Features & Columns

WITCHY WOMEN: Broadway San Jose stages 'Wicked' in August.

Broadway San Jose
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | broadwaysanjose.com

The Book of Mormon
Jul 16 - 21
Eight years after it opened on Broadway—with a net gross of over $500 million—it doesn't seem possible that there's anyone left in the Western Hemisphere who hasn't seen this Tony- and Grammy-winning musical. But if that's the case, line up for tickets now to see two of the nicest Mormon missionaries you'll ever meet as they sell their religious wares in a Ugandan village.

Wicked
Aug 14 - Sep 8
This musical tells the story of L. Frank Baum's Emerald City in Oz—not from Dorothy's point of view, but from the witches'. You know the songs by now. Defy gravity with Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Or get popular with Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.

City Lights Theater Co.
City Lights Theater, San Jose | cltc.org

Silent Sky
Thru Jun 16
Based on the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, playwright Lauren Gunderson charts the astronomer's efforts to make her intergalactic discoveries known in a field dominated by men. The play is set in 1900, when women didn't have access to telescopes, but Leavitt found a way to leave a legacy.

Cabaret
Jul 18 - Aug 25
What's going to be different about this staging of Cabaret, old chum? City Lights is producing the original 1966 version. And, according to the press release, what magic does the musical still hold for audiences in the 21st century? "The power of art to reflect the truth in dangerous times."

CMT San Jose
Montgomery Theatre, San Jose | cmtsj.org

Anything Goes
Jul 12 - 20
In song, Cole Porter can do no wrong. I'd rather set sail on his SS American than the good ship Lollipop any day. Expect romantic complications and plenty of maritime shenanigans in between Porter's repertoire of perfectly realized love songs like "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "You'd Be So Easy to Love."

Hammer Theatre Center
Hammer Theatre, San Jose hammertheatre.com

Little Black Dress!
Jul 24 - 28
Billed as a show written by women for women, this musical shares Rachel Bloom's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" sensibility. The creators take ordinary occasions and turn them into amusing anecdotes in song. And there's a subplot featuring a "very sexy" male stripper.

Los Altos Stage Company
Bus Barn Theater, Los Altos
losaltosstage.org

Next to Normal
May 23 - Jun 22
Mental illness seems like an unlikely topic for a musical, but Next to Normal deftly manages to dramatize subjects like depression, suicide and bipolar disorder. Think of it as a drama set to music rather than a frothy Broadway show.

Palo Alto Players
Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto
paplayers.org

One Man, Two Guvnors
Jun 14 - 30
Arguably, this comedy of errors made James Corden a star in America. Expect lots of high jinks, fast-paced entrances and exits and complications with mobsters and girlfriends alike.

The Pear Theatre
Pear Theatre, Mountain View
thepear.org

Present Laughter
Jun 7 - 30
If you didn't catch Kevin Kline's splendid turn as Gary Essendine in 2017 (look for it on PBS), now's your chance to watch Noel Coward's play at the Pear. Gary's a stage actor who enjoys the company of women almost as much as he enjoys being famous. But now that he's getting older, he may be missing someone he used to be close to—his wife Liz.

South Bay Musical Theatre
Saratoga Civic Theater, Saratoga
southbaymt.com

Thoroughly Modern Millie
Thru Jun 8
Nostalgia's making a triumphant return to stages this season. And Thoroughly Modern Millie, set in the 1920s, is no exception. When a young woman moves to the big city with dreams of becoming a star, will she make it there? And find love to boot?

The Tabard Theatre Company
Tabard Theatre, San Jose
tabardtheatre.org

Into the Wake of the Moon
Jun 8 - 9
Kurt Gravenhorst's one-man show about Eugene O'Neill and the writing of his final plays: The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts | theatreworks.org

Archduke
Jun 5 - 30
TheatreWorks opens its summer season with Rajiv Joseph's black comedy about Franz Ferdinand's 1914 assassination. It's told from the point of view of three "insurgents" who have no ability to envision the consequences of their actions—namely, the start of World War I.

The Language Archive
Jul 10 - Aug. 4
Variety described Julia Cho's dramedy as a play about "the limits of language in matters of the heart." Ain't that the truth. Cho is a reliable playwright in that she balances contemporary issues with living, breathing characters. Her ideas land in real-life bodies and souls.