Sunday, October 13, 2013

Playful People Productions Presents: Willy Wonka Kids and Willy Wonka Jr

Sounds like a fun local production for those with kids:

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Playful People Productions Presents:
Willy Wonka Kids and Willy Wonka Jr

This scrumdidilyumptious musical is guaranteed to delight everyone's sweet tooth! Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka JR and Willy Wonka KIDS follows enigmatic candy manufacturer, Willy Wonka, as he stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five scrumptious candy bars.  The lucky winners will get a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie, who takes the tour with his equally amiable Grandpa Joe. This scrumdidilyumptious musical is guaranteed to  take the audiences on a fantasy ride into the land of pure imagination!

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theater, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126

Show Times:
Willy Wonka Kids - 
Friday, October 25th  7:00pm
Saturday, October 26th 10:00am,  2:00pm and 7:00pm
Sunday, October 27th 10:00am and 2:00pm

Willy Wonka Jr - 
Friday, November 1st 10:00am and  7:00pm
Saturday, Novemer 2nd 10:00am,  2:00pm and 7:00pm

Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net
$12 attendees 12 and up, and $8 children 11 and under 

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)
$15 attendees 12 and up, and $10 children 11 and under

For questions: barb@galiotto.com


Playful People Productions provides a quality, caring environment in which children, youth & their families have positive theatre experiences, while being involved in many aspects of on-stage/ back-stage theatre. Our company fills a need of providing beginning through advanced theatre for the whole family to the community. The founders have expanded the program to include classes & summer camps.

Playful People Productions is run by mother-daughter team, Barbara Galiotto & Katie D' Arcey, who between them have approx 50 years experience in the musical theatre world. Both are Positive Discipline trained & worked as early Childhood Educators as well as in theatre. Both have worked as professional directors with children's theatre for many years.

For each production we employ professional designers, artists, choreographers and directors to guide our students. We also hire experienced college & high school students to do jobs in the production such as directors, stage managers, lighting, make-up, & set designers, choreographers and assistants. This allows students to gain work experiences in all aspects of theatre. The goals of Playful People Productions are to provide the community with a variety of performing opportunities for children, youth & families to experience. Playful People Productions will challenge young people in the community, provide a safe, caring environment, & involve parents in a wholesome, well-rounded activity. We believe that a good theatre experience will greatly improve the lives of the children, youth and families in our community.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Saturday Stats: Median Home Prices for Ultra-Rich and Everyone Else

Redfin published an article last month claiming that the richest 1% of American are faring better after the housing crash than the rest of the 99%. The median for the top 1% of homes is only 4% below the 2007 peak, while the lower 99% is still 23% behind the overall peak. However, what is more interesting to me is the charts below. In the 20 or so markets evaluated, San Jose came up with the 3rd highest median price for homes in the top 1%, below Los Angeles and San Francisco. On the flip-side, if you look at the bottom 99%, the San Jose area has the highest median price for homes, topping even San Francisco.

What does this mean? At the very least, in terms of housing we are slightly less unequal than other metros between the uber-wealthy and everyone else. Also we have the most expensive real estate in the report for those that are not extremely rich. Nothing really surprising, but interesting nonetheless.

Source: Redfin

Top 1 chart

Bottom 99 chart

Friday, October 11, 2013

Centerra Update

The giant hole in the ground you see below will one day become the Centerra high-rise in San Pedro Square! Thanks to Jeff Arko for sending in the photo (he'll have more soon).


San Jose Stage Company Announces 2013-14 Season

 SAN JOSE STAGE CO - SAN JOSE, CA

San Jose, CA  San Jose Stage Company Artistic Director Randall King announces The Stage’s 2013-14 Season:
 
“As the company enters its next decade, we continue our mission to bring bold, diverse and innovative new work to The Stage. Our 31st Season revolves around the heart, soul and strength of community tackling the forces of corruption, exploitation and depravity. Each play zeroes in on the fear and paradox that exist in the realities and myths of the American Dream in today’s world. These stories are told with great humor and pathos,” noted Artistic Director Randall King
 
