehearsal at the top of the score. Music director Val Zvinyatskovsky was the youngest person present at the tender age of 17, and yet he had the attention and command of the room. While it was the first time they had come together in this particular ensemble, everyone was ready to work. Continue reading →

Next to Normal is coming to SCP

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By Ande Jacobson

Sunnyvale Community Players opens their production of Next to Normal on Saturday, 22 April 2023. Performances run Fridays – Sundays through 14 May 2023. This rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. The show is notable for being one of the first to deal with the serious issues surrounding mental health in American society and in particular in suburbia. Awareness through art can be powerful, enlightening, and healing, and this show makes a strong statement. The plot surrounds a family dealing with mental illness and the effects that it has on all of them through looks inside their hearts and minds. Despite outward appearances, they are all deeply affected in some unexpected ways. The characters are genuine and sympathetic, and the challenges they face from society at large and the medical community come vividly to life on stage through the music and stories told through song. Continue reading →

‘Working’ is working at SCP

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By Ande Jacobson

Sunnyvale Community Players (SCP) is bringing a diverse and timely show to their stage on 10 September 2022 with its production of Working a Musical. The show runs for four weeks through 2 October 2022. Working has been rejiggered for our current times. It celebrates the lives of the essential workers we all rely on every day and has added some new songs mixed in with the old in this broad collaboration. The show was adapted from Studs Terkel’s book by Nina Faso, Stephen Schwartz, and Gordon Greenberg with songs by Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant, Stephen Schwartz, Susan Birkenhead, and Lin-Manual Miranda expanding it from the original show. Terkel’s book grew out of interviews of real people talking about their jobs and the struggles they faced while so often being forgotten by the world around them. Continue reading →

Promo – Upstage Theater’s ‘Falsettos’ breaks the mold

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By Ande Jacobson

After almost a year, Upstage Theater’s production of Falsettos (with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by James Lapine) is ready for prime time. Its short run hits the Second Stage at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts tonight and runs through this Sunday, 11-13 March 2022, and it’s definitely worth seeing. I first mentioned this upcoming production last December in my profile of Val Zvinyatskovsky. He submitted a proposal for this show early last year and was given the formal approval last summer for the project in which he’s stage directing, music and vocal directing, and doing the lighting and sound design. It’s taken a lot of hard work, and it’s time for audiences to enjoy the fruits of this company’s dedication. Tickets are on sale now. Continue reading →

Val is making the world a better place through the arts

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By Ande Jacobson

Every so often we are fortunate to cross paths with somebody with that intangible spark that makes them stand out in a really good way. They bring enthusiasm to all they do, and they inspire others to reach far beyond what seems possible. I ran into such a person some years ago, and I’ve been amazed by what this young fellow has done and continues to do.

I first worked with Val Zvinyatskovsky when he was but 10-years-old. He played the role of Jojo, one of the leads in a youth production of Seussical that I was music directing. This particular group used live orchestras drawn from the greater musician community to give their young actors the privilege and thrill of performing in musicals in a way that would prepare them for potential careers in professional theater. Through the rehearsal process, this young actor stood out as one of the most skilled, prepared, and polished young thespians I’d seen. He not only had all of his lines and blocking down pat long before the cast needed to be off book, but his musical timing was impeccable. He never missed. Even so, it wasn’t until we got into the run of the show that I realized just how accomplished and curious this young man was. Continue reading →

SJ SaxMas is back for the 27th time!

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By Ande Jacobson

SJ SaxMas is returning to San Jose this December! 2019 was the last time sax players from all over the area (and beyond) gathered in San Jose to serenade audiences with wonderful saxophone holiday music. The pandemic prevented last year’s event, but this year SJ SaxMas is returning albeit a little bit smaller and more carefully. All of the players and volunteers will have to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated or a negative COVID test to participate – no exceptions. They are excited to return to make music together after such a long and unexpected hiatus. For those who want to play, the ensemble is limited to a maximum of 150 players to accommodate the COVID safety protocols in the rehearsal space and performance venues. For more information on that, see sjsaxmas.com. Continue reading →

‘Big Fish’ is going to make a splash in Sunnyvale

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By Ande Jacobson

Sunnyvale Community Players’ (SCP) is destined to make a big splash with Big Fish, opening on 23 October 2021. This is the musical based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, and the 2003 Tim Burton film, Big Fish. A little over a decade after the film debuted, the musical version of the story made it to Broadway in a show with book by John August (who also wrote the screenplay for the Burton film) and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. There are a few small differences in the plotline details between the movie and the musical, but the overall story remains. Big Fish follows Edward Bloom, a man who tells a version of his life history through his mythic stories that mesmerize anyone who will listen, especially his wife, Sandra. His storybook adventures are about living life to the fullest and being the hero of your own story. They are about love. They are about imagination and what the future holds. They also hide a deep secret that he never told his son Will about. Will is desperate to know the real story about his father’s life, as he is on the cusp of becoming a father himself. The show has a lot of heart and humor as it follows a dual timeline intermixing Bloom’s fairytale adventures with present day reality. It also provides some engaging life lessons to which everyone can relate. Continue reading →