BAYSTAGES | 2011.04 - April

APRIL 2011 | Celebrating Live Performing Arts in San Francisco and Beyond!

[THE PERFORMERS]

THE RESIDENTS = Bimbo’s 365 Club

SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER = Victoria Theatre

ROBERT SILVERMAN = La Petit Trianon

[THE SHOWS]

FUDDY MEERS

= Marin Theatre Company

CORDELIA

= Theatre of Yugen

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS = TheatreWorks

[THE LATEST]

MADELEINE PEYROUX SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS CATALYST DANCE

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[THE COVER]

Alonzo King

LINES BALLET = YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS

QUIDAM THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE ALSO: ANGELS IN AMERICA | LYNDA CARTER | TWELFTH NIGHT | LA BOHÈME

the

room AT H O T E L N I K K O S F

SAN FRANCISCO’S PREMIER NIGHTCLUB

APRIL 3 & 4

JASON GRAAE

“PERFECT HERMANY”: JASON GRAAE SINGS JERRY HERMAN APRIL 10 & 11

STEVE ROSS

INTERNATIONAL CABARET AND CONCERT PERFORMER

APRIL 15 & 16 A MEMORABLE EVENING WITH

MARILU HENNER

APRIL 5 & 6

DENISE PERRIER BESSIE, DINAH & ME

APRIL 717 AUG. 31  SEP. 18 PREPARE TO BE THUNDERSTRUCK!

APRIL 19

CLAIRDEE

MAD ABOUT GERSHWIN

STAR OF TV, STAGE AND SCREEN APRIL 2023

LYNDA CARTER

WICKED COOL

APRIL 23

JONATHAN PORETZ

APRIL 22 & 23

LINDA EDER

THE RRAZZ ROOM CONCERT SERIES AT THE MARINES MEMORIAL THEATRE 4157716900 WWW.MARINESMEMORIALTHEATRE.COM

APRIL 2526

VERONICA KLAUS

NIGHT BEAT

SINGS PEGGY LEE WITH THE TAMMY HALL TRIO

APR IL 2830

APR 30MAY 1

OLETA ADAMS

“GET HERE” FOR AN EVENING OF MUSICAL BRILLIANCE

222 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

THE MILLS BROTHERS

AMERICA’S GREATEST SINGING GROUP

Grand Piano courtesy of Baldwin

800-380-3095 • www.TheRrazzRoom.com

editor ROBERT SOKOL editor@baystages.com publisher RON WILLIS publisher@baystages.com design VIA MEDIA design@viamedia.net contributing writers KEN BULLOCK GRIER COOPER NICOLE DIAL ANDREW GILBERT LIZA MOCK STEVE MURRAY WILL SCHMID JASON VICTOR SERINUS JAMES J. SIEGEL ROBERT SOKOL JIM VAN BUSKIRK

MAX RAABE AND THE PALAST ORCHESTER April 9 | 8:00 pm Palace of Fine Arts 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco $25 to $80 | 415.567.6642 palaceoffinearts.org April 12 | 8:00 pm Wells Fargo Center for the Arts 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa $20 to $50 | 707.546.3600 wellsfargocenterarts.org

Writers may submit resumes and samples to editor@baystages.com for consideration.

contributing photographers PAT JOHNSON ROBERT SOKOL STEVEN UNDERHILL

THE STAGES MUSIC | Madeleine Peyroux........................................................ 2 PLAY | The Eccentricities of a Nightingale.................................. 5 COMEDY | Suzanne Westenhoefer.............................................. 7 PLAY | Snow Falling on Cedars................................................... 9 CIRCUS | Quidam.......................................................................11 COMEDY | Fuddy Meers.............................................................13 OPERA | La Bohème...................................................................15 BARD | Twelfth Night..................................................................17 NOH | Cordelia.............................................................................19 NIGHTCLUB | Lynda Carter.......................................................21 DANCE | Alonzo King LINES Ballet............................................23

image: rj muna

All other photos are provided by the artists or venues and credits are noted where provided.

advertising sales KEAKA RIETOW THOM WARD RON WILLIS 415.552.8040 advertise@baystages.com distribution JUAN RAMIREZ

PLAY | Angels In America...........................................................31

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PDF copies of individual articles are available upon request.

Press releases and promotional materials may be sent to:

MUSIC | Sweet Honey in the Rock............................................33

thisjustin@baystages.com

CULTURAL | Shen Yun Performing Arts...................................35

or mailed to:

BACK | Behind the Scenes with

BAY STAGES 780 sutter street san francisco, ca 94109 p: 415.552.8040 f: 415.869.3700

SONATA | Robert Silverman......................................................25 DANCE | The Thank You Bar......................................................27 MUSIC | The Residents..............................................................29

image: courtesy photo

cover image ASHley jackson ALONZO KING lines ballet

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Copyright © 2011 by Caselli Partners LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in California.

Reproduction in whole or in part in any form without written permission is prohibited.

BAY STAGES is published monthly by VIA MEDIA, a division of Caselli Partners LLC. All content not attributed to an author is compiled by BAY STAGES staff from press releases and other sources. No guarantee is given for the validity of this data.

Information is subject to change without notice.

APRIL 2011 |

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music

MADELEINE PEYROUX sfjazz spring season event by andrew gilbert When then 23-year-old singer and acoustic guitarist Madeleine Peyroux, who visits San Francisco this month as part of SFJAZZ’s Spring Season, released “Dreamland” (Atlantic) in 1996, the album seemed to emerge out of the mists, a haunting dispatch from a realm where jazz, folk, blues and country music all converge. Her voice, small, supple and eerily Billie Holiday-esque, floated weightlessly over graceful arrangements featuring some of jazz’s leading young improvisers.

Most arresting was her magpie repertoire, which ranged from Bessie Smith blues to Edith Piaf chanson, with some Patsy Cline twang, Fats Waller sass, and bluesy originals thrown into the mix. It was an audience-tested book honed during her years working as a busker on the streets of Paris, where she grew up as a young woman.

along with carefully curated songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell.

In many ways, her last release, 2009’s “Bare Bones,” marked a turning point for Peyroux, as it showcases her collaborations with heralded tunesmiths like Walter Becker, Joe Henry, David Batteau and Julian Coryell. Displaying her growing confidence as a songwriter, she delivers psychologically complex tales that offer a glimpse into her mysterious, seemingly timeless world.

MADELEINE PEYROUX April 8 | 8:00 pm Palace of Fine Arts Theater 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco $30 to $75 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

“Dreamland” ended up selling nearly a quarter million copies, a shocking feat for a bona fide jazz CD. Peyroux seemed poised to become jazz’s next big thing, but instead she dropped off the scene and returned to performing on the streets.

Just as suddenly as she disappeared, she resurfaced in 2004 with her gorgeous, Larry Klein-produced CD “Careless Love” (Rounder Records), featuring incisive interpretations of songs by Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith and Hank Williams.

Her partnership with Klein has continued to pay steep creative dividends. Her third album, 2006’s “Careless Love” (Rounder) included four original pieces

image: courtesy photo

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view from the editor We all have favorite movies or television shows we love and return to over and over because, no matter how many times we watch them, we trust - or at least we hope - that we will experience that same sense of joy, or amazement or even melancholy in almost exactly the same way as when we saw them the first time. I’ll freely admit that I’m pretty much guaranteed to tear up when Audrey Hepburn sings “Moon River” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Pre-recorded entertainment was a part of my life long before I’d ever imagined things like Broadway musicals and cabaret boites. Television was a great baby-sitter in our household and movies a necessary respite while growing up within commuting distance of Dunder Mifflin’s most wellknown office.

Even so, MGM musicals had whetted my appetite for the real thing since before I hit double-digits of age. Then, in 1971 and the waning days of Hair, I got my first taste of professional live entertainment. I was, as the British say, utterly gobsmacked - and not merely for the nude scene, which I barely remember.

