I sent my niece to Robert jones junior theater so that she could make friends. Though they were a…read morelot of kids, most of them were hostile and mean. The casting is biased, most kids lack the basic talent and singing ability for the roles they were given. My niece came home crying multiple times. Not all of the kids had a fair chance and many felt left out. Jen is an awful director, she clearly hates children. As for the rest of them, had niece had good things to say. But the program is crooked, unfair, and clearly biased.

This review is for the Imagine Me class by the city of Santa Clara. The class was the quality of a…read morepreschool drop in. Barely any props and they only acted in the last 3 minutes. The plays were simple like goldilocks. Most of the class was the teacher telling the kids to be quite and to sit down and reading the play out twice. I may have had bad luck because it was apparent some parents used this class to drop off their very loud and misbehaving kids and run off. Mine was the youngest but was very serious about acting. Even if it were not for the kids who didn't really want to be there, the class itself was just very basic and disappointing. I also could not get a refund we ended up just not going as it was not worth it. My message to the theatre. some youngers kids are really passionate about this and if given the opportunity will shine. You can start with a selection process or a more advanced class for younger kids

This is a top notch community theatre company that puts on great shows season after season…read more Recently my favorites have been "Singing in the Rain" and "A Little Night Music."Amazing performers and I love that they use a live orchestra too!

Their presentation are consistently high in quality. I look…read moreforward each year to seeing and enjoying their presentations!

As it's my 100th review, I thought I'd be slightly boastful and review The Choral Project, the…read morechoir I've been singing with for over 4 years now. Now of course I may be slightly biased *ahem* being that I sing with this group. However, I have been singing most of my life, and I've been singing with choirs since I was 10, so I think I have a good idea on how to judge a choir. Even when I'm a part of it....after all, we are our own worst critics. That being said, this is the finest choir I've ever sung with. Daniel Hughes has a magical ability to weave together not only beautiful music, but a fine tapestry of music, emotion and harmony. The group's mission statement is to "heal the world through music & words". Now, this may sound corny to most people (it did to me at first), but I'm continually amazed at how many people come up to us after the concerts to tell them how we've affected them and warmed their hearts. The group does a variety of different music. We're even doing an arrangement of Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek later this year! So even if you're not a fan of choral music, I'd suggest checking us out....and after all, you'd get to see me do what I do best....:-)

This choir is FANTASTIC. The Choral Project consists of semi professional choral singers that have…read morea huge passion for music...but have day jobs. Their passion shows through in excellent performances time and time again. I've been going to their shows for 8+ years and I'm continually amazed. The choral director, Daniel Hughes, makes great selections and arrangements of choral music to perform. Their current performance pulls from Gospel and it raised the roof...it's their best performance yet! Check out their website or join their mailing list to learn of future performances in the Bay Area. It's well worth the $25 price of admission...and far cheaper than going to see a concert at Yoshi's...or at The Fillmore.

A wonderful symphony! Very affordable and they so appreciate music! Every few months we are treated…read moreto an amazing experience!

My love and I used to faithfully attend performances of the Winchester Orchestra, conducted by…read moreHenry Mollicone or Dale King. The music ranged from good to excellent, especially when a star soloist would take over and catapult the experience out of this world. There's always a bake sale with yummy treats accompanying, and it was a nice reason to dress up and feel charitable. We didn't get the full admission price's worth of entertainment, but felt good about supporting musicians. (My partner is a musician, and I paint portaits of them.) However, the last show was a waste of time. The performance was sub-mediocre and it sounded like the players just didn't give a damn. They snickered and giggled in between their parts, couldn't stay in time, and basically mocked the whole situation. I felt bad for the conductor! What a bunch of brats! We'd paid $18 per head, driven all the way out to Timbuktu (ok, somewhere out in San Jose, but I'm being dramatic here) to show our support and buy a cookie, and vowed not to do it again. It would have been better to go to the movies and let the brats play to a smaller audience. I'm all about supporting the arts, but the participants have to give a damn. Especially now that the price is up to $20 per person!