The Stage’s 2013-14 Season kicks off with Kristoffer Diaz’ body-slamming 2010 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Elaborate Entrance Of Chad Deity, presented in association with Capital Stage Company. Associate Artists Kevin Blackton*, Halsey Varady*, Will Springhorn Jr.*, Allison F. Rich* and Martin Rojas Dietrich* will light the holidays with Joe Landry’s radio play of the iconic classic film It’s A Wonderful Life. The New Year fires up the long-anticipated production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s powerful and evocative The Threepenny Opera, followed by two Regional Premieres — Lynn Nottage’s stunning new comedy By The Way, Meet Vera Stark and the sexy and explosive 2012 Tony Award Nominee Bonnie & Clyde: A New Musical with Music byFrank Wildhorn, Lyrics by Don Black and Book by Ivan Menchell.
 
Finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize
THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY
Presented in association with Capital Stage Company
Written by Kristoffer Diaz
 
October 16 – November 10, 2013 / Press Opening October 19, 2013
 
The acclaimed comedy The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deityslams together thrilling spectacle, incredible characters and geopolitical allegory into an invigorating theatrical experience that you can’t find on pay-per-view. Kristoffer Diaz’s play also received the 2011 Obie Award for Best New American Play and the 2008 National Latino Playwriting Award.
 
“has the serious crack and pop of a galloping, honest-to-God, all-American satire”
– The New York Times
 
“an adrenaline rush…delightful physicality and freewheeling theatricality!”
– Washington Post
 
 
Beloved Holiday Classic
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY
From the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra
and Jo Swerling
Adapted by Joe Landry
 
November 27 – December 22, 2013 / Press Opening November 30, 2013
 
This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. An ensemble of Stage Company associate artists brings to the stage the story of idealistic George Bailey, who has given up on his dreams in order to help others and who now considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve, bringing about the intervention of his guardian angel. It's A Wonderful Life celebrates community at its best and reminds us that we contribute to each other's happiness and well being, perhaps daily, in ways we might not ever be conscious of. This is the timeless gift of the story and why it continues to resonate so powerfully with us today.
 
"fresh and inventive way of reconnecting with a classic story of love and redemption."
– Chicago Sun-Times
 
“Wonderful, heartwarming and good for the soul” -- San Francisco Chronicle
 
Powerful Iconic Musical
THE THREEPENNY OPERA
Based on John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera
Adaptation and Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht / Music by Kurt Weill
German translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann
English translation of dialog by Robert MacDonald
English translation of lyrics by Jeremy Sams
 
February 5 – March 30, 2014 / Press Opening February 8, 2014
 
A milestone of 20th century musical theater, The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) rolls on unstoppably into the 21st with absolute relevance in today’s world. In their opera “by and for beggars,” composer Kurt Weill (1900–1950) and playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) created a trailblazing musical spectacle of fierce social and political critique where the haves clash with the have-nots with its haunting jazz score by Kurt Weill, acid harmonies and biting lyrics. This musical saga of the villainous but irresistible Mack the Knife and his marauding band of thieves is a revolutionary musical theatre inspiring such hits asCabaret (at The Stage in 2011 for an extended run) andUrinetown, The Musical (at The Stage in 2006 for an extended run). 
 
“the kind of theater that shakes up a audience” – Chicago Daily Herald
 
“an engaging and biting piece of theatre” – New York Daily News
 
Regional Premiere
BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK
Written by Lynn Nottage
 
April 19 – May 11, 2014 / Press Opening April 19, 2014
 
Recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and the 2012 Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding Play, the regional premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s new comedy, Lynn Nottage draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood. This multimedia presentation is a seventy-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career.
 
