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Articles by David Chavez
Review: TheatreWorks’ ‘Dracula’ is a delicious take on gothic classic Original
You gotta say one thing about Dracula — he sure is hungry. Actually, on second thought, maybe he’s thirsty? In any case, observing the man who loves to suckle on a neckbone makes for an entertaining theatrical experience, whether he is in fact famished or parched. What TheatreWorks Silicon Valley delivers in its production of Steven Dietz’s adaptation of “Dracula” is a commitment to storytelling, amplified mightily by some terrific special effects.
Review: Take a spin on City Lights’ wonderfully weird ‘Ride the Cyclone’ Original
About halfway through the quirkfest of a musical known as “Ride the Cyclone,” a character named Ricky Potts makes a statement that might as well be the anthem for the entire show: Weird only tells a sliver of this story. As produced by San Jose’s City Lights Theater Company, “Cyclone” is, well, weird — in the most joyfully and profoundly way possible.
Cupertino native cast in world premiere of play about caste system Original
Back in 2020, a landmark case filed by the state of California against Cisco alleged that a San Jose engineer faced discrimination due to his ranking on the Indian varna caste system. The engineer’s caste was Dalit, considered to be on the lower rungs of society, which allegedly made the engineer a target for harassment and discrimination from higher-caste managers. It’s a case that piqued the interest of playwright Geetha Reddy.
From Griffey to Mahomes, Bo Jackson's Battle Arena is a Dual Threat for Collectors and TCG Players
Battle Arena is underdiscussed in the hobby, but has seen some massive sales in the last few months. At the 2024 National Sports Collector Convention in Cleveland, Bo Jackson debuted his Trading Card Game, Battle Arena. The set focuses on the prominently displayed Battle Arena characters featuring their comic-styled images, including Jackson's "BOJAX." Bo Jackson has cleverly combined card collectability with a trading card game featuring dynamic artwork in a comic-book style.
From Griffey to Mahomes, Bo Jackson's Battle Arena is a Dual Threat for Collectors and TCG Players
At the 2024 National Sports Collector Convention in Cleveland, Bo Jackson debuted his Trading Card Game, Battle Arena. The set focuses on the prominently displayed Battle Arena characters featuring their comic-styled images, including Jackson's "BOJAX." Bo Jackson has cleverly combined card collectability with a trading card game featuring dynamic artwork in a comic-book style.
South Bay theater community mourns loss of ‘wonderful mentor’
Izetta Fang Klein’s magnetism and charisma were undeniable. “She never had trouble putting herself out there,” said her husband Patrick Klein, the artistic director of Palo Alto Players. “She’d be the first person to talk to you at a party if you were alone, or if music was playing, she’d be on the dance floor by herself to get other people to come out.
Review: ‘Macbeth’ takes a trip to New York City — and it works Original
New York City of the 1970s was a scourge of epic proportions. The grime and the underbelly bubbling up from the scorching pavement made Gotham quite the menace, for those who chose to see it that way. Now throw into that same zeitgeist a murderous king drunk on newly acquired status, along with his capricious wife who yearns for the benefits of unchecked power, and three of the wildest witches predicting all this destruction. That’s the ‘Macbeth’ unfolding these days onstage at Magic Theatre.
Review: City Lights heightens the twists in killer ‘Dial M for Murder’ Original
By the connotation of its title, “Dial M for Murder” might be surmised as a murder mystery. But in version now running at City Lights Theatre in San Jose, there is no murder to solve, but an attempted one to probe. Money and jealousy are the root of the play’s evils, with more deadly sins released in a world of posh, uppity arrogance. Mark Anderson Phillip’s direction moves toward a firmer journey in a more interesting second act.
Foothill stages musical about bees and underdogs
For the kids who spend their days dreaming of Putnam County Spelling Bee glory, words are the things that set them free. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” in a tender production from Foothill Music Theatre, understands what it means to be the underdog. The musical is a tribute to the awkwardness of being different, kids who read the dictionary with urgent ferocity.
