From jazz to death metal,

thoughts on gratitude, sorrow, love, loss and hope. Natural low-fi recordings mixed with tasteful accompaniment from friends create beautiful textures on this very personal and emotional collection of songs.

“At first, I had a misconception about Piaf. Many people think of her as this poor, tragic soul, but she was so much more than that. She was magnificent,” said Andreas. “Yes, her life was crazy and eccentric, but she lived it on her own terms. She broke through so many barriers as a woman and as a performer. As a composer, she wrote over 100 songs. What a soul.”

In the show, Andreas adds slides and videos – some featuring Edith Piaf herself singing.

“It’s really more of a theater piece than a cabaret show. I added four to five beautiful speeches by poet and writer Drew Harris. They help put you in Piaf’s world,” she said.

I’ve been to several in the concert series and enjoyed them immensely. Where else can one enjoy champagne and

Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness!” is next up at Pittsburg Theatre Company.

Unlike O’Neill’s grittier works, this one paints a more tender portrait of small-town family values, teenage growing pains and young love. It is set in 1906 over the July 4 weekend. Michael Wilson directs. “Ah Wilderness!” performs April 21-30 at the California Theatre, 351 Railroad Ave., Pittsburg. Go to https://pittsburgcommunitytheatre.org for more information and tickets.

Attention high school juniors and seniors, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s free master class in acting and playwriting takes place June 14-25. Reservations for the 10-day retreat are available at www.eugeneoneill.org.

Registration is also open for Clayton Theatre’s Summer Stage camp, which takes place in June and culminates in a showcase performance June 23. For details, visit www.claytontheatrecompany.com/summer-stage.

Sally Hogarty is well known around the Bay Area as a newspaper columnist, theatre critic and working actress. She is the editor of the Orinda News. Send comments to sallyhogarty@gmail.com