"Nottage is one of our finest playwrights, a smart, empathetic, and daring storyteller who tells a story an audience won't expect." — Time Out New York
"Lynn Nottage's work explores depths of humanness, the overlapping complexities of race, gender, culture and history — and the startling simplicity of desire — with a clear tenderness, with humor, with compassion." — Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
Regional Premiere of a New Musical
BONNIE & CLYDE
Music by Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics by Don Black
Book by Ivan Menchell
 
June 4 – July 27, 2014/ Press Opening June 7, 2014
 
 
Bonnie & Clyde charts a true tale of love, poverty, criminality and celebrity set in the 1930s Southern States of drought, dust, disease and death. When Bonnie met Clyde, it was an instant and dangerous attraction. These two young lovers became inseparable and quickly plunged themselves into a life of fast cars, guns and revenge. Part folk heroes and part murderous outlaws, Bonnie and Clyde instantly became the stuff of legend. This new stage adaptation fuses together vintage images with rockabilly, blues and gospel music. Bonnie & Clyde was nominated for two 2012 Tony Awards and five 2012 Drama Desk Awards nominations, including Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Music.
 
“armed and amorous, committing cold-blooded musical”
– The New York Times
 
“entertaining, melody-enriched, original musical”
– CurtainUp
 
All titles and dates subject to change
 
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association
 
The Stage is located at 490 South First Street at William Street in the SoFA district of downtown San Jose. 2012-13 Subscriptions available at 408.283.7142 or www.thestage.org
 
#          #          # 
 
About San Jose Stage Company:
 
Launching on its 31st Season, San Jose Stage Company is recognized as the San Francisco Bay Area's Premiere Off-Broadway Theatre. The Stage is known for its devotion to new and cutting-edge work and for its commitment to showcasing high-quality local talent.
 
Ranked the 3rd largest theatre and 9th largest performance arts organization in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, San Jose Stage Company is a vital force in the community. The Stage has earned a reputation for artistic excellence by providing high quality, edgy theatrical experiences that engage, educate and provoke audiences. That includes 147 productions, 45 new works and 13 world premieres.
 
The Stage offers five core education and outreach programs and has housed over 250 independent performance groups. Located at the Gateway to the City's Arts and Entertainment District, San Jose Stage Company, the SoFA District's first arts anchor organization, continues to promote San Jose's stature as a burgeoning regional arts center by providing live theatre experiences that enrich the quality of life in the community.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

New Valley Fair Eateries Launch Nov. 1st

Westfield Valley Fair is about the launch their revamped dining terrace (conceptual image below), and we have a final list of new restaurants:

  • Cafe Central - pastries, salads, Blue Bottle coffee
  • Chipotle
  • Loving Hut - vegan
  • Old Port Lobster - lobster rolls!
  • Pizza Vino - pizza, sandwiches
  • Sajj Mediterranean - falafel, shawarmas
  • Sarku Japan - teriyaki
  • Sarku Sushi Bar
  • Super Duper Burger (sweet!)
  • Tava Indian Kitchen
Returning eateries are:
  • Boudin
  • Chicken Wow
  • Haagen-Dazs, Jamba Juice, McDonald's
  • Panda Express
  • Ruby Thai
  • Youji

Source: SVBJ

An artist's rendering of what the new dining terrace at Westfield Valley Fair will look like.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

OKTOBERFEST @ The Market | Oct. 12th | Noon - 11:30pm

Octoberfest is coming to the San Pedro Square Market next weekend! Sounds like they are planning a huge event featuring German food, beers, and entertainment. Info and ticket links below:

2013 SPSM OKTOBERFEST LOGO FINAL FINAL resized 600Join Downtown San Jose's Most Unique Culinary & Entertainment Venue for Oktoberfest 2013!

Free entry to the public or participate by purchasing your official Oktoberfest Stein & Liter beer package featuring discounted group pricing. BUY TICKETS HERE

Enjoy festive outdoor beer gardens highlighting five specialized beer houses serving the finest selection of authentic German beers on tap plus some Craft German Bottled Beers at our very own Market Beer Company.