Opera San Jose presents a double bill to die for Original
She began playing the piano at age 2, wrote an opera when she was 10, and saw the world premiere of that composition at Opera San Jose when she was 12. While anyone could look at Deutscher’s life and easily stamp the word “prodigy” onto her otherworldly resume, Deutscher herself doesn’t see it that way. “I never thought it was strange in any way, and just felt that what I was doing as a child was normal,” said Deutscher, who resides in Vienna but considers San Jose a second home.
Review: Production of classic musical in Berkeley is just about perfect Original
Living inside a creative mind responsible for a work of art that never existed is a vexing proposition. This is the case with George Seurat, who doesn’t paint as much as he jabs, harnessing his newfound technique of pointillism, in which the abstract up close gives way to harmonic clarity from a distance. In Seurat’s master work of pointillist perfection “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” we see the painstaking process that comes with being an artist.
Palo Alto Players are up to ‘Code’ in latest production
When Palo Alto Players Artistic Director Patrick Klein learned that a stage version of Dan Brown’s 2003 bestselling novel “The Da Vinci Code” was out in the world, he had to know more. Trekking out to Houston’s Alley Theatre last fall for their production provided clarity, leading to his own company’s regional Bay Area premiere. “How can this dense novel become something to see on stage?” Klein said. “I wanted to know how this works and if it was entertaining.
Review: Rock history delivered with attitude in ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ Original
Elvis Presley’s iconic ditty “Blue Suede Shoes” has become a definitive version of the rock and roll standard. But in 1955, one year prior to the song burning up the charts, it was Carl Perkins’ version of the iconic rockabilly tune that was introduced to the masses. While Perkins was a massive talent, he was not a 21-year-old Elvis Presley-level talent.
Holiday arts 2025: Catch these 11 Bay Area stage shows Original
We’ve reached the time of year when Scrooges will be scroogin’. But that isn’t the only holiday game in town. If you’re looking for a new take on Dickens’ classic or a little alternative theater fare outside of traditional holiday pageantry, here are 11 productions to catch around the Bay Area this winter. “A Christmas Carol”: Center Repertory Company has presented this show for years and years, but 2025 finds the company serving up a new take on the classic by Harrison David Rivers.
Opera San Jose’s ‘Butterfly’ sings her director’s praises
Director Michelle Ainna Cuizon recalls her earliest days growing up in the Philippines, where music and karaoke were ways of life among her family and friends. What she did not connect at the time was that so many of those tunes would inform her career as an opera director. “Opera has captured me in a way that seems really familiar,” said Cuizon, who recalled hearing some of the genre’s most popular hooks and leitmotifs as a child through movies and cartoons.
Review: ‘Suffs’ serves up a tuneful tribute to fight for equality Original
The luscious, exquisite harmonies come in many forms, whether they be sleek two-parters or vast expanses that showcase infinite layers of tonal majesty. The mellifluous voices carry a lovely, velvety texture, but don’t be fooled. The sound is fueled by rage, from women unsettled by just merely existing for others to decide their fate. It is their time to rip down the establishment. The passionate musical “Suffs,” running through Nov.
Review: TheatreWorks brings classic ‘Little Women’ to the stage Original
Jo March encompasses curiosity and delight, a critical component of the grand house she dwells within. It’s not because she feels more important than her sisters, but because she knows she is the gatekeeper of their legacy, forever in the conscience of millions of readers.
‘Little Women’ playwright finds story’s joy and passion in a tempestuous time
Hearing Lauren Gunderson speak about Louisa May Alcott’s semi-autobiographical novel “Little Women” is to hear the clarity and purpose she possesses in building her adaptation. Gunderson, recently named the most produced playwright for the third time by American Theatre Magazine, didn’t have to search very far to find blatant connections between the Civil War era that Alcott depicted in her 1868 novel and societal struggles in today’s United States.
Surprise Broadway hit 'Shucked' lands at S.F.'s Curran Theatre Original
Back in 2015, composers Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, along with playwright Robert Horn, believed they had a surefire future Broadway hit on their hands. But as is often the case, a New York City theater dream didn’t quite go as planned. The world premiere in Dallas of that would-be hit musical — “Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical” — landed with a lukewarm fizzle. Despite the feeling that the tepidly received premiere sealed the fate of the show, there was still another chapter to explore.