What struck me was the experience of being in a theatre full of strangers and understanding that we were sharing something magical. That the people on stage and those in the seats were working together to create something that was completely and

perfectly unique. I knew on an instinctual level that no matter how carefully the show was rehearsed, no matter how skilled the performers, this exact experience was mine and could never be repeated.

It’s been 40-plus years since that revelation and it is one of those truths I still hold to be selfevident: there is unique alchemy that happens between performer and audience member in live entertainment that cannot occur between you and an Imax screen or a flat-panel monitor...even if it is 3-D. The type of performance is really not important.

What is important is that you choose some form of performing art and let it into your life on a regular basis. The arts enrich us. The arts civilize us.

We in Northern California are blessed to not only have an abundance of natural beauty, but to also have an abundance of man-made beauty. This is evidenced by the myriad of performance venues in the over 100 cities around the Bay Area, and in the artists who fill them with the potential for alchemy day and night. Experience that magic. Go to a show this month...and every month!

ROBERT SOKOL, editor

image: pat johnson photography

Making a whole bunch of magic in one night with, from the left, Edna Wright, Deana Martin, Sarah Dash, Sally Kellerman, Melba Moore, RS, Gloria Loring, Florence LaRue, Kim Nalley and CeCe Peniston at the Rrazz Room’s third anniversary party benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Also in the show were Joyce DeWitt, Martha Reeves and Paula West.

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CLOSING SHOWS 2 | Beekeeper Rhythmix Cultural Works | Alameda $20-$25 | 510.865.6237 viragotheatre.org Virago Theatre Company presents this world premiere by Alameda playwright, Jennifer Lynne Roberts, which is rippling with mystery and emotional force. The play takes us on a journey from past to present and blurs the lines between what is, what could have been, and what must be.

3 | Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley $44-$58 | 510.642.9988 calperformances.org Alvin Ailey’s landmark Revelations choreography celebrates its 50th-anniversary performances, confirming its position as a defining masterwork of our time.

3 | Narnia Julia Morgan Center | Berkeley $33 | 510.845.8542 berkeleyplayhouse.org The first story in the Chronicles of Narnia has become an exciting musical play!

3 | Regrets Only New Conservatory Theatre Center | SF $24 -$40 | 415.861.4914 nctcsf.org In this Neil Simon-esque comedy, the jokes fly fast and furious as the main characters navigate the complications of modern life and marriage in Manhattan.

DAILY The following listings are compiled from a wide variety of sources including press releases and venue websites, which are subject to change without notice. Please be sure to verify performance times and dates when making your ticket purchases.

Shows with multiple performances are listed in DAILY STAGES as of their opening night. Some shows offer preview performances prior to opening. Please consult the appropriate websites.

CLOSING SHOWS are listed in the featured columns to the left with the date of the final scheduled performance noted next to the title. ONGOING SHOWS are listed in the features columns to the left and offer regularly scheduled performance throughout the month. Closing and ongoing shows are not included in the daily listings that follow.

1 | 3 FOR ALL Zeum Theater | San Francisco $22-$25 | 650.728.8400 3forall.com

Critically acclaimed improvisers Rafe Chase, Stephen Kearin and Tim Orr improv based on audience suggestions.

1 | A Streetcar Named Desire Actors Theatre | San Francisco $26-$38 | 415.345.1287 actorstheatresf.org

Tennessee Williams’ sweltering tale of Blanche DuBois, the fragile and haunting southern beauty whose desperate grasp for happiness is viciously destroyed.

1 | Ashford & Simpson Rrazz Room | San Francisco $47.50-$55 | 866.468.3399 therrazzroom.com

The songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson is a partnership that’s produced some of the greatest romantic works of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

3 | The North Pool Lucie Stern Theatre | Palo Alto $19-$56 | 650.463.1960 theatreworks.org The riveting world premiere of a cat-and-mouse thriller by playwright Rajiv Joseph that traverses the minefields of ethnic profiling in a suburban community hyper-focused on political correctness.

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Roland Petit’s Carmen is a vivid and emotionally charged story of seduction and betrayal based on the fabled temptress of Seville.

1 | BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet Great American Music Hall | SF $25 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend

1 | Everything Jamboree The Dark Room | San Francisco $7 | 415.401.7987 darkroomsf.com

A variety show produced and curated by three SF comedy darlings, Everything Jamboree is all you could hope for.

1 | Galactic The Fillmore | San Francisco $29.50 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

The five-man group GALACTIC reaffirms their standing as one of the funkiest outfits in the known universe.

1 | Herbert Blomstedt and Yundi Li Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $15-$135 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

Blomstedt leads the Symphony through the music of two composers whose intense emotions often seeped into their scores.

1 | John Jorgenson Quintet Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $22.50-$24.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Franco-American jazz ensemble, celebrating Esprit de Django et Stephane Festival.

1 | John Waite Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $32-$45 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician John Waite.

image: mark kitaoka (the north pool - remi sandri, adam poss)

1 | Ballet San Jose San Jose Center for the Arts | SJ $16-$100 | 408.288.2800 balletsj.org

elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe.

by nicole dial You’ve never seen Tennessee Williams like this before. In honor of his 100th birthday, the Aurora Theatre Company is putting on a show of a rare Williams’ play, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Though the play has suffered from obscurity in the past, the Aurora Theatre Company is hoping to rediscover a piece that captures the sensual language and evocative characters that garnered Williams so much recognition.

The play centers on Alma, “the Nightingale of the Delta,” who is a rebellious singer in rural 1910 Mississippi. While she lives the life of a spinster, she longs for the love of the golden boy next door and a chance for a different life. However, she is trapped by her strict minister father, her insane mother and the prying eyes of a small town.

“She is ignited by her passion,” said Beth Wilmurt who will be playing Alma, “and because of that, she seems eccentric to the town.”

image: david allen

The play itself has its own eccentric beginnings.

When Williams’ play Summer and Smoke was

set to debut on Broadway, he arrived the first day of rehearsal with a new script entitled Eccentricities of a Nightingale, with a completely new plot. Even though Williams was convinced it would be a hit, producers were not interested in reading it. Summer and Smoke went on instead and the rewrite was left to collect dust. Later in his life, when he came to be known for his avant guard plays and alcohol problem, the play was finally performed Off-Broadway. Though it received rave reviews it was largely forgotten.

play

...NIGHTINGALE

aurora uncages a delicate bird

Tom Ross, Artistic Director of the Aurora, began looking into producing a Tennessee Williams piece. When he discovered it was near the playwright’s birthday, he felt something new had to be performed. “It just felt like the right thing to do.” Ross said. And when asked why perform this play instead of Summer and Smoke, Ross simply said, “It’s a better play.”

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale April 7 to May 8 Aurora Theatre 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley $10 to $50 | 510.843.4822 auroratheatre.org

Thomas Gorrebeeck Beth Wilmurt

APRIL 2011

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CLOSING SHOWS 3 | The Ticking Clock Project Sixth Street Playhouse | Santa Rosa $20-$25 | 707.523.4185 6thstreetplayhouse.com A humorous, moving and timely play that draws inspiration from a series of true stories. Each character reflects upon the impact her own biological clock has had on her life.

9 | Robert Dubac’s Free Range Thinking TheaterStage | Berkeley $15-$50 | 800.838.3006 themarsh.org Combining theater with stand-up Dubac buckles us up for a fast paced joy ride over the pot-holed highways of cultural hypocrisy.

9 | The Oldest Profession Brava Theater Center | SF $15-$25 | 415.647.2822 brava.org Five beautiful women lounge on the beach discussing their glory days - you know - when they were prostitutes in their youth.

10 | Stand By Your Man Cinnabar Theater | Petaluma $35 | 707.763.8920 cinnabartheater.org The woman behind the legend and the incredible songs that made her the first lady of country music leaps off the stage and into your heart.

