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Grace Stetson on December 22, 2021
Sometimes, when the going gets tough, the tough take the Kris Kringle route. This winter, the Christmas mindset finds new legs in A Merry Little Christmas Cabaret, a story focusing on how music executives turned to the man in the red suit for a boost to record sales. Set in 1964, the…
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Katie Lauer on November 10, 2021
San Jose’s St. James Park has seen more than its fair share of violence since the city was founded, its gardens and grasses—meant to provide tranquil escape—also often acting as grounds for death.
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Jay Edgar on November 10, 2021
Bay Area guitarist Mason Razavi is a terrific and consistent presence in the Bay Area jazz scene. The West Valley lecturer has performanced with both SF Jazz and San Jose Jazz, and caught play on jazz radio across the world with some great records of originals. Joined by frequent collaborator Brian Ho…
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Mike Huguenor on October 6, 2021
In The Turn of the Screw, a young woman hired to watch over two orphans becomes convinced that they are not alone in their stately English manor. A pair of eerie strangers keep appearing on the grounds, bearing a striking resemblance to the kids’ former caretakers, who died mysteriously. As the mysteries…
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Jay Edgar on September 1, 2021
Coriolanus is fairly unique among Shakespeare’s tragedies, and perhaps the most rarely produced; protagonist Caius Marcius’ tyrannical worldview and lack of soliloquies make him both unsympathetic and opaque. But the travails of the Roman general-turned-politician-turned-traitor have offered a terrific window into the soul of societies undergoing great political turbulence, and have inspired…
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Mike Huguenor on August 25, 2021
When the late Alice Coltrane ran her hand along the harp’s 47 strings, it was as though the totality of existence vibrated with her. “The whole vibration shifts upward,” says harpist Destiny Muhammad. Since 2018, Muhammad has been performing tributes to Alice Coltrane, beginning with a moving performance at SF Jazz 11…
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Mike Huguenor on August 4, 2021
When the room gets stuffy, throw open the window and let in some fresh air. That’s the idea behind ‘Open a New Window,’ the ‘Slightly Unconventional Cabaret’ presented by downtown San Jose’s Tabard Theatre. Available in-person and online, ‘New Window’ is a night of music and storytelling from talented actors Glenna Murillo,…
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Mike Huguenor on June 2, 2021
In Shylock, a Jewish actor throws a Shakespeare Festival into chaos with his controversial performance as the notorious moneylender from Merchant of Venice. The festival is canceled (along with the actor’s career), and he is left having to defend his actions, and explain his artistic choices. Exploring themes of censorship, artistic freedom,…
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Anne Gelhaus on February 4, 2020
Like any play worthy of the descriptor “farce,” The 39 Steps relies on quick takes and physical humor for laughs. With a cast of four playing dozens of roles in the show, many of the laughs simply come from the quick costume changes the actors must make. While Patrick Barlow’s script is…
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Matei Predescu on January 8, 2020
Tony-award winning playwright and composer William Finn recounts his tribulations with a brain aneurysm in his semi-autobiographical 1998 musical, A New Brain. Protagonist Gordon, a composer, grapples with anxiety and existential angst as he tries to keep his cool before a dangerous brain surgery that threatens his life, and with it, all…
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