South Bay playwright, director find ‘really cool starting off point’ for collaboration
The pathway between the childhoods of director Jeffrey Lo and playwright christopher oscar peña was just a few blocks long in East San Jose. That was discovered when they decided to meet up for coffee to discuss their first collaborative project, peña’s play “malcriados,” receiving staged readings at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s New Works Festival on Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and again on Aug. 16 at noon. The festival runs through Aug. 17 at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre.
2025 Fellow Feature: Valeria Fernández
Valeria Fernández embraces every opportunity to roam inside the shadows and tell the stories of the human beings who have no choice but to live there. In the center of her wheelhouse is her ability to peel back the layers that everyone else sees in order to tell a more complete story about a person’s heart.
'& Juliet' in SF turns Shakespeare tragedy into a jukebox musical Original
The Broadway hit musical “& Juliet” began the same way many great jukebox musicals have begun — with a writer listening to lots of music in the dark after concussing himself on a kitchen cabinet at a vacation rental home.
Review: ‘Sweet Charity’ revival ‘beautifully performed’ in San Jose Stage Company’s season finale
Charity Hope Valentine has a heart of gold. That heart is matched only by her substantial singing and fantastic dancing chops. On the stage, in front of a crowd, she is pure savant. Yet that self-assured confidence doesn’t translate once the stage lights at the Fandango Ballroom fade to black. Taking walks with a man under the glitter of moonlight bouncing off a shallow stream of water offers no romance. If anything, that shallow body is where Charity’s dreams go to drown.
El eterno retorno oligárquico en Ecuador
“El nuevo Ecuador”, reza el eslogan utilizado por el gobierno de Daniel Noboa, y es inevitable no reparar en la deslumbrante paradoja que entraña, porque pocas cosas son tan viejas en Ecuador como las oligarquías agroexportadoras a las que pertenece el presidente. La familia Noboa es la más poderosas de las oligarquías bananeras.
Review: Gaming, romance collide in ‘Love and Warcraft’ in San Jose Original
Once upon a time, video games didn’t require things like lightspeed WiFi, monthly subscriptions and a headset to talk to fellow players anywhere in the world. The pure simplicity of 2-D games like Tecmo Bowl, Pac-Man, and even the raging kitchen fires within The Sims, are relics of a more facile era in gaming. And if the game malfunctioned? Sometimes a tap of the console and blowing some air in the cartridge did the trick.
Hershey Felder returns to Bay Area with Rachmaninoff on his mind Original
There’s a revealing insight that pulls back the curtain on Hershey Felder’s ambitious point of view. The anecdote goes back nearly 45 years, when Felder was tackling Russian master Sergei Rachmaninoff’s other-worldly piano compositions in a young student’s program at Montreal’s McGill University. Looking back, was Felder overwhelmed by the mere scope of taking on Rachmaninoff as a 12-year-old?
Review: Sharp cast propels TheatreWorks’ ‘Christmas at Pemberley’ Original
Poor poor Mary. The forgotten sister of the very distinctive bunch of Pemberley girls, Mary possesses oodles of talent with both pen and piano. Yet affairs of the heart, of which her prospects are grim, have taken a back seat to more practical matters for far too long. But there is one clunky dreamboat who makes Mary’s muted heart pump. In a routine world, it would be all so simple, right?
Review: Revised ‘Emojiland’ musical in San Jose not perfect but worthy of a smiley face Original
Hey, emojis have feelings too. Those non-verbal nuggets symbolizing every lifestyle, emotion, food, and sport are used to dress up banal text messages, throwing in splashes of color and individualism. Yet as societies and technologies evolve, what will become of the archaic winking-face emoji? How about the original simple smile emoji? With every update, static symbols get fresh coats of paint. Relegation of certain symbols has become metaphorically relevant.
Review: Barkeep mixes up a tense moral dilemma in ‘The Smuggler’ in San Jose Original
There’s no one way to define the “American Dream.” And the nature of that will depend on who is trying to access that dream’s nuance. Take Tim Finnegan, for instance. His answer to said dream is serving drinks with panache as a bartender.
Review: ‘Assassins’ — yes, ‘Assassins’ — gets spirited production in San Jose
The Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins” feels both incredibly strange and painfully relevant. That’s not to say it isn’t fascinating or mostly brilliant, which it is. Sondheim’s critically cynical and satirical score offers comic and piercing lushness that can haunt in genuine ways, questioning the motives of 10 individuals who have become famous, or more accurately, infamous, for all the wrong reasons. Strange, yes, but ‘tis wondrous strange.
