It astounds what can be done with red felt, and old garden hose. A steamer trunk, all 9 cubic feet of it? Pure gold.

This experience triggered new insights into the choreography and the blocking. Ensemble characters related in ways that I’d never seen before. Dance scenes could have been drawn out with arrows across the stage as if it were a football play.

In 2009 we set out on a mission. Our goal was to fill the gap left by traditional media's cutback in local arts coverage. It all began with The Kite Runner at the SJ Rep.

It’s been a couple of years since CATS was performed at the Center of Performing Arts, and Broadway San Jose more than delivered on this gem. With stellar lighting, acting, singing and choreography, the cast and crew created a show that must be experienced to be believed.

With everything from reingoats to Anthony Weiner’s pull toy and a buzzing Norelco razor speeding dementedly across the tiny thrust stage, Kevin Blackton, Martin Rohas Dietrich and Will Springhorn, Jr. delivered a fast-paced script that had the audience in the aisles wiping their eyes as they listened a passel of amphetamine-crazed munchkins screeching in unison.

One fascinating bit of Messiah trivia is that Benjamin Franklin attended a “Messiah’’ performance in Dublin in 1759.

However, just as porn flicks persist in having plots, Bring in On labors under its own tortured burden. In both instances, plot is hardly the reason d’etre for the work.

But the piece de resistance is a massive, multi-tiered staircase, with each step colorfully illuminated from underneath. It’s placed center stage and climbs virtually to the ceiling in grand Ziegfeld fashion – bravo!

There's an Edward Scissor Hands-like quality to the proceedings. And--be still my horror film-loving heart--did we just witness an homage to Nightmare on Elm Street?

The strength of the production came from Rachel Sue, who played Mary Lennox. Angry, rude and obstinate, she embodies both the Victorian idea of a child outside of normal conventions – as well one capable of creating herself, free from social expectations.