Toooooonight, tonight…..I’m super stoked tonight. Tonight I have tickets to the Woodminster Amphitheater production of West Side Story! As a board certified (don’t doubt this, there is a board, busy certifying these sort of things) musical theater geek, I have been looking forward to this evening of song and dance for weeks! And thanks to the folks with showbiz in their blood, and a song in their heart, I get the opportunity to geek out on this kind of thing several times a year. In the East Bay alone, there are community theaters in Alameda, Oakland, Richmond, El Cerrito,  Pinole and probably every other hamlet, township or suburb you can think of. I bet that any month of the year one could find a production of  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (a perennial favorite) playing somewhere within  Oklahoma! yodeling distance. For example, this week,  it’s West Side Story in Oakland,  Meet Me in Saint Louis in El Cerrito, Into The Woods in Walnut Creek and Suddenly Last Summer (Tennessee Williams is also a fav)  in San Leandro.

My experience has been that production values, professionalism and talent vary greatly by theater but one thing remains the same, the PASSION. These people are passionate about what they are doing. The nebbish account by day becomes a sizzling Latin lover by night. The AC transit driver sheds her surly dispoition as her voice rings high above the rafters, fulfilling something deep inside untouched in the plebeian world. I speculate of course. But as a performer myself, I understand the transformative thrill of the stage. I’m also sure that being part of a community of like minded “show people” is a big draw as well. In the theater it’s drama! It’s pizazz! It’s Jazz hands and prat falls and melodramatic monologues in southern accents. It’s corsets and fishnets and fake smoking and wigs!

I encourage everybody to experience the thrill and drama at least once this year. Community theater is awesome because its a great show put on by people like your weird neighbor and the gay kid in high school and your coworker’s Aunt and your mechanic and the lady who makes your sandwich. The performances may not be perfect and you probably wont discover  Broadway’s next “it” person but you will have a great time sitting in the audience with all the old ladies and enjoying a fabulous night at the theater! And right in your own back yard!