Efficient Large-Scale Many-Body Quantum Dynamics via Local-Information Time Evolution
Popular Summary Simulating the time evolution of quantum systems with many particles is a tough challenge because of the rapid growth of entanglement. This demands increasingly vast computational resources and prevents large-scale simulations on current computers. To tackle this challenge, we introduce the local-information time-evolution (LITE) algorithm. LITE is like a filter for quantum complexity.
New Stephen Sondheim musical gets world premiere in Mountain View Original
Stephen Sondheim has proven to be one of the most unsolvable of the greatest composers in musical theater history. His artistry is a beacon of light that theater practitioners work tirelessly to unlock.
Review: ‘Clyde’s’ in San Jose makes the most of a powerful script
Montrellous has mastered the ways of making the mouth water. Let your ears swallow this talented sandwich-maker’s dish on the delish of ingredients, a man whose nuance with tomatoes and arugula isn’t simply reserved for respective shades of red and green.
Review: ‘Hangmen’ at San Jose Stage is dark, twisted and funny as heck
Harry’s passion for executing by the noose runs deep. Yet sadly, when one’s entire career is built on such an efficient way of offing another who is (or isn’t) guilty, and that disappears, other forms of corporal punishment don’t satisfy in the same way. A guillotine slice, for example, may be nice, but they are entirely too messy. And just too darn French.
Review: ‘King Liz’ in San Jose makes most of its shots
Liz Rico smolders in her white power suit, a New York sports agent rocking a thick heel, wiping the court floor with any man dumb enough to play her straight up. The hottest client roster? She’s got it. Endorsement deals with the hottest brands? She’s got those, too. Sitting courtside next to the highest-profile hardwood wives? Ayesha Curry, you have a neighbor. So why can’t she stop fouling out of the game?
Famed Filipino labor leader gets the musical treatment
Billy Bustamante served as assistant director on last year’s “Here Lies Love,” the first time an all-Filipino cast occupied a Broadway theater. But despite the historic nature of the production (it closed in November after a five-month run) and what it meant for Filipino artists and audiences alike, Bustamante said his latest project, “Larry the Musical: An American Journey,” is unlike anything he’s experienced in the more than 20 years as a professional director, performer and choreographer.
Review: ‘Jerry Springer: The Opera’ is as deplorable, and fun, as you’d expect
If you’re looking for something disturbing to watch on YouTube late at night (or anytime, really), pull up some old episodes of the vile “Jerry Springer Show.” They feature a few guilty chuckles, many from the grumpy yet affable host who interjects his awkward perspective into the proceedings constantly. Then there are feather-fisted members of the security team that tries to break up the angry subjects and their physical battles, a motley crew of bad behavior.
Quill
Graphic depictions: Long-form comics as journalism In December of 1991, the comics artist Art Spiegelman, author of the two-volume graphic novel “Maus,” wrote a letter to the editors of The New York Times. After thanking them for acknowledging the unexpected success of his book, which had recently made the Times’ bestseller list, he expressed a concern about “Maus” appearing on the fiction side of the list.
Making good on diversity promises
One of the most important jobs of any newsroom in any city is to tell the stories of the people who shape and construct the narratives of the community. But for many years, newsrooms, reporters and leaders did not reflect those communities as well as they should. Reporters and editors often served as interlopers — folks who worked in a location but were not a part of the vibrant fabric that makes each region unique.
Matt Frost of anna on Data Trends and Retail Automation in Cannabis
Matt Frost is founder and CEO of anna, which offers retail automation with the first A.I.-powered self-checkout solution for the cannabis industry. Prior to founding anna, Matt spent nearly a decade in healthcare analytics. The genesis of the project came when Matt dropped out of his last semester in business school—writing the business's first patent and programming anna's first prototype software. We spoke with Matt for our Higher Calling series, where we chat with leaders in the cannabis space.
