South Bay Musical Theatre | Noteworthy Entertainment

Opinion

How’s It Going?

By |2024-06-27T15:27:17-07:00June 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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How Rent remains relevant today

By |2023-08-14T16:47:38-07:00July 12th, 2023|2023-2024 Season, Opinion|

27 years after its Broadway run, Rent remains relevant More than a quarter century since its Broadway debut, the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Rent by Jonathan Larson has retained its significance while recently regaining its relevance. Here in the Bay Area, homelessness and access to affordable housing have only grown worse in the past few decades, and a newly ignited culture war on LGBTQ+ individuals threatens hard-earned progress made toward acceptance and inclusion. Here are a few of the ways that the show's message remains as important today as it was in 1996. Countering the backlash against diversity Rent shines [...]

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A Thank You and What’s Next

By |2023-06-03T11:48:18-07:00June 3rd, 2023|Announcements, Opinion|

A Letter from SBMT Board Chair Michael Paul Hirsch As SBMT is about to close our 60th anniversary season, I wanted to take a moment to thank our first Executive Artistic Director, Sara Dean, and our retiring board members for their service to the company as well as announce our staffing plans. Sara was originally hired as a Production Manager to improve the quality of our productions and bring professional organization and structure to the company. Over these last six years, she was promoted twice because of her contributions to the company and the community, exceeding all of our expectations [...]

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The governor’s signature could save community theatre

By |2022-09-13T10:06:09-07:00September 12th, 2022|Opinion|

by Sara K. Dean, Executive Artistic Director, South Bay Musical Theatre While live performances are definitely back, as anyone involved with community theater knows, the process of making art is now very different than it was three years ago. When we were allowed to reopen in spring 2021 after more than a year of virtual productions, it was thrilling. Finally, we could create art together—in person, and with audiences in the same room! We’ve had to learn, and relearn, many new tasks to keep artists, crew, and audiences safe. Frequent testing. Mask mandates at rehearsals and for our audience. And [...]

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