Debuted in 1982, Cats is one of the most recognized productions in American musical theater of the last 50 years. Penned by contemporary master Andrew Lloyd Webber, this Tony Award-winning musical ranks fourth on the list of longest-running shows on Broadway—eclipsed by The Lion King, Chicago, and Webber’s magnum opus, Phantom of the Opera. Broadway San Jose takes on the beloved show with eight performances, which begin next Tuesday and run through the weekend, with a matinee on Saturday and Sunday. But leave your pet cats at home. They wouldn’t appreciate it. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
The televised improv comedy show where “everything’s made up and the points don’t matter” launched thousands of community improv groups back in the early 2000s, when it was a ratings behemoth for ABC. After nearly a decade off air, Whose Line is it Anyway? was revived by the CW and is now hitting the road with a series of unscripted performances based on audience participation and featuring show mainstays Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, Joel Murray… and maybe even you. Continue reading »
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Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
Anerae Brown is not the only rapper to keep a career afloat from behind bars. However, the dedication and ingenuity Brown demonstrated while serving a 31-year sentence for first degree murder are certainly notable. Over the course of his 26 years in prison, he released 12 albums, recording grainy flows over a payphone. His talent and gangbanging backstory helped make him an underground hip-hop legend. On parole and living in Oakland since late 2018, the man better known as X-Raided is touring again—out to prove that his both truly reformed and truly deserving of his celebrity. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
Not to be confused with the swashbuckling English novel and its many movie adaptations (that’s Beau Geste), this stage comedy presents a young Jewish woman trying to fool her meddling parents by hiring an actor to play her perfect boyfriend while keeping her real goy-friend—a WASP-y executive named (of all things) Chris Kringle—under wraps. Naturally, things get complicated when she begins to have feelings for the actor, and hijinks inevitably ensue. The production runs through March 10. Continue reading »
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Bill Kopp on February 13, 2019
Smooth R&B vocal group The Whispers have been a fixture of the music landscape for 50 years. With a sound that draws from vocal greats like The Temptations, The Whispers’ soothing approach keeps the focus on the vocals. But the enduring act has also applied a solid slow-jam dance groove to its approach, earning a lengthy string of hits in the process. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
The Brooklyn-based performance group Half Straddle presents this hybrid show, which is part rock concert and part theatrical production, centered on a live band working through issues such as complicated family dynamics, sexuality and feminism with songs. It’s all based on playwright and Half Straddle artistic director Tina Satter’s real-life estrangement from her sister. The New York Times calls it “fantastical, odd and sometimes so tender, it’s raw.” The production runs three nights, Thursday through Saturday. Continue reading »
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Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
No one wants to be replaced by a newer, hipper model—especially robots, who aren’t afforded the kind of sympathy humans get when they’re dumped for the next best thing. This is the subject of Nufonia Must Fall, a multimedia hip-hopera by Eric San (Kid Koala) and K.K. Barrett. Hip-hop heads know San as the DJ and turntablist of Deltron 3030. Barrett worked on Being John Malkovich and Her. In Nufonia, which features live puppets, live video and and live music, a robot faces his own obsolescence while attempting to pen a song for the woman he loves. Continue reading »
Bay Area musician Marinero crafts gauzy, laid-back indie rock,inflected with Spanish and island flourishes. His latest single, “Flor de Jamaica,” is a wispy number that sways lightly like a palm tree blown by a mild tropical breeze. The track features bright strokes of bittersweet guitar chords, glittering atop a calm ocean of wavy church organ and splashy drums. He’s set to release a full-length album this spring with the San Jose-based record store and label, Needle to the Groove. If all goes according to plan, the LP should be pressed and spinning on local turntables by April. Catch Marinero live at Cafe Stritch. Continue reading »
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Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
So many peace-loving, flower-powered Baby Boomers were devastated by the election of Richard Nixon. The same goes for the wide-eyed Millennials, who as recently minted adults cast their very first presidential votes for Barack Obama, only to be deflated by the rise of Donald Trump. In 1982, a cohort of Gen-X-ers—raised by successful hippy parents on Manhattan’s Upper West Side—find themselves in a serious crisis of confidence as Jimmy Carter is routed by his Republican challenger, a Hollywood B-lister. This play follows three lost souls for 48 confusing hours at the dawn of the Reagan Era. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on February 13, 2019
These days, it seems that innovation outpaces our ability to understand what it is doing to us. As Californians, we are used to tectonic shifts, but the ground beneath us is now in a constant state of flux. There are new means of transportation, communication and expression; new ways to meet people, new ways to smoke, new ways to listen to and consume music. Continue reading »