16 | Randy Rutherford The Marsh Cabaret | Berkeley $15-$50 | 800.838.3006 themarsh.org Presenting his Singing at the Edge of the World, Rutherford inspires with his musical memoir of a musician dealing with profound hearing loss.

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1 | Kaskade Ruby Skye | San Francisco $60 | 415.693.0777 rubyskye.com

Kaskade is an influential DJ in San Francisco consisting of Ryan Raddon, A&R director for OM Records. Of note are his hits “Gonna Make It” and “What I Say.” 1 | Lisa Lampanelli Uptown Theatre | Napa $55-$70 | 800.745.3000 uptowntheatrenapa.com

Lisa Lampanelli is comedy’s lovable “Queen of Mean.”

1 | Stanley Clarke Yoshi’s | Oakland $30 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Bassist, composer, arranger, producer, bandleader and film score composer, Stanley Clarke is one of the most celebrated bass players in the world.

1 | Steve Aoki The Warfield | San Francisco $49-$60 | 415.345.0900 eventbrite.com

From his recent work with Afrojack, Armand Van Helden, The Bloody Beetroots and Zuper Blahq to name a few, this preeminent party-rocker/ DJ/producer is taking electronic music to new heights and sounds.

2 | GeezeR The Marsh | San Francisco $10-$50 | 415.826.5750 themarsh.org

Geoff Hoyle brings his irrepressible sense of comedy and trademark physicality, as well as a certain elegiac wistfulness, to this tour-deforce performance about what it is like to grow old.

2 | Hot Buttered Rum Great American Music Hall | SF $21 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

Initially formed as an acoustic string band, seven years of constant touring has transformed Hot Buttered Rum into a plugged-in, percussive powerhouse that wows critics and fans alike.

2 | JC Smith Band Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

2006 Bay Area Blues Society West Coast Blues Band of the Year award winner is from the San Francisco Bay Area. Smith is noted for his energy and charisma.

1 | Harlem Gospel Choir Jewish Community Center | SF $46-$55 | 415.292.1200 jccsf.org

Last season’s sold out performance by the soul-stirring, spirit-raising ensemble demanded a repeat!

1 | Twelfth Night Buriel Clay Memorial Theater | SF $15-$35 | 415.563.3519 african-americanshakes.org

See article on Page 17

2 | De La Soul Yoshi’s | San Francisco $45 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

For over 20 years, they have rocked us with their De La songs full of inscrutable samplings, whimsically irreverent lyrics, social commentary, light rhythm and laid back rhymes.

2 | Jil Aigrot Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $35-$40 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

French vocalist Jil Aigrot masterfully breathes new life into the cherished classics of her native country in a new program, including the songs of Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, and Charles Aznavour.

2 | ROC Centennial Show Flint Center | Cupertino $10-$60 | 408-252-7070 flintcenter.com

Tawainese variety show.

images: joan marcus (rock of ages - constantine maroulis, company), courtesy photo (aigrot)

9 | Rock of Ages Curran Theatre | San Francisco $30-$99 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com An arena-rock love story told through the mind-blowing, face-melting hits of Journey, Night Ranger, STYX, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister Poison, ASIA, Whitesnake, and many more.

DAILY

semi-sweet but fulfilling for the rhino by james j. siegel

Suzanne Westenhoefer is playing coy when it comes to her new Semi-Sweet tour, which comes to Theatre Rhinoceros this month. The tour is semisweet because the veteran comic is going to be talking about some fun stuff…and not so fun stuff.

While she doesn’t want to give anything away, she said she is going to reveal everything when she hits the stage.“2010 was a rocky and wild, crazy year,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot and I’m handing it all to you.”

image: courtesy photo

The latest tour started back in January, so some audiences already know the not so fun topics.

According to Westenhoefer, audiences have responded positively and are “enjoying it maybe a little too much.” She also said that she’s not afraid to bring up topics that might be personally painful because it can be “the best comedy.”

For fans that have followed the comedian on the road for the last 17 years, they know she isn’t shy about her personal life. “I bleed on the stage. I hold nothing back,” she said.

comedy

SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER

But Westenhoefer does have one request when she comes to the Victoria Theater. She wants more gay boys in the seats. “They will love it,” she said about the show.

When you are voted “America’s Funniest Lesbian”

by Curve magazine, people have an incorrect notion that the show will be lesbian-centric. And as a supporter of gay men, Westenhoefer would love to get some of the love back.

“Tell the boys to come out,” she said. “It’s an early show. They can be in the bar by 10 o’clock.”

Westenhoefer is looking forward to showing San Francisco’s gay men that “Suzanne is their Judy Garland.”

SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER April 8 to 9 | 8:00 pm Victoria Theatre 2961 16th Street, San Francisco $30 to $35 | 415. 552.4100 therhino.org

This will be just one of many stops Westenhoefer has made in San Francisco during her career. She said the city is a comedian’s dream with audiences that are well-read, smart and ready to laugh.

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CLOSING SHOWS 17 | Once on this Island Willows Mainstage | Concord $25-$32 | 925.798.1300 willowstheatre.com Taking place on a Caribbean island divided by social prejudice, Once On This Island is a calypso-flavored musical re-telling of the traditional Little Mermaid tale.

24 | Beardo The Ashby Stage | Berkeley $17-$26 | 510.841.6500 shotgunplayers.org Playwright Jason Craig and composer Dave Malloy team up with Shotgun Players’ Artistic Director Patrick Dooley to delve into the world of Russia’s infamous bad boy mystic, Rasputin.

DAILY 2 | Robben Ford, Jonathan McEueN & ANNE KERRY FORD 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $22-$30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

See article on Page 34

2 | SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS Center for the Arts | Mountain View $24 to $79 | 650.463.1960 theatreworks.org

See article on Page 9.

2 | Stompy Jones Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $12 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

3 | A Day To Remember The Warfield | San Francisco $25-$27 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

With Bring Me the Horizon, We Came as Romans, and Pierce The Veil.

24 | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Altarena Playhouse | Alameda $22 | 510.523.1553 altarena.org This witty, Tony Award-winning musical follows six bright young misfits struggling to simultaneously fit in and stand out in our competitive, elimination-tournament culture

3 | Jason Graae Rrazz Room | San Francisco $30 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

See Article on Page 18.

3 | Jessica Rivera Hertz Hall | Berkeley $48 | 510.642.9988 calperformances.org

Intelligence and emotion combine in soprano Jessica Rivera’s performances, making her a favorite of today’s most gifted composers.

3 | Jil Aigrot Jewish Community Center | SF $50-$55 | 415.292.1200 jccsf.org

30 | The Marriage of BettE and Boo Masquers Playhouse | Pt. Richmond $20 | 510.232.4031 masquers.org Delving deeply into the confused and comic lives of two families plagued by death, alcoholism, Catholicism and other hardships.

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Hear the extraordinary singer behind the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film about Piaf, La Vie en Rose.

3 | Kuo, Mahi & Pahinui 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $20-$23 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Hawaiian slack-key guitar and vocal melodies by George Kuo, Aaron Mahi and Martin Pahinui.

Led by Petaluma-based musician Lester Chambers (of The Chambers Brothers), George’s hosts a series of blues jam sessions held most Sundays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

3 | Manon Berkeley Hillside Club | Berkeley $37 | 415.972.8930 pocketopera.org

The hazardous adventures of a beautiful, naive, light-hearted, high spirited, volatile, undependable, charming and irresistible young lady. Also at SF Marines’ Memorial Theater 10th and 17th.

3 | Jane Parker-Smith Davies Symphony Hall | SF $20-$30 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

British organist Jane Parker-Smith is one of the world’s leading concert organists, acclaimed by the critics and public alike for her musicianship and interpretative ability.

3 | Printz Dance Project Osher Marin JCC | San Rafael $22 | 415.444.8000 marinjcc.org

A vibrant, high velocity company that is rooted in modern dance and utilizes unexpected combinations of shapes and crisp visual dynamics to create a varied repertory.

