“Hamilton” is finally making its way to San Jose this week, and Broadway San Jose General Manager Gretchen Feyer couldn’t be happier to have audiences get to see the hit musical at the Center for the Performing Arts.
“I’ve been waiting patiently to be able to bring ‘Hamilton’ to San Jose,” she said. “If there was one show to kick off our season, our reopening, to have ‘Hamilton’ here for three weeks is the perfect show. Everyone loves it, everyone’s excited about it. The energy is there, the demand is there.”
And Feyer has an even more personal reason to be happy the show has a three-week run in San Jose. Her husband, Daniel Feyer, is the music assistant on the touring show, which means he conducts all the rehearsals as well as two performances each week. He started with the tour when it opened in San Francisco, where the couple lives, but has been with it in Sacramento since mid-September.
“‘Hamilton’ is very much part of my professional life and very much part of my person life,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of ‘Hamilton’ in our house. First show back, reopening, ‘Hamilton,’ and my husband’s back, it’s like our worlds and dreams are colliding at one. We’ve both worked very hard to get here.”
“Hamilton,” which opens Oct. 12 and runs through Oct. 31, leads off a season that includes parts of the 2019-20 season that wasn’t finished and the 2020-21 that was announced and never happened. So, what Feyer likes to call the “revised season” has shows like “Come From Away,” which would have closed 2019-20, along with “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Rent,” “Tootsie,” “Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “1776” that were supposed to be part of the 2020-21 season, and a couple of new additions like “A Magical Cirque Christmas” and “The Simon and Garfunkel Story.”
During the 18 months when Broadway San Jose was dark, Feyer said the staff stayed busy trying to stay connected with patrons during the shutdown. There were virtual performances, a Broadway San Jose crossword and even a cookbook with Broadway-themed recipes since everyone at home seemed to be baking or cooking.
“We were trying to create and educate with them that whole time,” Feyer said, adding that the work included the creation of a Broadway San Jose app that should make ticketing and scheduling easier. The theater also has moved to mobile ticketing to reduce physical contact points.
As with other city-owned facilities, the Center for the Performing Arts has COVID-19 protocols in place, including a vaccination requirement and a mask mandate for patrons. (Guests under age 12 are not required to be vaccinated.) And there are even more backstage precautions being taken for the performers and crew.
Broadway San Jose will be taking better advantage of the Center for the Performing Arts’ plentiful outdoor space, creating a version of its Presidents Club lounge and subscriber lounge outside for people who would rather not eat and drink indoors.
Feyer says Broadway San Jose has been focusing on what it means to be part of the downtown community and supporting BIPoC businesses throughout the season. During the “Hamilton” run, the company will put a spotlight on Nirvana Soul, the South First Street coffee shop opened by sisters Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu last year during the pandemic.
“We have an incredible season and our subscribers are coming out,” Feyer said. “We’re just super excited. It’s really unbelievable.”
FLYING IN FOR A CAUSE: There was quite a hubub at Google-owned Moffett Field a couple of weeks back when Orbis International flew its massive Flying Eye Hospital jet plane — a converted MD-10 — into Silicon Valley and parked at the airfield. The ground crew was finishing last-minute preparations for a celebration on the tarmac Sept. 17 in honor of Sue and John A. Sobrato’s Silicon Valley Orbis Innovation Fund, which the couple launched in 2019 with a $1 million pledge. Connie and Bob Lurie were the first to join the Sobratos’ Million Dollar Challenge and are working together to get others on board.
The pandemic made Orbis’s efforts to end avoidable blindness around the world more difficult because in-person training became limited. But its small army of medical volunteers went online, training and supporting eye care teams around the world through Cybersight, a tele-mentorship platform.
READY TO WALK: Deb Anderson, senior director for the Silicon Valley Walk to End Alzheimer’s, says everything looks good for a return to an in-person walk Oct. 16 at a new venue: Excite Ballpark, the former Municipal Stadium on Alma Ave, after many years at Arena Green. The new route will have walkers leave through centerfield and stroll through History Park and other sections of Kelley Park before returning to the stadium.
More than 1,000 people have signed up to participate in the walk, which begins with an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. The Alzheimer’s Association is asking that walkers be vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks when in crowds, and there’s also a Walk from Home option for people who would feel more comfortable.
But other traditions will continue, including the Promise Flower ceremony during which Karen DeHart and her family will hold the Purple Flower in honor of her mom, Loretta Welch, who died from Alzheimer’s in August. Last year’s virtual walk during the pandemic raised more than $1.5 million, the top fundraising walk in the nation. The Alzheimer’s Association has a goal of $1.6 million this year and is about a third of the way there. People can register to walk or donate at www.alz.org/walk.
GOT BLOOD?: Ken Toren, CEO of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, says a sharp drop in blood donor turnout has resulted in the lowest post-summer blood inventory since 2015. Donors of all types, but especially type O, are encouraged to donate to get supplies to necessary levels for the fall. And it’s so important that the Red Cross is offering $5 e-gift cards for people who donate in October. You can make an appointment at RedCrossBlood.org.
SUNDAY MORNING DRAG: San Jose Playhouse — the new live theater group formed by Guggenheim Entertainment — has a hit on its hands with “Wigs, Waffles and Wine,” its monthly “drag brunch” featuring Bay Area drag performer WooWoo Monroe and other wig-wearing, fabulously dressed performers who’ll be lip-syncing to pop songs and interacting with the crowd.
The October kickoff this weekend quickly sold out, but you can still get in on the fun Nov. 21 and Dec. 12. Check out the menus and get tickets — you must be 18 and older — at sanjoseplayhouse.org/wigs-waffles-wine.