Columnists

Monday started with a roar and ended with a whimper.

Oklahoma! came roaring in with an effervescence that shows running almost 75 years usually run out of after a decade or so.

When Cindy Lauper, (music and lyrics) and Harvey Fierstein (book) started to create Kinky Boots they never imagined that they would walk away with six Tony Awards, making Lauper the first woman to win a solo Tony for best score.Kinky Boots is one of those feel-good shows that keeps you smiling throughout the performance. It sends a well-worn preachy message “to accept everyone for what they are,” and the show makes it a fun lesson because of the music, vigorous cast and wild choreography.The play is based on a true story and movie about a failing men’s shoe factory in a town near London. Charlie (a charming Adam Kaplan) leaves his father’s business to work in London, only to return to sell the business when his father passes away. He finds, of course, that the workers depend on their jobs. He accidently meets Lola (an amazing J. Harrison Ghee), a bright, wild in-control drag queen who needs boots with heels that will support him/her and his cast in his show. The story goes on to acceptance and unacceptance of the situation, of the workers and people in the business.The show moves at a break-neck pace with chorography by director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell and wild, eye-catching costumes by Gregg Barnes. The dexterous number that has everyone leaping from one moving assembly line machine to another was a unique, clever piece of business.Lola’s act at her club consists of six dancing drag queens that make the best looking women on the planet look drab.For an evening of just plain well-done fun, laughs and a life lesson Kinky Boots is   extraordinary.Kinky Boots  Where: Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street, San FranciscoRunning Time:  2 hours, 20 minutes with one 15-minute intermissionPerformances Through May 22For tickets and information call 888-746-1799 or visit www.shnsf.com.

Hello, my name is John McKay and I am a bicyclist. I can’t ride 100 mile days in ease or climb the road to Henry Coe Park for lunch but I can wheel out my “Designed in Morgan Hill” bike (it says so right on the frame), and pedal between morning coffee and lunch in the same day.I don’t wear spandex tights and can’t keep pace with a group of riders who actually understand and use the aerodynamic advantage of the person in front of them. I can judge my health condition by how easy it is to get over any U.S. 101 overpass, proving I’m no elite athlete.I know that there is a health benefit from bicycling, but it has to be done with a regularity that I cannot commit to; so I treat my rides like little vacations and take anything else I get out of it as a bonus. I ride for the sheer pleasure of rolling around on two wheels in a community that has so much to see and do in such a small area.There is a social aspect to cycling for me. During most of the Monday Lunch rides, there is a mother with her toddler in a hitched-on half-a-bike, making it a family affair. Bicycling is one of those pursuits that appeals to a broad age group.I try to be careful and respectful of others I share the road with, and for the most part those others are very respectful and considerate right back. Few seem to respond negatively to my sometimes slightly wobbling vector down the side of the road.Our community is proving to be so many different things. One of these things is a great place to ride bicycles.There are plans afoot to work on defining the safest bikeways to get from one part of town to another, creating safe places for bike parking if you venture downtown, and generally to foster the safest and friendliest place to ride bicycles possible in our community. There are many partners working toward making Morgan Hill the most bike friendly town it can be. But here again, it is the community members themselves who are leading the charge.I believe the most successful efforts are led by those that care and embrace an effort with passion. Based upon this, I think we will have a very bright future as a bicycling community.Summer is coming, so it will soon be prime time to get out and ride. I look forward to the potential of some organized evening rides for all ages (hint, hint…) and other fun organized opportunities; but I’m personally going to get out and ride as much as I can right now.I was recently challenged when I said that there are a lot of bicyclists in Morgan Hill. I stand by that assertion and I think that most bicyclists in Morgan Hill are just as I described myself above—enthusiastic about bicycling but not shopping for a team jersey just yet…John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

We’re at it again. The Morgan Hill Downtown Association will be luring what we hope is about 1,000 wine aficionados to the downtown to sample some of the finest of our land’s bounty in a glass (yes, you’ve heard me use that line before...).On Saturday, April 30 the “Original local Wine Stroll” is proud to have our finest downtown businesses host the best in local winemaking for what should be a repeat of the success of the previous events.What’s really exciting is we now have the biggest event yet, and it will feature some new activities for our  “Original Wine Stroll”—trying to make a great event just a little better.It was only a year ago that the local wineries were concerned that our Wine Stroll was not focusing on the best of the local wines because of the combination of compensation for their product, the number of tickets sold and the perceived low cost of the tickets.The Wine Stroll Committee listened to the Wine Association’s concerns and increased compensation, reduced the number of tickets sold by 250 and increased the price of the tickets.The reason we raised the ticket price was twofold. First, the price was low in comparison to that of other communities’ wine strolls. Second, we hoped that increasing the price would bring in a more discerning crowd who’d be more interested in sampling wine than seeing if they could consume 20-plus ounces of wine in four hours (that’s almost a bottle).We believe that our efforts paid off at last year’s event. The reduced ticket sales were almost offset by the increase in cost and we received positive comments about the crowd. It was different and perceived by many to be better, whatever that really means—I’ll take it.What was really heartening was to see a nearly complete reversal in attitudes of many of the wineries who now want to participate in our “Original Wine Stroll.” We ended up running out of merchant host locations and had to turn away wineries which we would have loved to include. We also now have the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley Wine Association as a sponsor, which helped in the event planning too.The special touches include shutting down the west end of Third Street to include the parking garage plaza in the event, and hosting an arts and crafts market. We will have an art competition hosted by the Morgan Hill Art Gallery, where we will select next year’s poster design from local artists’ submissions. Local musicians will set up on the corners to provide a nice background feel.And last but not least is the Wine and Food Week which starts April 24. We added food to this title because our local restaurants are really starting to stand out in the region for their menu offerings. This week of events will give restaurateurs an opportunity to shine with their special menus tailored around select local wines.  I hope you will find your way downtown during the Wine and Food Week where you can get a little closer to the winemakers. I also have to warn you to get tickets and make dinner reservations because this year’s events are already selling quickly.See you downtown!For more information, visit morganhilldowntown.org.John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

As the saying goes, “If it looks too good to be true, it usually isn’t.”

I have always been truly amazed at the tenacity and patience of wildflowers. Seeds sit on hot bone-dry ground year after desiccating year, all the while remaining viable, waiting for the right moment. “No, not this spring,” says the seed. “I'll never be able to sprout, create a flower, and most important, produce mature seeds on that paltry rainfall. I think I'll wait.”

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley does it again with its regional premiere of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano, translated by Michael Hollinger and adapted by Hollinger and Aaron Posner. There are a number of versions about this character since 1897 and this offering by TheatreWorks brings a fresh look at this romantic, swirling, swashbuckling, poignant character.