3 | Tribute to Big Bands Calvary Church | Los Gatos $10-$35 | 650.856.8432 californiapopsorchestra.tix.com

The biggest Big Band hits of the ‘30s, ‘40s and beyond come to life as the 65-piece California Pops Orchestra is joined on stage by the Black Tie Jazz Band.

4 | Robert Stallman Campbell-Stanford | Palo Alto $5-$20 | 650.725.2787 stanford.edu

Stallman, internationally recognized as a virtuoso flutist, in a program of Mozart, Poulenc, Brahms, and Doppler, with Hélène Wickett, pianist, and flutist Isabelle Chapuis.

images: jerry telfer (the marriage of bette and boo - michelle pond, craig eychner), courtesy photo (the 25th annual putnam county spelling bee)

SF-based sextet renowned for their jumpin’ rythmn, wailing improvisations, hip charm and explosive stage shows.

3 | Lester Chambers’ Blues Revue George’s Night Club | San Rafael $10 | 877.568.2726 georgesnightclub.com

novel moves from page to stage by jim van buskirk

Kevin McKeon’s stage adaptation of Snow Falling on Cedars has its Bay Area premiere at TheatreWorks this month. The renowned Silicon Valley theatre company has, over its past few seasons, presented adaptations of such novels as Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, Thornton Wilder’s Theophilus North, as well as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, My Ántonia by Willa Cather, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

McKeon adapted David Guterson’s bestselling 1994 novel for Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle in 2007, and it has seen productions at Portland Center Stage and Hartford Stage. The novel is set during the murder trial of a Japanese-American veteran charged with the death of a rival, which rekindles memories of the wartime internment that divided a remote fishing village.

He described how, “because of the timejumping nature of Snow’s plot, the staging is centered on the courtroom with many flashbacks in which characters are transformed in time and place as they reenact episodes.”

McKeon laments having had to cut the character of Ishmael’s father to keep the action of the two-hour play moving forward. He is, however, inspired watching the first few days of rehearsal with TheatreWorks founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and the cast, and looks forward to returning to see the culmination of their work.

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS April 2 to 24 Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts 500 Castro Street, Mountain View $24 to $79 | 650.463.1960 theatreworks.org

image: mark kitaoka

On a foggy island in the Puget Sound the friendship between Hatsue, the daughter of JapaneseAmerican strawberry pickers, and Ishmael, the son of a white newspaper publisher, blossomed into an illicit interracial romance. When World War II breaks out Ishmael is sent to fight the Japanese overseas while Hatsue is sent to an internment camp, where she meets and marries a fellow Japanese-American man. A decade later Ishmael must deal with his love for Hatsue, and come to the aid of the man she chose to marry.

A long-time member of Book-It Repertory Theatre, McKeon acknowledged the “challenge of reinventing a literary work and the necessity of focusing on the storytelling.”

play

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

Will Collyer Maya Erskine Tim Chiou APRIL 2011

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ONGOING SHOWS Beach Blanket Babylon beachblanketbabylon.com Club Fugazi Steve Silver’s ever-evolving creation is packed with hilarious spoofs of pop culture and politics. ($25-$80) Big City Improv bigcityimprov.com | 510.595.5597 Shelton Theater Big City Improv’s shows are fast-paced, un-scripted and created on the spot using audience suggestions and participation. ($20) HARVEY’S FUNNY TUESDAYS harveyssf.com | 415.431.4278 Harvey’s Ronn Vigh hosts a weekly evening of free stand up for just the price of a cocktail. (Free)

DAILY 4 | SF Contemporary Music Players Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $10-$30 | 415.278-.566 sfcmp.org

Sara Jobin joins the ensemble to conduct the West Coast premiere of Beat Furrer’s “Spur” and Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Il Silenzio degli oracoli.” A closing gala to its 40th anniversary season.

6 | Lolita Roadtrip San Jose Stage Company | San Jose $15-$45 | 408.283.7142 sjstage.com 4 | Rita Moreno San Jose Center for the Arts | SJ $36-$60 | 866.449.8118 uniquelives.com

5 | FUDDY MEERS Marin Theatre Company | Mill Valley $32 to $53 | 415.388.5208 marintheatre.org

See article on Page 13.

5 | Chico Pinheiro Yoshi’s | Oakland $16 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

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One of the leading figures in modern Brazilian music, guitarist/ composer/arranger Chico Pinheiro, 34, was born in São Paulo.

5 | Pete Yorn Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $27.50-$30 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

With Ben Kweller and The Wellspring.

5 | Talib Kweli The Fillmore | San Francisco $28.50 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

This darkly comic play follows Julia and Danny as together they retrace novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov’s actual 1941 roadtrip from New York to Stanford.

6 | Peggy Seeger Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $22.50-$24.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Daughter of composer Ruth Crawford Seeger and ethno-musicologist Charles Seeger, and sibling to Pete and Mike, Peggy Seeger grew up well schooled in American folk and European music traditions.

7 | Alicia Dattner & Michael Cappozola Oshman Family JCC | Palo Alto $20 | 650.223.8662 paloaltojcc.org

This night of laughs features the comedic styles of Dattner’s insight into the human condition and Capozzola, a San Francisco-based comedian.

7 | Alvon Johnson Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $15 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Winner of the 2005 Guitar Player of the Year Award and former member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocal group, The Coasters.

images: via media (moreno), courtesy photo (pitta)

Night at the Black Hawk sfrecoverytheatre.org | 415.643.6011 Martuni’s Piano Bar Witness the continuing evolution of this work-in-progress; two one-act plays set in the famous Tenderloin jazz club. ($4-$5)

Indie performer has jammed with folkies, orchestras, rappers, rock and roll hall-of-famers, jazz musicians, poets, pop superstars, and a martial arts legend.

See article on Page 11.

The first woman to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony will dazzle you with tales of five decades of Hollywood.

Mark Pitta & Friends 142throckmortontheatre.org 415.383.9600 142 Throckmorton Theatre Stand-up comedy every Tuesday - a premier comedy showcase for rising comedians and established headliners. ($15-$25)

6 | Ani DiFranco The Fillmore | San Francisco $33.50 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

6 | Quidam Cow Palace | San Francisco $40-$110 | 415.404.4111 cirquedusoleil.com

Magic at The Rex magicattherex.com | 415.273.9790 Hotel Rex An intimate cocktail lounge setting where you’re up close and personal with every flick of the wrist ($25) Marga’s Funny Mondays themarsh.org | 800.838.3006 The Marsh Berkeley - Cabaret Marga Gomez hosts a comedy & variety showcase with rising stars, comedy big shots, contests, prizes every Monday night. ($10)

A member of Black Star in the late 1990s, Brooklyn-bred rapper Talib Kweli is an artist making commercially viable music that matters.

by will schmid The childhood fantasy of running away to the circus got a major overhaul about a quarter-century ago when Cirque du Soleil emerged from Montreal.

No longer did a cluster of clowns come spilling out of an undersize vehicle. No longer did the elephants walk on two legs or lions snarl on cue when their tamer cracked the whip.

In addition to a French accent, circuses acquired a sense of mystery, a splash of exotic couture and even a level of sexiness that neither Barnum nor Bailey probably ever considered. Founded by Guy Laliberté, this new Circus of the Sun combined theatre, music and athleticism in a surprising new way and has become a global success in the process.

This month the arena touring show Quidam moves up the Peninsula from San Jose to the Cow Palace just south of San Francisco.

Quidam had its world premiere in Montreal in 1996.

Since then the show has toured on five continents and been experienced by more than 10 million people. The international cast features 52 worldclass acrobats, musicians, singers and characters, some of whom were with the show at its inception.

