South Bay Musical Theatre | Noteworthy Entertainment

Blog-erviews!

Season’s Pleadings: Selling Season 63

By |2025-08-02T13:26:04-07:00July 31st, 2025|2025-2026 Season, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

by Doug Hughes, Marketing Director As Marketing Director for South Bay Musical Theatre, my job is to sell you on our upcoming season. That usually means hyping the shows, teasing the titles, and dazzling you with reasons to subscribe. Easy, right? Well—this year, there’s a twist. I can only talk about two of the three shows. The third one? It’s fabulous. It’s Tony-winning. It’s a total crowd-pleaser. And it’s top secret until mid-September (when the rights house lets us talk about it). So, what’s a marketer to do? I decided to flip the script. Instead of pitching shows, I’m pitching [...]

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What It Takes To Plan a Season

By |2025-07-24T11:09:16-07:00July 24th, 2025|2025-2026 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

by Walter M. Mayes, Artistic Director What if I told you that the next season’s story begins before the curtain rises on this one? While audiences are anticipating the Abbey bells, singing nuns, and adorable Von Trapp children of our 2025/26 season-opener, The Sound of Music, I’m already deep in the next act—reading scripts, tracking rights, and assembling the puzzle that will become South Bay Musical Theatre’s ‘26-’27 season. At first glance, planning a season might seem like picking your favorite shows and hoping for the best. In truth, it’s a nuanced, months-long process—one that blends artistic passion with financial [...]

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Why The Sound of Music at SBMT is the smart choice

By |2025-07-11T09:49:15-07:00July 11th, 2025|2025-2026 Season, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

Broadway Quality, Affordable Prices by Doug Hughes, Marketing Director If you’ve been dreaming of seeing The Sound of Music, you have two options in the coming year: wait until mid-2026 and pay over $100 per person to nab good seats for a touring production—or experience the magic much sooner, for a fraction of the cost, at South Bay Musical Theatre, your premier amateur musical theatre arts company in the South Bay. From Sept. 27 to Oct. 18, 2025, SBMT brings The Sound of Music to the intimate Saratoga Civic Theater. With just 298 seats and only 13 rows, every spot [...]

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Why We Do This: Our Common Humanity

By |2025-07-09T13:06:50-07:00July 9th, 2025|Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

“I am not a robot” by Michael Paul Hirsch, Executive Director Why do we gather in a darkened room to watch people sing, dance and step into someone else’s shoes? Because theatre reminds us who we actually are and inspires us to be who we can become. In a world that urges us to be faster, more efficient, more robotic—where productivity often takes priority over people—theatre reminds us of what it costs to forget our humanity. Community theatre is more than entertainment. It’s a shared act of creativity, empathy, and connection. It’s messy. It’s raw. It’s real. And above all, [...]

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How’s It Going?

By |2025-07-06T18:18:36-07:00June 27th, 2024|2023-2024 Season, 2024-2025 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

by Walter M. Mayes, South Bay Musical Theatre Artistic Director As we close the books on SBMT’s 61st season, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to reflect on our work, our challenges, and our triumphs in bringing musical theater enjoyment to our patrons during the past year. When I stepped into the role of Artistic Director, my predecessor had already selected the season. Covid was still affecting us, and we were dealing with staff changes and a dwindling number of board members. With the support of Board Chair Michael Hirsch and the outstanding core of SBMT staff and [...]

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Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musicals

By |2023-07-30T13:06:05-07:00July 30th, 2023|2018-19 Season, 2023-2024 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!, Opinion|

Timeless Tales of Artistic Triumph: Comparing Rent with other Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musicals In the 105 years since the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded in 1918, only 10 Broadway Musicals have won that honor. SBMT’s upcoming production of Jonathan Larson’s RENT will be the fifth Pulitzer-winning musical to be staged by the company. In this blog post, we will attempt to examine some of the reasons RENT was so honored, and compare it to other musicals in the same elite group.   From the political satire Of Thee I Sing years ago, to last year’s winner, A Strange Loop, [...]

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Are stereotypes acceptable in today’s theatrical productions?

By |2019-05-15T00:06:03-07:00May 15th, 2019|2018-19 Season, Behind The Scenes, Blog-erviews!|

Justin Fan, Karyn Rondeau, and Edmond Kwong play the villains. Photo by Steve Stubbs. In the irreverent musical Avenue Q, one of the songs purports that “Everybody’s a little bit racist,” as it skewers contemporary attitudes regarding race, religion, political correctness, and humor based on exaggerated stereotypes. The point hits home, because as much as we hate to admit it, we all have biases. Those of us in the theatre community are forced to confront these issues whenever we dip into the well of past Broadway productions to pick a slate of shows to revive. The stereotypical characters and [...]

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Audiences rave: SBMT has another winner!

By |2018-10-02T02:38:20-07:00October 2nd, 2018|2018-19 Season, Blog-erviews!, Video Link|

Audiences for South Bay Musical Theatre's first show of the 2018-19 season, Mame, continue to send positive feedback about their experiences. We have compiled highlights of their comments in the video and text below. If you are sitting on the fence, we encourage you to act quickly to get your tickets for one of the remaining performances of this Broadway classic from the sixties that Life magazine called, "America's Best Musical." Call our box office at 408-266-4734 or pick your tickets on this website. https://youtu.be/xiIFWceU_9M “We have been going to your performances for quite some time now, and we rank [...]

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Semi-annual Members Meeting generates lively discussion

By |2018-08-28T01:12:05-07:00August 28th, 2018|Announcements, Blog-erviews!, Board meetings, Photos|

On Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, the South Bay Musical Theater Board of Directors hosted its semi-annual Members Meeting at the Saratoga Civic Theater. Nine of the 12 board members attended, and a full agenda kept the meeting rolling for 90 minutes—and beyond. The lively discussion then adjourned to the lobby, where complimentary mimosas and light snacks were served. The lobby TV displayed a slideshow demonstrating the new SBMT website. What follows is a brief summary of what took place: Newly elected board chair Jay Steele greeted attendees and introduced new and returning board members. Kevin Brownstein gave a preview of “My [...]

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More Gypsies, a Video – and $10 Off!

By |2016-05-17T12:29:43-07:00May 17th, 2016|Blog-erviews!, Discounts, Photos, Video Link|

GYPSY opens in only FOUR DAYS! We're so excited to entertain you, we can barely wait. (See what we did there?) In fact, we have a SPECIAL DISCOUNT for those who buy tickets NOW. Go to www.southbaymt.com/shows/gypsy2016.html Use code ENTERTAIN for $10 off any tickets purchased by Wednesday, MAY 18! That's right, this special offer lasts only until Wednesday at midnight. So buy NOW! Meanwhile, our cast has more to share with you. First, Zoe Wheatonfox, "Young Louise," provides a kid's-eye view of the show in backstage interviews with the youngest members of our cast: Kid's-eye View of GYPSY!Video link [...]

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