South Bay Musical Theatre | Noteworthy Entertainment

2026-2027 Season

Opening Night: More Than Just a Curtain Call

By |2026-10-11T18:16:10-07:00October 23rd, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Awards, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

Walter M. Mayes presents the Legacy Robe to Ruby Delgros for Once Upon A Mattress There is something special about opening night. After weeks or months of rehearsals, the music, the costumes, the scenery, and the countless details that bring a production to life finally coalesce before an audience. But at South Bay Musical Theatre, opening night has always been about more than a performance. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the people who have brought the show to life, recognize those who have helped build our organization, and honor traditions that connect us to more than [...]

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Easter Eggs in Once Upon A Mattress

By |2026-10-10T12:55:56-07:00October 12th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion, Video Link|

When a musical has been around for 67 years, there’s plenty of room to have a little fun with it. That’s exactly what our creative team has done with SBMT's production of Once Upon a Mattress. Along with the familiar songs, characters and comedy, this production is packed with little surprises: cultural references, inside jokes, bits of business, and details that may go by so quickly that you’ll miss them if you blink. In fact, there are so many Easter eggs hidden in this production that you may need to see it twice to catch them all. So whether you’ve [...]

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Designing a Fairy Tale Kingdom

By |2026-10-06T19:16:02-07:00October 6th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

How do you design a place for characters with names like Queen Aggravain, Sir Studley, and Prince Dauntless to exist and breathe? It all starts, like everything else in theatre, with the story. The characters and the plot of Once Upon a Mattress are exaggerated and fantastical, so the environment they inhabit should probably follow suit. After identifying major locations where the story takes place and speaking with the director, Doug Brook, about his vision for this world, a designer begins researching and developing concepts to make that vision achievable, practical, tangible, and inspired.  One of my jobs for this [...]

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SBMT Seeks Director of Education

By |2026-10-06T19:16:59-07:00September 30th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Opinion|

Help us build something new for young people in the South Bay South Bay Musical Theatre is excited to announce the creation of a new Youth Theatre Education Program, beginning in summer 2027. For many years, our audiences and community members have asked us to offer theatre education for young people. We are thrilled to make that request a reality. Our goal is about more than teaching children how to sing, dance, and act. We want to create a place where young people can build confidence, creativity, friendships, and a lifelong connection to the performing arts. We are fortunate to [...]

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South Pacific Auditions Announced

By |2026-10-01T13:15:38-07:00September 24th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Auditions|

Walter M. Mayes, Artistic Director of South Bay Musical Theatre, announces auditions for SOUTH PACIFIC Music by RICHARD RODGERS Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II Book by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II and JOSHUA LOGAN Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Tales of the South Pacific” by James A. Michener Director: Vinh G. Nguyen Choreographer: Nicole Tung Vocal Director: Anita Hsiung Carey Music Director: Joseph Kelly Stage Manager: Quentin Tepliuk Initial auditions will be held Sunday, November 1, 2026, from 4 – 10 pm and Monday, November 2, 2026, from 6 – 10 pm Please schedule a vocal audition slot at: https://sbmt.ivolunteer.com/sbmt_southpacific_002 AUDITION [...]

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Five Initiatives for SBMT’s Future

By |2026-09-17T16:12:51-07:00September 17th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

  Over the past several weeks, I have written about changes coming to South Bay Musical Theatre: the reasons we believe change is necessary and what we hope to accomplish. Now it is time to talk about what we are actually going to do. At our August board retreat and September board meeting, SBMT's executive team presented five strategic initiatives for the next several years. With the board's support, we are moving forward. Some are already underway, some have defined launch dates, and others will depend on partnerships, resources, and what we learn along the way. Expand & Diversify the Season [...]

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Concert auditions announced

By |2026-09-10T12:01:47-07:00September 10th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Auditions|

South Bay Musical Theatre announces three audition opportunities! Holiday Sunshine: Heartwarming Entertainment for the Season: December 19 & 20, 2026 A cabaret evening of songs for the season, created and Directed by Walter M. Mayes and Bob Sunshine. Beloved accompanist and musical theatre raconteur Bob Sunshine helms an evening of holiday music all wrapped up in a bow to “make your days merry and bright.” and MusiComedy: February 7, 2027 at 7:30 pm A cabaret evening of songs to make you laugh, created and directed by Brad Handshy. One performance only. Brad Handshy has been providing SBMT audiences with his hand-crafted [...]

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Meet the cast of Come From Away

By |2026-08-20T09:35:45-07:00August 20th, 2026|2018-19 Season, 2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Meet The Cast|

Walter M. Mayes, Artistic Director of South Bay Musical Theatre, is pleased to announce the players who will be performing in our winter 2027 production of Come From Away. Listed alphabetically by surname, they are: ACTOR ROLE Christina Bolognini Janice and others Ray D'Ambrosio Claude and others Juliet Green Diane and others Michael Paul Hirsch Nick and others Sarah Jebian* Beulah and others Melissa Mei Jones Hannah and others Nick Kenbrandt* Oz and others Mary Melnick Beverley and others Ronnie Misra Kevin J. and others Michael Rhone Kevin T. and others Robert Summers Bob and others Sarah Thermond Bonnie and [...]

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What Comes Next for SBMT?

By |2026-08-14T10:12:04-07:00August 14th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Announcements, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

SBMT is… expanding? In a few weeks, the SBMT Board and executive team will gather for our annual Board Retreat. This is a chance to step away from the daily work of running a theatre company and think about the future. This year, the executive team will present three initiatives that could significantly expand what SBMT offers to the community. The rationale for expanding what SBMT is and does is simple: Last year, the community lost WVLO, a long-lived and cherished theatre organization in the South Bay. Its loss demonstrated how fragile the arts ecosystem currently is. We have been [...]

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Why I Chose the Shows in SBMT’s 2026-2027 Season

By |2026-07-09T14:25:59-07:00July 9th, 2026|2026-2027 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

Three Stories for the Moment We’re Living In When I’m selecting a season for SBMT, I’m weighing various factors such as the size of the show, the budget needed to put it on at the level of excellent theater our audiences have come to expect, the availability of the talent to design, create, and perform the show in question, as well as the always important question of what do audiences want/need to see on our stage? But above all, I'm asking a bigger question: What stories do we need to tell right now? What will entertain us, challenge us, comfort [...]

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