Young Zoé is bored. Her parents are distant and apathetic and they ignore her. Her life has lost all meaning. Seeking to fill the void of her existence, she slides into an imaginary world - the world of Quidam - where she meets characters who encourage her to free her soul. Like Alice in Wonderland, Zoé meets a wide range of wildlynamed characters like The Target, Boum-Boum and The Aviator pictured here.

circus

QUIDAM

cirque du soleil

Quidam was originally fashioned by Cirque superstar Franco Dragone, a Belgian director who set most of the Cirque shows through 1998.

This production also features approximately 200 costumes designed by Dominique Lemieux and original music by Benoit Jutras.

QUIDAM April 6 to 17 Cow Palace 2600 Geneva Avenue, Daly City $43 to $115 | 866.448.7849 cirquedusoleil.com

image: al seib

The plots of the early Cirque shows tended to be slight and whimsical, allowing for appropriately greater emphasis on the individual acts. Quidam is no different.

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ONGOING SHOWS Party of 2 partyof2themusical.com | 800.838.3006 Shelton Theater A musical about independent types who meet, mate, and grapple with the issues that follow. ($27-$29)

DAILY 7 | Brian Posehn Cobb’s Comedy Club | San Francisco $17.50-$20.50 | 415.928.4320 cobbscomedy.com

Comedian/actor/writer Posehn has most recently been seen on Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program, and on tour as one of the original members of the Comedians of Comedy.

7 | Carlos Reyes George’s Night Club | San Rafael $20 | 877.568.2726 georgesnightclub.com

Originally from Paraguay, world renowned harpist and violinist Carlos Reyes entertains with grace, wit and a musical style that combines Latin, jazz and classical with his native roots.

Peter Morrison sanfranciscomagictheater.com 877.624.4264 Marrakech Magic Theater Magician Peter Morrison will charm you with captivating sleight-of-hand magic and intrigue you with feats of mentalism . ($38) Secret Improv Society improvsociety.com | 866.777.8932 Shelton Theater A raucous blend of sketches and songs in a fast-paced, interactive improvisational revue. Saturdays at 10PM. ($15)

7 | Charles Hamilton Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $20.50-$22.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Producer, composer, arranger and musician (trumpet & trombone), San Francisco-born Charles has performed all over the world. With Hitomi Oba and Glen Pearson.

7 | Dark Star Orchestra Great American Music Hall | SF $30-$35 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

Shopping! The Musical shoppingthemusical.com | 415.713.6486 Shelton Theater A hilarious, fast-paced revue of original songs and sketches about shopping. ($27-$29)

Performing to critical acclaim worldwide for over 13 years and more than 1,800 shows, Dark Star Orchestra continues the Grateful Dead concert experience.

Sunday’s A Drag harrydenton.com | 415.395.8595 Harry Denton’s Starlight Room A revival of the spirit of the drag show, picking up where the legendary Finocchio’s left off. ($44.95)

7 | THE THANK YOU BAR ODC Theater | San Francisco $18 | 415.863.9834 odctheater.org

UPTOWN DOWNTOWN MOTOWN MADNESS jlachic.com | 800.595.4849 Imperial Palace A musical journey starting from the early days of Motown. ($20-$59)

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7 | Darren Carter Rooster T. Feathers | Sunnyvale $12-$18 | 408.736.0921 roostertfeathers.com

Onstage, Carter unleashes a captivating flurry of impersonations, observations, and off-the-wall social commentary that is a comedy experience unlike any other.

7 | ROBERT SILVERMAN Le Petit Trianon Theatre | San Jose

See article on Page 25.

7 | Dirtbag Comedy Improv Comedy Club | San Jose $12 | 408.280.7475 improv.com

Dirtbag Comedy is committed to disregarding others - and humanity in general - guaranteed. The show promises shifty, vulgar, stained comedy.

7 | Into the Clear Blue Sky Phoenix Theatre | San Francisco $15-$17 | 415.913.7272 sleepwalkerstheatre.com

Kale and Mika live in a postapocalyptic New Jersey and the world has begun to melt out into the universe.

7 | Kenny Barton Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $30-$40 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

Jazz pianist brings his talents to the beautiful Firehouse.

7 | The Dodos The Fillmore | San Francisco $18.50 | 800.745.3000 thefillmore.com

Originally formed in 2006 as Dodobird by multi-instrumentalist Meric Long, unpredictable San Francisco indie rock duo the Dodos acquired their new moniker with the arrival of Logan Kroeber, a fellow West Coast artist.

7 | Thunder From Down Under Rrazz Room | San Francisco $35-$55 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

The sexy Australian imports crackle with high energy as they show off their buffed bodies to adoring fans who can’t seem to get enough of them.

7 | The Eccentricities of a Nightingale Aurora Theatre | Berkeley $10-$50 | 510.843.4822 auroratheatre.org

See article on Page 5.

image courtesy photo (morrison)

Tony and Tina’s Wedding tonyandtinasanfrancisco.com Imperial Palace Come mambo Italiano at this long-running dinner comedy. ($88.50-$115.50)

See article on Page 27.

$15 to $50 | 650.964.4000 trianontheatre.com

by ken bullock “In Fuddy Meers, everybody’s going through a great deal of trauma, teetering on the brink,” said Joan Mankin, popular comic actor and clown who plays Gertie, the mother of a dysfunctional family, in David Lindsay-Abair’s wild, dark comedy at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley.

daughter Claire has amnesia. Her husband Richard “is deaf in one ear, blind in one eye;” their problem son Kenny is a pothead. A shy family friend can only speak using a puppet, and a strange, limping man kidnaps Claire, saying he wants to protect her.

Mankin, known for physical humor, specifically uses those communication skills in this play. The relation between script and action, she said, “is one of the beauties of acting, but in this case the words my character speaks are incomprehensible. She’s had a stroke; the words come out and make no sense.”

The title, Fuddy Meers, is how Gertie says “funny mirrors,” remembering the distorting mirrors from carnival sideshows in her childhood. “She’s aware everyone can’t understand her. It’s frustrating. She has no credence.”

“It veers between comedy and something terribly serious,” said Fuddy Meers director Ryan Rilette, producing director of MTC. “But it’s not existential humor. It’s not asking major questions. It’s like a crime caper, but with fully realized, quirky characters. Take away the quirks, it’s not funny. It fits Joan’s work as a clown really well. A clown doesn’t depend on crazy situations. Take a clown to a grocery store and the way the clown reacts to normal things is what’s funny.”

Mankin compared the challenge of acting in Fuddy Meers to playing other eccentric characters. For some, “I play it for timing, what the character’s saying, the rhythm of that and not much more. I feel like this is something I cannot really play for the comedy. It’s not like she’s ditzy. I have to play her total reality, what she’s going through.”

FUDDY MEERS April 5 to 24 Marin Theatre Company 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley $32 to $53 | 415.388.5208 marintheatre.org

comedy

FUDDY MEERS

putting the fun in dysfunction

Lindsay-Abair, best-known for his 2007 Pulitzer Prizewinning Rabbit Hole, has stacked the deck: Gertie’s

image: ed smith

Joan Mankin Mollie Stickney Lance Gardner

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DAILY 8 | Alexander Barantschik Davies Symphony Hall | SF $15-$135 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

SF Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik plays Felix Mendelssohn’s rapturous “Violin Concerto,” as well as one of his most devilishly virtuosic works.

8 | Bryan Adams The Warfield | San Francisco $32-$85 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

Canadian rock singer-songwriter, Adams was first nominated at the 28th Grammy Awards for “Reckless” and “It’s Only Love” and won the Grammy and in 1992 won the award for Best Song Written for a motion picture, television or other visual media.

8 | Chris Cain Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $15 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Cain’s jazz-tinged, blues soaked guitar and deep, warm vocals have the maturity and authenticity of bluesmen many years his senior.

8 | SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS San Jose Center for the Arts | SJ $100 to $150 | 408.792.4111 sanjose.org

See article on Page 35.