Just saw the show "the next great Gilbert & Sullivan sing off" and it was HILARIOUS. I don't know…read moreanything about opera but I was still able to follow along with the jokes and story line. The performers were absolutely phenomenal and the modern take on opera was awesome. I'm so glad that I got to attend their performance and I totally recommend!!! Such a great thing to see on the weekend!

The Lyric Theater is right in downtown San Jose, on the same block as the Tech museum. I'm certain…read morenobody who goes to the Tech museum in the day and then the Lyric Theater at night, as the audiences are from opposite ends of the age spectrum! We park at Cityview underground parking on Park street, eat at that greasy spoon Peggy Sues to validate our parking, and walk two blocks to the theater. Not sure if it worth the $7 to put up with those overpriced greasy hamburgers. The temperature at 730pm was 80 outside, and probably an AC induced 65 inside, so cold that I, in my shorts and light tennis shirt, felt like I was in a meat locker! If I had know how cold it was, I could have smuggled in my chicken leftovers from dinner instead of pigging out to eat them all. We discretely raid the candy jar closest to the will call desk, and farthest from the ticket seller, on our way past the restrooms. I stop by for a complimentary calendar, until the desk clerk says a $5 donation would be appreciated, causing me to drop the calendar like it was contaminated with Ebola! The wife stops by the restroom, and so do I, as there are always women lines at intermission, and sometimes mens lines, as there are only 2 toilets, and 3 urinals in the mens room -not much for a theater that seats 300. We have season tickets to the Lyric theater, which shows mainly Gilbert and Sullivan opera type live productions. Gilbert and who? It might as well be the stone age for you young Yelpers! And most of the audience seems so old that they may have been born in the age of G & S! We have season tickets at $100 apiece for 3 shows, while you can get Goldstar discounted tickets for around $20 apiece. Season ticket holders like us get the best seats in the house - I like the center section seats on the aisle. 14 rows, 2 aisles, 10 staggered seats across the orchestra section, with 6 seats on each side, and a separate balcony section. You have to rise to let people pass, as the seating is tight - don't step on my passion flower Birkenstock sandals! And the row in front of you is barely lower than yours, so you don't want to be seated behind some guy with a Frank Sinatra hat that I saw! The young couple in front of us move over one seat, due to a very tall man in the aisle seat. After intermission they are gone -another couple who are not sufficiently cultured to appreciate the finer points of G& S opera, like my wife. I don't even bother to read the subtitles over the top of the stage, but doze off between the musical singing scenes. Well wife, at least I don't snore! We were told that this show, Utopia, has not been performed in Northern California this year, and not in the Lyric theater for the past 20 years. And if my reaction is an indication, it will not be performed here for another 20 years! Once I had extra tickets for Mikado, and gave them to the ex-wife and hubby -yes even my ex-wife has a new hubby -probably one of those mail order grooms! Both of them left at intermission -not their cup of tea, as the stuffy British aristocrats would say! Afterwards you get to meet the actors and actresses in the play -there's me being escorted by 2 British redcoat soldiers to the stockade! The Lyric theater management is trying to expand their membership, and running more traditional plays -The Sound of Music is in March, 2015. And my ex-wife loves Sound of Music. I will give them our extra tickets that come with the season subscription -with my wife's permission of course!

We recently attended the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra's Holiday Extravaganza which featured all five…read moreof the PACO orchestras at Smithwick Theatre. We thoroughly enjoyed listening to these wonderful young string musicians play works by Beethoven, Mozart, Boccherini, Haydn, Britten, Corelli, Tchaikovsky, Bach and Handel. We especially enjoyed the guest appearance by the fabulous piano duo Anderson & Roe. It must take a tremendous amount of work and dedication to run an orchestra like this. Kudos to the directors, music teachers, parents and kids for their efforts.

We hired a quartet of young musicians from PACO for our wedding ceremony in Palo Alto and they were…read morewonderful. Cary, PACO's president, coached the kids and put together a great setlist of about 1 hr of music, including all the old standby walk-down-the-aisle songs, like Canon and the Wedding March. My wife and I used to play chamber music as children and both had the opportunity to play in weddings. We're so happy to pass on that chance to other local young musicians and are very glad we opted for live classical rather than an iPod and speakers. We have not yet seen PACO play in a concert, but after this experience, will plan on doing so in order to continue supporting youth in classical music. Thanks again, PACO and Cary.