Enjoy our many Artisan Market Culinary options serving delicious German food including mouth watering Brat & Sauerkraut, delicious warm handcrafted Pretzels, handcrafted German Chocolate Ice Cream & much more.
  • Join the festival fun and make new friends at our large family community tables 
  • Participate in The Market's twist on Oktoberfest Games & Activities
  • Our "Market Bar" will be serving unique German Inspired Cocktails
  • Discounted *Buddy 6-pack of Tickets available

Festival Event Activities:
  • Bring the whole family on Saturday October 12th beginning at noon for Oktoberfest Activities, Games &  Performances.
  • Also enjoy the Sharks game televised on all screens!
  • Festivities conclude at 11:30pm
Event is open to all ages, but guests must be 21 years of age or older and present valid ID to purchase all steins, beer & liqour. Additional festival beer tickets available for purchase at the event.

BUY TICKETS HERE

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

5th Annual San Jose International Short Film Festival Opens Oct 17th @ CineArts Theater Santana Row

The stellar San Jose Short International Film Festival kicks off next week with a greatly expanded offering! They are celebrating their 5th year by showing over 120 films (up from 70 last year). The festival will also expand to two screens for the first time and has added three new sets of short films:
  • Family Block (for kids aged 6-15)
  • Sci-Fi Block
  • Documentaries Block
These are of course in addition to their normal assortment of dramas, thrillers, comedies, feel-good movies, international films, and local productions. I have attended this festival for the last three years and have never been disappointed (the comedies were really awesome in 2012)! For more information just keep on reading or hop on over to the San Jose International Short Film Festival website over here!




San Jose International Short Film Festival Opens October 17th at CineArts Theater Santana Row

San Jose, CA – The 5th Annual film festival opens in San Jose with an incredible lineup of short films from across the globe, featuring selected entries from Tribecca, Cannes, Sundance and other top festivals.  With over 120 films cultivated from the hundreds of entries submitted, these World Class productions include stunning performances and visuals by some of the most talented up and coming filmmakers in world.

With over 20 short film screening blocks that feature every genre of film imaginable, there is something for everyone, plus industry guests, filmmaker panels, after-parties and more.

This year the San Jose International Short Film Festival kicks off Thursday, October 17th with the Red Carpet "Opening Night Screening & After-Party" and continues through Sunday October 20th.

The SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (SJISFF) distinguishes itself as a festival that caters to filmmakers and their craft. Beginning with the Red Carpet event and "Premiere Selection" screening & Opening Night After-Party in the heart of beautiful Santana Row.

Multiple screenings are held each day at CineArts Theater, with its All Stadium Seating and State of the Art Digital Presentation that include "Make ‘em Laugh", "The Ink & Paint Club" our tribute to Animation Shorts, “World Cinema”, featuring the best in short foreign film., and "The Human Experience”, a block of life-affirming films that resonate and make you think. And much more.

Tickets on Sale Now

Ticket and Screening Information: www.sjsff.com

Picture

Monday, October 7, 2013

October 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:
  • SJDA Creates a Strategic Action Plan to improve Downtown over the next 15 months including the following recommendations:
    • Increase use of retired and reserve officers Downtown through PBID funding
    • Create a one-time global headquarters incentive package for Downtown
    • Extend the High-Rise incentive program
    • Dedicate a share of future parking meter revenues to promoting Downtown
    • Streamline regulations and reduce fees to encourage more festivals and events
    • Have the city hire a senior urban designer with a Downtown focus
    • Map Downtown's potential development sites along with allowable height and proximity to transit
    • Advocate for the A's stadium and an underground high-speed rail alignment
    • Centralize homeless resources
  • After a decade of planning, the $130 million expansion of the Convention Center is ready! 125,000 SQFT of space has been added, increasing the total size to 550,000 SQFT. The community is invited to an opening celebration on Oct 10th from 4:30-9:00pm.
  • Little Italy received $360,000 in donations to acquire two dilapidated homes and turn them into the future Italian American Cultural Facility and Museum.
  • Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee is coming soon to 350 W. Julian in Little Italay
  • Groundwerx are installing RGB pixel light strings on the 32 palm trees that make up the Circle of Palms that could even be programmed for light shows and synchronized with music
  • Downtown Ice returns Nov 15th.
  • Willow Glen Yogurt and Ice Cream Co. has opened a concession in Camera 12 Cinema
  • Da Kine Island Grill opens at 23 N. Market with Hawaiian and Island-style recipes
To read the full newsletter, click here!