8 | En Vogue Yoshi’s | Oakland $50 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Maxine Jones and Cindy Herron-Braggs celebrate with their red-hot R&B and pop smashes from the 1990s.

8 | Filipino Kings of Comedy Improv Comedy Club | San Jose $18 | 408.280.7475 improv.com

The greatest comics that are hot come together with this line up that premieres at the San Jose Improv!

8 | Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Yoshi’s | San Francisco

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$38 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

Singer, musician, songwriter, and producer best known for Sly & the Family Stone, front man of Graham Central Station.

8 | Madeleine Peyroux Palace of Fine Arts | San Francisco $30-$75 | 866.920.5299 palaceoffinearts.org

See article on Page 2.

8 | SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER Victoria Theatre | San Francisco $30 to $35 | 415. 552.4100 therhino.org

See article on Page 7.

8 | Protest The Hero Slim’s | San Francisco $15-$17 | 415.255.0333 slims-sf.com

Protest the Hero is an awardwinning Canadian progressive metal band from Whitby, Ontario.

8 | Rain - A Tribute to The Beatles Orpheum Theatre | San Francisco $35-$180 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

See article on Page 22.

8 | Unauthorized Rolling Stones Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $15 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

Popular tribute band brings the intensity and rock ‘n’ roll raunchiness of the Rolling Stones up close.

9 | Dariush & Faramarz Aslani Flint Center | Cupertino $45-$100 | 408-252-7070 flintcenter.com

Persian pop artists live in concert.

9 | George Cole Quintet Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $22.50-$24.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Esprit de Django et Stephane Festival concert. Their style of music, dubbed ‘Eurocana,’ is a celebration of the great American songbook with inspiration from Django Reinhardt Gypsy jazz.

by liza mock Unlike the San Francisco Opera, whose structure refers to a company and a building, but not to a specific group of principal singers, Opera San Jose is a professional, regional opera company that hires talented young opera singers and coaches them. Opera San Jose refers to the group of artists in residence.

Singers are given annual contracts, free housing and play all the leading roles in the company’s four yearly performances. Being able to sing major roles in operas played on all the world’s stages is very much unlike the experience of having to start in the chorus and work their way up that many young singers have.

Opera San Jose was founded in 1984 by Irene Dalis, a San Jose resident, who was a mezzosoprano with a world-spanning career from 19531977. The company is based on a similar German model that Ms. Dalis became familiar with during her two year stay in the country.

(the bohemians), trying to survive thanks to their artistic talents in an often cold and unforgiving Paris. It is also of course about love and was the inspiration for the worldwide musical theatre hit Rent.

OPERA

LA BOHÈME

opera san jose in good company

Absolutely no musical knowledge is required for the magical score to take one’s breath away.

In the 2011 season, the leading roles of Mimi, Musetta and Rodolfo are being alternatively sung by Jasmina Halimis/Jouvanca JeanBaptiste, Betany Coffland/Jillian Boyle and Alexander Boyer/Michael Dailey.

LA BOHÈME April 23 to May 8 California Theatre 345 South First Street, San Jose $51 to $101 | 408.437.4450 operasj.org

Although she herself retired at 50, Dalis was quoted as saying, “I’m convinced that whatever power leads us through life planned that I would have an international career in opera, just so I would come home and build a company.” In 2004, Opera San Jose moved to the gorgeously renovated California Theatre and has called it home ever since.

image: chris ayers

La Bohème is indisputably an operatic masterpiece that will raise goose bumps and tempt tear ducts to leak. It is a must see for first time opera goers and seasoned veterans alike. The score is

by Giacomo Puccini, with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on “Scènes de la vie de bohème”

by Henri Murger. The world premiere performance took place in Turin in 1896 and was conducted by a young Arturo Toscanini.

The story is of young starving artists

Sandra Rubalcava Bengochea Jason Detwiler

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MUSIC CLUBS The following is a partial list of music clubs in the Bay Area with ever-changing bookings of bands and other entertainment. If you enjoy the independent music scene, we recommend you call or check the websites for these clubs to get the latest performance schedules and information about ticket prices, age limits and minimum charges (if any).

Bottom of the Hill Potrero Hill bottomofthehill.com | 415.621.4455

Café du Nord

Upper Market cafedunord.com | 415.861.5016

Freight & Salvage Berkeley freightandsalvage.org | 510.644.2020

George’s

San Rafael georgesnightclub.com | 415.226.0262

Great American Music Hall Tenderloin gamh.com | 888.233.0449

Hemlock Tavern Polk Gulch hemlocktavern.com | No Calls

Independent

Alamo Square theindependentsf.com | 415.771.1421

Johnny Foley’s

Union Square johnnyfoleys.com | 415.954.0777

Peña Pachamama

North Beach pachamamacenter.org | 415.646.0018

Rancho Nicasio

Marin ranchonicasio.com | 415.662.2219

Regency Ballroom

Civic Center theregencyballroom.com | 800.745.3000 Civic Center rickshawstop.com | 415.861.2011

Slim’s

Thee Parkside

Potrero Hill theeparkside.com | 415.252.1330

Warfield

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A tribute to the music of John Denver.

9 | Lavay Smith Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Smith, with her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, presents her iconic ‘40s and ‘50s influenced swing and jump blues stylings.

9 | Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester Paramount Theatre | Oakland $25-$80 | 510.465.6400 paramounttheatre.com

Recreating the sound of German dance and film music of the 1920s and 1930s. Walking a narrow line between madcap kitsch and sublime musicality, Max Raabe and Palast Orchester evoke the heady, dancing-on-knife-point mood of the Weimar Republic.

9 | Paula Poundstone Osher Marin JCC | San Rafael $35-$65 | 415.444.8000 marinjcc.org

Poundstone was the first woman to win an ACE award for Best Standup Comedy performance and the first woman to be invited to perform at the distinguished White House Correspondents dinner.

9 | Rise Against Bill Graham Civic Auditorium | SF $32.50 | 415.998.8497 apeconcerts.com

10 | Beauty and the Beast Town Hall Theatre | Lafayette $12 | 925.283 1557 thtc.org

SOMA slims-sf.com | 888.233.0449

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9 | Jim Curry El Campanil Theatre | Antioch $25-$35 | 925.757.9500 elcampaniltheatre.com

Chicago punk rock band tour will follow the release of Rise Against’s sixth studio album, “Endgame.”

Rickshaw Stop

Mid-Market thewarfieldtheatre.com 800.745.3000

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Presented by East Bay Children’s Theatre. One of the world’s best loved stories becomes a witty yet tender musical about friendship, love, and the discovery that true beauty is always present if we only look for it.

10 | China Philharmonic Orchestra Davies Symphony Hall | SF $15-$97 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

Led by music director and cofounder Long Yu, the orchestra will perform works by Berlioz and Puccini, and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with French violinist Renaud Capuçon.

10 | G. Love & Special Sauce The Fillmore | San Francisco $25 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

Funky acoustic country hip-hop and more. G. Love does just about anything he wants combining sounds from all over the U.S. into his own unique style.

10 | Joe Louis Walker Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Walker is a San Francisco native blues guitarist, singer/songwriter and producer. He has been touring since the ‘60s.

10 | John Mellencamp The Warfield | San Francisco $49.50-$130 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

John Mellencamp’s career in music has spanned more than 35 years during which time he transitioned from pre-fab pop idol to one of the most highly regarded mature songwriters of a generation.

10 | Preservation Hall Jazz Band El Campanil Theatre | Antioch $28-$40 | 925.757.9500 elcampaniltheatre.com

World renowned band that has presented the best of New Orleans Jazz for 49 years and proudly carries on that tradition with old time tunes and contemporary blues and jazz.

jazzed for shakespeare by steve murray

A film noir-inspired production of The Bard’s most popular comedy set in 1940s San Francisco? Not that far of a stretch for African-American Shakespeare Company’s 16th season finale. Artistic Director L. Peter Callender has transported this classic tale of loss, new-found love, and mistaken identities to the fog-drenched streets and sultry, smoke-filled clubs of San Francisco and includes an original jazz score by celebrated Bay Area musician and composer Marcus Shelby.