Wife got two free tickets to this performance by Rhiannon Giddens. Who? Checked on the internet…read moreand thought she sounded decent on YouTube videos. Only problem was that it was Friday at 730pm at the Louis B Mayer theater, as in Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Wife bought the tickets expecting me to drive all that way in rush hour traffic, and find the theater at night in unfamiliar surroundings? Yes. Why do you think she married me? Left our house in Sunnyvale at 6:15pm, and 7 miles, 40 minutes and 30+ traffic signals on El Camino Real reached Santa Clara University. LBM theater address is 500 El Camino Real, but that's the address for the whole Santa Clara University. The theater is on the opposite end of the campus, at least a half mile from El Camino Real. All nearby street parking taken, with on campus street parking restricted to vehicles with SCU parking permits. The central parking garage is located near the stadium, but that was completely across campus. Closer parking garage at the corner of Alviso and Franklin St. Take El Camino Real, right on Lafayette, left on Franklin. Took 10 minutes of DWA to find it, at night. Only spaces near the garage entrance are compact spots. Backed into a compact spot, so named as next to a concrete wall. So you are pulling out blind. $5 to park, with you having to enter your license plate number on the receipt. Guess this is to prevent cheapskates from loaning the ticket to a friend for reuse. Parking free after 8pm, but wouldn't you know it, but the show starts at 7:30pm. 5 minute walk from the 4 story parking garage to the theater, the entrance of which is not visible from the street. The usual bag check at the entrance, with hand searches, just like at Disneyland. Sign says no food nor drinks permitted in theater. Ticket electronically scanned. Wife wisely goes to the bathroom before the play starts. Inside a very modern theater, full house, with seating 395-525 depending on configuration, with movable seats up front. 20 rows of seats, two aisles, with stairs going down, and hand railings on the side. Stadium seating at the bleacher area, with your knees at head height of the people in front of you. Great panoramic viewing. Got to stand up to let people get by. One poor dude gets stuck behind a lady wearing a fedora hat the entire show. Francesco Turrisi plays the piano, drums and accordian, while Rhiannon Giddens plays the violin and the banjo. Bluegrass music, Irish ballad music, folk music, instrumentals, and Rhiannon singing. Rhiannon featured on Ken Burns country music, and performed for the Obamas at the White House. Her songs tell stories of historic black womanhood and survival. If it's good enough for Obama, it's good enough for me. Intermission the wife races to the bathrooms, while I take my time. Men's bathroom has 5 urinals and 2 toilets, with line backed up a dozen deep in no time. Women's restrooms have even longer lines. Assume 7 stalls for the women, or at 3 minutes per use, 49 women can be accommodated in the 20 minute intermission. The other 150 women are just going to have to hold it for the 2 hour performance, as the theater was designed for university students age 18-21 with strong bladders. Get back to my seat, just as the college age ladies behind me, remove their bare feet off the top of my seatback. Some people are still learning proper manners. End of the show, get back to the parking garage. Drive out just as the person next to me is backing out, hidden behind a concrete wall between us. Just did avoid meeting by accident, and no it was not an Asian woman driver!

Great small auditorium venue for comedy shows, drama and public speaking engagements. You can hear…read morethe stage and see well from pretty much any seating location in the place and it's a good venue as well for family events. Really nice!

What a great way to learn about choral music and preserve the traditions of singing in harmony with…read moreone another. Executive Artistic Director Kristina Nakagawa is a lovely human being who sang and served as the Assistant Conductor for The Choral Project for seven years. I hope Kristina's young students audition to sing as adults in The Choral Project. It will be a full circle moment.

We have been a Vivace family, on and off, for many years. Most recently, my daughter joined the…read moreTeen Ensemble and is really loving her time with Vivace Artistic Director, Kristina Nakagawa. The treble group is singing songs of female empowerment and diversity. I see this group as a way to not only express her singing voice, but it gives voice to her sense of confidence, her own unique opinions, as well as her love of community. They are doing a great job with online singing, and we feel we are getting closer to safe, in-person singing as vaccinations become more a reality. I look forward to the future of Vivace and this incredible experience for my daughter.