It is very sad for me to see a theatre close, especially when it's one that has been a part of my life. In the case of The American Musical Theatre of San Jose, we're losing a landmark that has been a part of San Jose life since 1935. The theatre has been a cultural icon of Silicon Valley since before the tech boom--it started way back when Silicon Valley was little more than a collection of orchards with a struggling community in the middle. What does it mean when a city lets go of something this defining? Something so integral to its identity?
AMT started as CLO (Civic Light Opera), and then it evolved into the San Jose Musical Theatre. It wasn't known as the American Musical theatre until 1995, when the theatre celebrated its 60th anniversary. Originally it was a strictly local company, but began hiring big stars to bring in a wider audience during the 80's. In the early 90's I saw Sally Struthers play Miss Hannigan in a wonderful production of "Annie", which also starred a bevy of local children (many of whom were friends with my sons) playing the adorable orphans. This theatre was the area's major employer of the abundant local musical theatre talent.
In 2002, AMT changed from a local theatre company to a national tour company. Instead of mounting local productions, must of the musicals were national tours of Broadway shows. Many local theatre people and audience members (myself included), were angry, but the theare felt it could get a wider audience by changing the model.
Unfortunately they were wrong, and when they faced a financial disaster in trying to mount a tour of Disney's Tarzan, AMT had to close. I am very sorry for the theatre and the community. I can only hope that maybe this will leave an opening for another local, professional musical theatre company to emerge again.
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