Best Performing Arts Theater San Jose Near Me

4worldlovers:
Come join us to celebrate our 50 years of presenting light opera and Broadway musicals to the South Bay Area!

We are proud to have delighted our audiences with over 150 great shows during that time! ​ Here's to another 50 years!

Our 50th Anniversary Gala at the Hammer Theatre Rooftop Terrace will follow the July 30 matinee performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe, one of their best! The 5pm Gala includes a buffet dinner featuring fish and chicken entrees, with sides, dessert, and a glass of sparkling wine; a brief concert hosted by Conductor and Music Director, Michael Morris of past favorites from our 50 years; and an auction with many bargain opportunities.

Lyric Theatre Presents: San Jose Light Opera Festival "The Best of Lerner & Loewe"

'Lerner and Loewe' refers the great partnership between lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, which spanned three decades and nine musicals from 1942 to 1960 and again from 1970 to 1972. The pair are known for the creation of a string of critical stage and movie successes: My Fair Lady won six of 10 nominated Tony Awards. The movie version won eight Academy Awards, including best picture. Gigi won nine Academy Awards. Camelot received five Academy Award nominations and won three.

Lyric Theatre Presents: San Jose Light Opera Festival "Ragtime - The Musical"

Ragtime is a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by E.L. Doctorow.

Set in the early 20th century, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, the matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. The show also incorporates historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, Admiral Peary, Matthew Henson, and Emma Goldman.


Lyric Theatre Presents: San Jose Light Opera Festival "Gilbert and Sullivan‘s Iolanthe"


'Iolanthe', or 'The Peer and the Peri', opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882, three nights after the final performance of Patience at the same theatre, and ran for 398 performances.


Gilbert had taken pot shots at the aristocracy before, but in this 'fairy opera,' the House of Lords is lampooned as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted. The political party system and other institutions also come in for a dose of satire. Yet, both author and composer managed to couch the criticism among such bouncy, amiable absurdities that it is all received as good fun.


Both Gilbert and Sullivan were at the height of their creative powers in 1882, and many people feel that Iolanthe, their seventh work together, is the most perfect of their collaborations.

ONE OF THE SHARPEST MINDS IN COMEDY. HIS UNIVERSAL MATERIAL SPANS FAMILY,

RELIGION, RACE, SEX, POLITICS, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO

TALK ABOUT. HIS TWELVE TONIGHT SHOW APPEARANCES ARE AMONG THE MOST

FREQUENT FOR ANY COMEDIAN AND BY FAR THE MOST FOR ANY LATINO COMEDIAN.

A 20-YEAR COMEDY VETERAN AND ROAD WARRIOR, WILLIE BRINGS LAUGHS AND

INSIGHTS ALL OVER THE WORLD, INCLUDING MANY SHOWS FOR THE TROOPS

STATIONED ABROAD. HE HAS APPEARED ON MANY TV SHOWS INCLUDING: “MOESHA,”

“THE WAYANS BROTHERS,” AND HE WAS CHOSEN TO BE THE HOST OF THE POPULAR

FOLLOWED THAT UP WITH A SHOWTIME SPECIAL, AND HIS LATEST SPECIAL, NOW ON

NETFLIX, SHOWS WILLIE IS JUST GETTING BETTER. LOOK OUT FOR WILLIE’S NEXT

SPECIAL, COMING SOON, AND CHECK HIM OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA HERE AND HERE TO

4worldlovers: The Stage is honored to have received the SFBATCC Excellence in Theatre Award for our 2022 production of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (Entire Production - South Bay) and to be recognized on "The Top Ten Musicals and Plays of 2022" by Vince Mediaa of VMEDIARTS along with all the phenomenal theatre in the Bay Area.


Congratulations to our stellar cast, crew, and creative team for an outstanding production!

4worldlovers: Our exuberant summer musical “Kinky Boot” runs July 13-Aug. 20! Charlie Price has reluctantly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola, a fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos. As they work to turn the factory around, this unlikely pair find that they have more in common than they realized…and discover that when you change your mind, you can change your whole world.

Masks are recommended at most performances and required on July 27, Aug.5 and Aug. 13. Want to sport a City Lights T-shirt, too? Buy one online and pick it up at the theater!

Our 2023-24 season starts this fall with the world premiere of Toxic, a powerful play about gun violence in schools, then pivot to the cheeky seasonal farce Ken Ludwig’s The Game’s Afoot; Or Holmes for the Holidays.

January 2024 brings Nora: A Doll’s House, a bold retelling of the classic; followed by King Liz, about a fearless female sports agent in a man’s industry. Next, we open Clyde’s, a spicy comedy by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage. And in summer 2024, it’s time to do the Time Warp again with Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show! Learn more about upcoming shows and events.

4worldlovers: Located in the heart of San Jose’s beautiful Rose Garden district, the newly renovated Historic Hoover Theatre serves as the artistic jewel in the crown of this strong community.

The theatre now sits on the Southeastern corner of the Old Hoover Middle School campus, which was originally the school gym. The school was built in 1931 and designed by renowned architect William H. Weeks, who also designed the San Jose landmark St. Claire and De Anza hotels. San Jose designated the Old Hoover School as a city landmark in 1995. The right wing of the Old Hoover School complex currently serves as a center for community education classes. The left wing of the complex serves as the Historic Hoover Theatre. After a $6 million renovation, the Historic Hoover Theatre was officially inaugurated on May 21, 2004.