A proposal to build “approximately 15 stories” of new housing behind the theater’s facade cleared an early hurdle this month.
Youth Musical Theater Company
Posted inArts
YMTC’s ‘The Music Man’ comes with a message (maybe)
The Berkeley musical training and production company is reviving the smash 1957 Broadway hit, and equally popular 1962 movie — and, based on watching the cast in rehearsals, it promises to be a treat.
Posted inArts
A show of some importance: YMTC brings GLBTQ issues to the fore
Can a musical set in conservative Ireland in the mid-60s resonate in the secular liberal environment of the Bay Area of 2019? Berkeley’s Youth Musical Theater Company believes it can.
Posted inCity
After years of deferred maintenance, Berkeley asks nonprofits to pay for fixes
After years of neglect, Berkeley has begun requiring nonprofit organizations renting buildings from the city to undertake and pay for long-deferred maintenance and capital improvements. About one dozen nonprofits have entered into lease negotiations with the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront department over the past few years. While a few of those leases have been signed, […]
Posted inArts
YMTC’s new original musical ‘Don’t Stop Me’ explores darker side of high school life
By Francesca Paris “I think my weird might be weirder than yours,” sings Hannah Miller in Don’t Stop Me, Youth Musical Theater Company’s (YMTC) first original musical. The song, like the show itself, explores the high-school experience: the insecurity, powerlessness and pressure that can come with being a teenager in the generation that is coming of age today. We’re […]
Posted inArts
YMTC ‘Fiddler’ cast learns lessons from Holocaust survivor
By James Corr What is Fiddler on the Roof? A charming love story (several love stories, really)? A family drama? A tale of religious/ethnic persecution? To Jennifer Boesing, the director of the upcoming Youth Musical Theater Company’s production, it is all of these and much more. In her program notes, she says that it is “about […]
Posted inArts
YMTC: Some enchanted singing (and dancing and acting)
By James Corr If you want to see one of the liveliest, most vibrant and engaging musical productions to hit the East Bay in a while, head to the El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater this weekend. The Youth Musical Theater Company’s revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “South Pacific” opened Friday, July 18, and features […]
Posted inArts
Youth Musical Theater plans new West Berkeley home
UPDATE, March 27: The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the move by the Youth Musical Theater Company to two buildings at West Berkeley’s Aquatic Park. Jennifer Boesing, the company’s artistic director, said she was “brimming with excitement.” Writing to the company’s community via email she said: “With the generous sponsorship of Berkeley-based Sogno Design Group and the […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley Oaks Theatre efforts stall in negotiations
A local group spearheaded by Councilman Laurie Capitelli hopes to turn the Oaks Theatre into a community arts space. Photo: Oaks Theatre Consortium [Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. with additional information from Councilman Laurie Capitelli.] A local consortium’s attempts to come to an agreement to use North Berkeley’s Oaks Theatre on Solano […]
Posted inArts
Last chance: Oaks Theatre survey; sketches revealed
The possible transformation into a performance space of the shuttered Oaks Theatre on Solano Avenue remains uncertain, but the final word on the deal could come sometime in November, according to several people involved with the transaction. In the meantime, local real estate agent and council member Laurie Capitelli has been raising awareness, surveying the public […]
Posted inArts
The Oaks Theatre may be reborn as performance space
By Eli Wolfe The Oaks Theatre on Solano Avenue may be getting another lease at life. City Councilman Laurie Capitelli and the Youth Musical Theater Company are launching a task force to transform the theater on Solano into a multi-use venue. The task force has already started reaching out to the numerous Berkeley arts organizations operating without […]
Posted inArts
Wonderful Town: A high-energy, entertaining romp
By Sam Knobel Youth Musical Theater Company has brought Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town to Berkeley’s Julia Morgan Theater, and it’s a feel-good, energetic musical with many memorable songs. The musical, which first opened on Broadway in 1953 and won five Tony awards, was written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov with lyrics by Betty Comden and […]