African-American Shakespeare Company was introduced in 1994 to create an opportunity and a venue for actors of color to hone their skills and talent in mastering some of the world’s greatest classical roles. The company is dedicated to producing classic stage works from an AfricanAmerican cultural perspective, providing opportunities and accessibility for minority artists and their communities to view these works in a manner that is inclusive of their cultural heritage.

I asked composer Marcus Shelby about the challenge of writing this score. “When composing music for any situation (theater, ballet, film) with a narrative component, my approach is to capture the moods, emotions, rhythms, and essence of the characters involved. With Shakespeare, a jazz composer has an extremely rich amount of material to musically express the wide ranges of the human condition that connects us all no matter what race, color, or religion—using the blues as the creative foundation.”

TWELFTH NIGHT April 1 to May 1 African American Art & Culture Complex 762 Fulton Street, San Francisco $15 to $35 | 800.838.3006 african-americanshakes.org

image: simon fu

There have been a number of re-workings of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The 2006 film She’s The Man modernized the story as a contemporary teenage comedy (as 10 Things I Hate About You did with The Taming of the Shrew). For the stage the story is used in Your Own Thing (1968), Music Is (1976), All Shook Up (2005), and Play On! (1997), the

last two jukebox musicals featuring the music of Elvis Presley and Duke Ellington, respectively.

Based on the Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night, the plays incorporates the atmosphere of licensed disorder and the general inversion of things, most notably gender roles.

BARD

TWELFTH NIGHT

L. Michael Kelly C. Rebecca Frank APRIL 2011

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RECOMMENDED

DAILY 10 | Steve Ross Rrazz Room | San Francisco $30-$40 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

International cabaret and concert performer, Steve Ross brings his sophisticated touch, delicious sense of humor and his heartfelt ballads together in this program.

11 | Sarah Silverman Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley $35-$75 | 510.642.9988 calperformances.org

Comedian, actress, and writer Sarah Silverman’s audacious point of view has not only won her a devoted following for her work in films, television and online, but major awards recognition as well.

12 | Elisso Virsaladze Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $32-$42 | 415.392.4400 chambermusicsf.org

A pianist of great distinction.

12 | Klaxons The Fillmore | San Francisco $25 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

JASON GRAAE April 3 to 4 The Rrazz Room 222 Mason Street, SF $30 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

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12 | Lauryn Hill The Warfield | San Francisco $59.50 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

Part of legendary Grammy Awardwinning MC, vocalist, producer and songwriter, Ms. Lauryn Hill’s Moving Target: Extended Intimate Playdate concert series.

12 | Ray Obiedo & Mambo Caribe Yoshi’s | San Francisco $12 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

With its heavy influence of Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, a traditional Latin jazz sound is always at the core of the ensemble.

13 | Broken Social Scene The Warfield | San Francisco $25 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

13 | Mingus Big Band Dinkelspiel-Stanford | Palo Alto $38-$42 | 650.725.2787 stanford.edu

Fourteen virtuoso members strong, with one of the most acclaimed, richly varied, and truly exhilarating songbooks in the history of jazz, the Mingus Big Band has championed the legacy of the iconic composer Charles Mingus.

13 | No Exit American Conservatory Theater | SF $7.50-$83 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

See article on Page 22.

13 | Yacht Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $18-$20 | 415.474.0365 bimbos365club.com

YACHT is a lot of things. It’s kind of a band, but it’s mostly a genre-andmedia-spanning project founded and led by Jona Bechtolt.

14 | Arlo Guthrie Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $45-$50 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

With Abe Guthrie and The Burns Sisters presenting Journey On. 14 | Charles Dutoit & Gautier Capuçon Davies Symphony Hall | SF $15-$140 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

The distinguished maestro Charles Dutoit conducts music by two of France’s great orchestral luminaries.

14 | Charles Phoenix Big Retro Slide Show Roxie Cinema | San Francisco $25 | 415.863.1087 charlesphoenix.com

A deep-fried and delicious live comedy performance by pop culture humorist Charles Phoenix, celebrating classic and kitschy midcentury American life and style, tourist traps theme parks, space age suburbia, car culture and more!

images: courtesy photos (graae)

Comically gifted Broadway musical star Jason Graae (say “Aaah!”) taps his troubles away with Perfect Hermany, an evening of the music of composer Jerry Herman. If you haven’t been to a the Great White Way in the last 60 years, be forewarned that the evening could include songs from Milk and Honey, Mame, Dear World, The Grand Tour, La Cage aux Folles and a little something called Hello, Dolly!

Graae’s got the credentials to pull it off, having appeared in several Herman shows around the country, plus productions of Ragtime, Grand Hotel, Kismet, Anything Goes and the original cast of Forever Plaid.

He’s recorded three CDs of his own and appeared on over 50 more cast and studio recordings. Not content to conquer only the musical theatre world, Graae has also appeared in several operas including Die Fledermaus here in San Francisco.

Despite being a rock band at the core, Klaxons are influenced by dance music, particularly the late’80s/early-’90s U.K. rave movement.

Broken Social Scene are a Juno Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective currently including nineteen members

by ken bullock

“The story of King Lear existed before S h a k e s p e a r e ’s time,” said Jubilith Moore, artistic director of Theatre of Yugen, who will direct her own solo performance of Erik Ehn’s Cordelia on Yugen’s NOHspace stage in San Francisco.

“Shakespeare has Cordelia killed in the end, unlike the earlier versions. This treatment - an echo, a distillation, a remnant of King Lear works for Noh because she’s tragic, has lost. How many contemporary plays tell a story from the loser’s point of view? Noh’s perfect for Cordelia.”

image: sohta kitazawa

Noh, the masked classical tragedy of Japan - a spare, stylized, pre-Kabuki form featuring rigorous, dance-like movement, a chorus and musicians onstage - is the specialty of Theatre of Yugen, along with Noh’s complementary comic style, Kyogen.

Founded by Yuriko Doi in 1978, Yugen performs Kyogen comedies in English and adapts classic and modern plays to Noh style.

Now Shakespeare’s heroine is a character in a Noh ghost play. “Shakespeare’s plays go forward in narrative time,” said Moore. “Noh goes backward, from the perspective of death. Cordelia looks at herself in flashback. I think of the practice of Noh as the cultivation of empathy.”

NOH

CORDELIA

lear’s daughter in the noh

Cordelia is one of Ehn’s Soulographie cycle of 16 plays in different styles - about the victims, the survivors and the perpetrators of genocide - to be performed together next year in New York.

According to Moore, “Erik says, ‘Plays are a good thing to think with.’” She speaks of what happens when a mask is put on, of sublimating yourself, of the character filling you. “Shakespeare tells you how to act through his script. It’s the same with Noh. You do it yourself, based on text and music. I’ve been looking at the costume and mask, kind of a Noh approach. The music is the key. The mask and the music.” The mask is by Japanese carver Hideta Kitazawa. The music, performed by percussionist, flutist and chanter with drone instrument, is by Oakland composer Suki O’Kane.

CORDELIA April 20 to May 7 NOHspace 2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco $25 | 800.838.3006 theatreofyugen.org

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DAILY 14 | Don McMillan Rooster T. Feathers | Sunnyvale $12-$18 | 408.736.0921 roostertfeathers.com

1993 Star Search winner has appeared on The Tonight Show on NBC, CNN’s The Larry King Show, MTV’s Half Hour Comedy Hour, and A&E’s Evening at the Improv.

14 | Enchanted April Olinder Theatre | San Jose $20 | 408.288.7820 northsidetheatre.com

steven underhill | .com

415.370.7152 PHOTOGRAPHY

When two frustrated London housewives decide to rent a villa in Italy for a holiday away from their bleak marriages, they recruit two very different English women to share the cost and the experience.

