Pioneer High School - 1290 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose

Director Steve Dini is going to be a busy man this coming year by the looks of things. Pioneer will be mounting a touring production of Mary Poppins, and evening of David Ives one-acts, and a duo of musicals in The Fantasticks (winter) and Hello Dolly! (spring). Steve is also the man with the plan for Willow Glen High School (2001 Cottle Avenue, San Jose) for their spring musical Anything Goes! Some real heavy hitters for sure.



Valley Christian in Scotland

Valley Christian High School - 100 Skyway Drive, San Jose

From the mouth of Matt DeMeritt himself:

“As I mentioned, 21 of our students and three faculty members attended the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland from July31-August 13.  They performed an original, musical adaptation of Shakespeare's 12th Night, call Twelfth Night: Serenade.  Our performance was part of the American High School Theatre Festivals presence at the Fringe.  The AHSTF selects approximately 40 schools from around the country to represent the US at the Fringe.  We had an amazing time seeing world class theatre from around the globe and got to perform for some amazing audiences.  

  

Our Season this year is as follows:

Fall Musical – You'e a Good Man Charlie Brown – October 18-20, 25, 27

Winter Play – It's a Wonderful Life -  December 12-15

Spring Musical – Guys and Dolls – March 7-9, 14-16, 21-23

Student Directed Production – Experiments in Comedy and Tragedy – May 9-11

Summer Theatre Production – Disney's The Little Mermaid – July 10-13

It's a busy year, but we look forward to seeing you and you're team at our shows!  All the best!”

Congrats on a successful trip to Scotland!



Westmont's '12-'13 Drama Dept. Officers

Westmont High School - 4805 Westmont Avenue, Campbell

Jeff Bengford and his students really have a lot of hard work ahead of them (as usual) with a pack season of shows and events. There is their yearly Haunted House, a production of The Man Who Came To Dinner (Kaufman and Hart), several events with the California Educational Theatre Association, and a production of 9 to 5, The Musical. A full season of great stuff. Can’t wait to see it all when it hits the stage.

Lincoln High School - 555 Dana Avenue San Jose

Over in the Rose Garden area of San Jose, Lincoln High School under the direction of Charles Manthe is taking on another ambitious season as the performing arts magnet of San Jose Unified. Their season includes Avenue Q, 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon and Tartuffe. From puppets to Moliere is quite impressive indeed. Break legs to you all, and special kudos to your venerable theatre guild for all their help!

Saratoga High School - 20300 Herriman Avenue, Saratoga

While the full season has not been announced, I see that ‘Toga will have a ComedySportz Improv team performing as part of their season, as well as several student productions. Great to see the students taking the lead on their own projects. Bravo!

TriSchool Productions - 451 West 20th Avenue San Mateo

For those who are not familiar, TriSchool is a cooperative company made up of Mercy, Norte Dame (Belmont) and Serra High Schools. Their season packs a punch, starting with the Commedia del Arte classic, A Servant of Two Masters and finishing up with The Drowsy Chaperone. They always do great work, and have the passion to make it even better than great.

M-A's Once Upon A Mattress

Menlo Atherton High School - 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton

Straight from the mouth of Ms. Z (D.J. Zwicker-Sobrepena):

"We are kicking off the school year with Shakespeare's The Tempest. I love all the themes: magic, love, revenge, forgivness. I am hosting a Shakespeare Bootcamp on campus to jumpstart the understanding of verse and how to physicalize Shakespeare in performance. We open the show on October 26. We will also have an Arts Cabaret Night on November 16 (and probably the 17th) in collaboration with the Choir and Guitar classe showcasing their musical talents and two duets, a one-act, and four monologues that we will be taking to the Bob Smart Theatre Festival in February 2013 (a.k.a. Lenaea High School Theatre Festival)."

Big seasons ahead for everyone! I can’t wait to see what else is revealed as schools come back from summer break. On that note, I hope it was a good one for all of you. Here is to a great 2012-2013 theatre season!