10 Great Album Covers Driven by Powerful Photography
As a fan of Prince's, I remember when Lovesexy was released. I hated the music, but the album art by Jean-Baptiste Mondino captivated me and made buying the album worth it. Carly Simon Boys in the Trees (1978) My mom had this album, and as a kid, I remember being mesmerized by this powerful image of Carly looking like a sexy ballerina who is getting dressed, or undressed, in a open room that is described in the title song.
2 Minutes With ... Bianca Guimaraes, ECD at Mischief
Bianca Guimaraes is an executive creative director at Mischief@No Fixed Address. She joined the agency last summer and quickly made an impact—making "VILFs" to get OkCupid daters to vote, encouraging people to "Send Noods" in the form of Kraft Mac and Cheese, and creating Kim Jong-un and Putin deepfakes to help save U.S. democracy with an anti-corruption not-for-profit.
Trombone Shorty Stands Tall in PSA to Help New Orleans Musicians
In the opening frames of "Rise and Shine," the four-minute PSA below, New Orleans jazz player Trombone Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, hits his rooftop just before dawn. He cuts loose on that horn, tossing off sharp, insistent tones, as if coaxing the sun from its slumber. Over Shorty's impassioned performance, a radio announcer says: "As the pandemic rolls into another day, I can't help but think of our local musicians. How much longer can they hold out?
How Writing for Television Changed My Advertising Career
How I ended up writing for a daily TV show To be honest, this path wasn't planned at all. At the time, I was working as a creative in an ad agency, Fred & Farid Paris, and I got an offer from Franck Annese of the Sovage production company. He was about to join the writing room of the popular daily French TV show Le Grand Journal on Canal+, and asked me if I wanted to come along. I immediately said yes. Especially because of the new host of the show, the legendary comedian Antoine de Caunes.
Magnum Explores Pleasure in Anime Shorts for Japanese Film Festival
What constitutes pleasure? The films make the case that the answer to this question is as unique as every person. It can be the rediscovery of a lost passion, or the realization that beauty is all around you. It can be biting into a cold chocolate shell on a pretty day. Pleasure is intimate and sensory; as such, it's subjective. In "Butterfly" (above), a man grapples with the monotony of his commute and repetitive office-cog life (though that kind of life has become a distant fantasy for some).
You'll Recognize the Surgery Patient in Inspira Health's Playful New Ad
Inspira Health filmed its techs using the robotic arms of a DaVinci Surgical System for a delicate and complex procedure to create the half-minute spot below. Relax, queasy readers—it's an entirely bloodless performance. In fact, this neat slice of medical misdirection might just tickle your funny bone: After the team preps and puts DaVinci in gear, we catch our first glimpse of the patient.
NFL Agent Savannah Foster on Jerry Maguire, Austin Jackson, and Sports as a Great Unifier
Savannah Foster is an NFL agent and VP of client relations at Athletes First, the premier sports agency for NFL athlete representation, whose include Aaron Rodgers, Jamaal Charles, Clay Matthews, and many others.
The Perfect Storm That Led to Anheuser-Busch's Super Bowl Ad
One day late last year, as the coronavirus pandemic raged on and much of corporate America continued to struggle with how to talk to consumers, executives from Anheuser-Busch and its agency Wieden + Kennedy got together for a masked, socially distanced Super Bowl planning meeting—over beers at the W+K office. The scene was a microcosm of sorts.
Noodle of Gorillaz on FKA twigs, 'Song Machine,' and Brands/Artists Sharing a Vision
Noodle is Gorillaz' demon-slaying, axe-wielding lead guitarist. She joined the world's most famous virtual band aged just 10, smashing out of a FedEx crate after an epically uncomfortable journey from her native Japan. From such humble beginnings Noodle's legend grew. She played a pivotal part in creating Gorillaz' smash-hit album Demon Days by single-handedly ridding the studio of a zombie infestation.
How Xbox Is Using Gaming to Connect the Elderly to Loved Ones
Loneliness among the elderly is on the rise, with one in three suffering from it. Age U.K. finds that a million older people go a month or more without speaking to anyone, and isolation has only gotten worse since Covid-19. Microsoft's Xbox is seeing what it can do to help. Along with McCann London, it's launched "Beyond Generations," which explores how gaming can improve real-world relationships, especially between family members who are divided not only by space but by time.
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