Children’s Musical Theater announces lineup for 50th
Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose — the city’s oldest performing arts group — announced a stellar lineup for its milestone 50th season starting in December.
More than 1,000 people — including CMT alums, current performers and their families — gathered Saturday outside the company’s offices and studio in San Jose for the “Preview Night” picnic where the roster of shows was unveiled.
The season starts with a Marquee Productions presentation of “Disney’s Newsies,” which will run Dec. 1-10 at the Montgom- ery Theater. Marquee shows are special events featuring both adult and youth actors and usually have more than a few former CMT stars who travel from across the country where they’re performing as working actors on Broadway and other stages. Another Marquee show, the classic “Guys and Dolls,” will be staged in April.
The rest of the Mainstage and Rising Star shows are like a stroll through CMT’s greatest hits, with “The Who’s Tommy,” “Avenue Q,” “West Side Story,” “Seussical,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Wiz,” among the returning favorites.
CMT Managing Director Dana Zell said it’s always difficult to pick the right titles, and it takes a lot of work to secure the rights to the shows for the right time of year. But she’s very happy with the results.
“I think it will be great all around, both for audiences and participants,” she said. “We were thrilled to be given ‘ Newsies’ just a couple weeks ago.”
Subscriptions for the upcoming season, as well as tickets for the three shows remaining this season, are available at www. cmtsj.org.
MORE BARD IN THE PARK » If you missed Silicon Valley Shakespeare’s al fresco production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” this month at Frank Bramhall Park in Willow Glen, you’ve still got some opportunities to get your Shakespeare fix in the great outdoors this summer.
The company will be performing “Hamlet” at Sandborn Skyline Country Park in Saratoga running Thursdays through Saturdays from July 28 to Sept. 1. Additionally, Silicon Valley Shakespeare will be taking on another famous Englishman’s creation with “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club,” playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s original take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brilliant detective. That show runs at the same location Aug. 4- Sept. 3.
Premium seats are available for $20-$25, with kids free, at www. svshakespeare.org.
WRITERS IN DEMAND » The Los Altos History Museum is looking for local authors to present their published works at the museum’s Authors’ Showcase at its annual Catch the Spirit holiday event on Nov. 15. Last year’s event featured six writers who all happened to hail from Los Altos, but board member Karen Purtich says the opportunity is open for any Bay Area authors who have published a book in any genre over the past two years.
Interested authors should contact event chair Vicki Holman at vvholman@sbcglobal.net or 650- 428- 0936 by Sept. 7.
MUSIC ON THE ROW » Santana Row’s summer music series kicks off next week with the Northern California band Mundaze playing pop and rock July 5 on the Park Valencia stage in front of Maggiano’s. The series continues on Wednesdays with Santana tribute band Caravanserai on July 12, 1980s cover band Pop Fiction on July 19 and Beatles tribute band Three of Us on July 26. All the shows start at 6 p.m.