We are a voyeuristic society. We like reality television. We read TMZ. We slow down to stare at fender benders. We follow stories of celebrity deaths as if they were our own family, especially if there are some juicy details. So, it is no surprise that a show about the on-stage murder of a musical theatre diva would be a great draw for today’s audiences. It is even less of a surprise when that show is performed by a profoundly talented cast, fully invested in the energy required to take a show from enjoyable, to unforgettable.

Taking the stage at Westmont High School’s brand-spanking-new theatre is the colorful and vibrant Kander and Ebb offering, Curtains. The late songwriting duo penned this penultimate piece in their musical catalogue as an ode to old murder mysteries, and the ebullient score they created makes for a fun romp around the backstage of a struggling pre-Broadway production in the late 1950’s. When the less-than-stellar star of Robbin’ Hood of the Old West is murdered during the curtain call, every member of the company is looked at as a suspect by Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (Chris Halkovic), who takes the wit of Elliot Ness and crosses it with the bumbling and loveable “everyman” persona of Rob Petrie. Halkovic embodies the character, totally believable in more hardnosed moments yet equally charming in his hopeless descent into love for the leading lady’s understudy, Niki Harris (Briana Rapa).

Rapa is a textbook example of an actress who knows where her character is, and where it needs to go. Her words have meaning, and she knows how to use them to stunning effect. Combine this with strong dance chops, striking vocal talent, and a sweet, unassuming ingénue look and you have a package that could give Sutton Foster a run for her money.

The part of the piece that hooks the audience (beyond the homicidal intrigue) is the plethora of interwoven character relationships. (Don’t worry, no spoilers here.) Georgia Hendricks (Amy Spencer) and Aaron Fox (Nima Rakhshanifar) have a wonderful dynamic as a divorced composer/lyricist team with more on their minds than just the music. Hendricks truly shines, finding incredibly pure moments of connection in all facets during “Thinking Of Him”, and driving the Act I finale with Jane Powell-esque attitude and power. Rakhshanifar tugs at your heart strings as a man with regrets, showing off both his pipes and his skills on the piano during “I Miss The Music”.

Also very impressive was Rachel Graves as Carmen Bernstein who embodied the “I’ve seen it all” attitude of a producer to such amazing effect that you would swear she isn’t a high school student. Her take-no-prisoners mindset and mature voice in “It’s A Business” saved the number which was written two verses too long. Michaela Jose is also stunning as Bambi Bernét, performing more acrobatics in her choreography than can possibly be imagined while at the same time proving her triple-threat status with impressive character work and memorable vocals. Chris Thomas also shows off his remarkable dancing talent (not to mention boundless energy) as the show-within-a-show's actor/choreographer, Bobby Pepper.

The show never stops moving as clever and purposeful staging by director Jeff Bengford is matched by high-octane choreography by Barbara Kay. The final look is a show that never goes visually stale but it always rooted in furthering the plot and the characters. In fact, it is striking to see such a large cast utilized so well, and not just thrown on stage to increase participation in the program. Not one character seemed superfluous, as was proven by the addition of a chain-smoking costumer played by Stephanie Gudanets whose deadpan delivery as well as certain “ichthyological accoutrement” made for moments of outright hilarity.

It is refreshing to see a high school program that is not shy about doing a show that tastefully and effectively throws in more mature theatrical elements like sex and adult language while many others take the editing pen and black out larger and larger sections of scripts and scores, watering down brilliant writers whose only crime was writing something that actually reflects real life. That is not to say that high school directors should go out en masse and secure the rights to Glengarry Glen Ross, but great thanks are due to artists who respect the work of other artists and are always mindful that theatre is the art of recreating human existence. While this show is certainly not “edgy”, it is pleasantly realistic in its dialogue on backstage romances, casting couch blackmail, revenge, and the darker side of show business. That alone would be a box office draw. But it is a tremendously talented cast, a dedicated staff, and an entire team of dedicated parents and volunteers which make this show much more than what is inside its libretto.

Westmont High School presents Curtains

4805 Westmont Avenue

Campbell, CA 95008

March 31, April 1, 2 at 7:30pm

April 2 at 2:00pm

Advance Tickets at WestmontDrama.com - $12 adults, $8 students w/ASB

At the door - $15 adults, $10 students w/ASB