14 | Foals & Freelance Whales Great American Music Hall | SF $20 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

Foals include band members Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan and Andrew Mears.

14 | ROBERT SILVERMAN Le Petit Trianon Theatre | San Jose $15 to $50 | 650.964.4000 trianontheatre.com

See article on Page 25.

14 | Left Coast Chamber Ensemble 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $20 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Presenting Mladi: Celebrating Youth, a rarely performed woodwind sextet.

14 | No Enlightened People Have Ever Come Out of the Ghetto Shelton Theater | San Francisco $20-$25 | 415.785.4754 andresalvage.com

This one-man performance is a loving, irreverent look at life, love, religion, spirituality, and the everyday moments that show how to live through one’s true nature.

14 | PJ Harvey The Warfield | San Francisco $39.50-$49.50 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

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14 | Sourdough Slim Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $20.50-$22.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Yodeling cowboy Sourdough Slim and string instrument wizard Robert Armstrong joyously rekindle the country blues, cowboy classics, and string band repertoire of pre-WWII America.

14 | Two Door Cinema Club The Fillmore | San Francisco $20 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

Two Door Cinema Club are 3 people with the help of technology and a thirst for anything quirky.

15 | Amjad Ali Khan Palace of Fine Arts | San Francisco $25-$100 | 415.392.4400 palaceoffinearts.org

Born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of Music, he shoulders the sixth generation of this legendary lineage. His sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, will join him in this performance.

15 | Cabaret 6th Street Playhouse | Santa Rosa $28-$39 | 707.523.4185 6thstreetplayhouse.com

See article on Page 26.

15 | D. L. Hughley Improv Comedy Club | San Jose $30 | 408.280.7475 improv.com

Stand-up comedian, host, actor and an advocate of black comedians’ talent, D.L. Hughley works to support their careers, leading by example.

15 | John NÉmeth Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Németh is a rising blues star; a singer steeped in the tradition and reminiscent of B.B. King, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, and a harmonica player of riveting intensity and virtuosity.

by robert sokol If you have any doubt that Lynda Carter’s career has taken an excitingly musical turn, the address of her website - www.lyndacartersings.com - should make that abundantly clear.

Singing is not a completely new facet to the actress best know for playing Wonder Woman in the ‘70s.

In high school she performed in two different bands - one of which featured M*A*S*H’s Gary Burghoff on drums - and Carter cut her college time short take her first real shot at a music career.

highwire because it had been so long since I’d done anything like that. I was taking a big leap.”

She landed on her feet and has been touring internationally and across the U.S. She returns to the Rrazz Room, which is perfect because the owners call it a nightclub rather than a cabaret and Carter doesn’t consider herself a cabaret performer.

Not a raging success, Carter regrouped and like a true Phoenician - she was born in Arizona - tackled beauty contests, which led to acting which led to lassos, belts and bullet -proof bracelets.

“I’m a little more unplugged than that,” she says. “I don’t really do our parents’ music. My show is more like an iPod shuffle. In fact, if I could have called my new album ‘iPod Shuffle’ I would have.” Crazier things have happened.

“Yeah, that why it’s called ‘Crazy Little Things’’’ she shoots back with a laugh.

By the time she dispatched her last villain in 1979 she had recorded her first album, called “Portraits,” which included some of her songwriting efforts.

Her next album did not arrive for 30 years, during which time she divorced and remarried, raised two children and appeared in a lot of television movies and series.

LYNDA CARTER April 20 to 23 | 8:00 pm The Rrazz Room 222 Mason Street, San Francisco $45 to $55 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

NIGHTCLUB

LYNDA CARTER

don’t wonder. the woman sings!

image: karl simone

The album, aptly called “At Last,” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard jazz charts and came a few years after Carter had returned to singing in public, which she launched from the Plush Room. “It was the first club I played when I started singing again,” she recalls.

“It felt like walking on a

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SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 15 | Lost Weekend George’s Night Club | San Rafael $10-$15 | 877.568.2726 georgesnightclub.com

Western Swing at its finest.

15 | ALONZO KING LINES BALLET Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | SF $15 to $65 | 415.978.2787 linesballet.org

See article on Page 23.

RAIN April 8 to 10 Orpheum Theatre 1192 Market Street, SF $35 to $180 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

We love them - yeah! yeah! yeah!

- and can’t get enough of their love, babe, eight days a week, right? So hurry down for an evening’s tribute to the Fab Four as the tour of Rain makes a very brief stop in San Francisco. The production promises a full range selection of Beatles material including numbers John, Paul, George and Ringo recorded but never performed before a live audience themselves!

15 | Marilu Henner Rrazz Room | San Francisco $40 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Golden Globe nominee, Broadway star of Chicago & Grease, star of classic films Noises Off & L.A. Story brings her immense vocal and comedic talents to the Rrazz room.

15 | Martin Lawrence San Jose State Event Center Arena | SJ $35.50-$75.50 | 800-745-3000 ticketmaster.com

Actor, comedian, emcee and star of Fox TV’s Martin, a huge success and a ratings stalwart for more than five years, that won two NAACP Image Awards

A contemporary artist continuing a time-honored tradition that goes back to the ‘60s and ‘70s.

NO EXIT April 13 to May 1 American Conservatory Theater 415 Geary Street, SF $10 to $83 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

Director Kim Collier’s live cinematic take on Sartre. In a shabby hotel room, three people discover that hell isn’t fire and brimstone at all - it’s other people. This existential masterpiece, skillfully re-imagined through the perspective of a series of hidden cameras, turns the stage into a cinema, and the audience into voyeurs, as a thrillingly staged “live film” takes place before your eyes.

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15 | Scissor Sisters The Warfield | San Francisco $35 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com 15 | The Residents Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $30 | 415.474.0365 bimbos365club.com

See article on Page 29.

16 | 3 Blonde Moms 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $25-$28 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Presenting See How They Run, a comedy for the whole family.

16 | Ballet Folklorico Costa de Oro El Campanil Theatre | Antioch

Colorful costumes and whirling dancers bring the joy and excitment of Mexico’s folklore to the El Campanil stage.

16 | Cut Copy Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $27.50 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

At a time where the marriage between dance and rock is neighboring inevitable, Cut Copy walk the line as pioneers of the new sound movement.

16 | Duran Duran The Fillmore | San Francisco $57.50 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

One of the most successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven second “British invasion” of the United States.

16 | Jerry Seinfeld Paramount Theatre | Oakland $47-$77 | 510.465.6400 paramounttheatre.com

This beloved comedian, actor, writer, television and film producer returns at last to the stand-up comedy stage.

16 | Maria Muldaur Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $22 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Muldaur has got the blues. “...once you zero in on the emotional nuances of her finely weathered drawl, you’ll hear an inspired change of heart - her voice becomes an oasis for troubled souls.” People Magazine 16 | Petty Theft Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $12-$15 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

The Ultimate Tom Petty tribute band.

16 | Dirty Work Tour The Warfield | San Francisco $25-$27 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

With unforgettable melodies, guitar hooks, and relentlessly driving rhythms the message in their music is loud and clear.

images: cylla von tiedemann (rain - joey curatolo), michael berz (no exit - lucia frangione)

15 | Raphael Saadiq Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $39.50-$49.50 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

$15 | 925.757.9500 elcampaniltheatre.com

king-haas-hart in a new collaboration by grier cooper

Alonzo King LINES Ballet presents the world premiere of a ground-breaking collaboration between a trio of acclaimed artists: choreographer Alonzo King, Grammy-award winning musician/composer Mickey Hart, and world-renowned architect Christopher Haas, a designer for the MH deYoung Museum. The new piece explores our relationship with space, both physical and infinite, the inner and outer space of the body, how we strive to touch something infinite with our material forms.

“The Universe and the laws that govern it are replicated in classical form. Straight line and circle, magnetism, gravitational pull, balance, circumference, radius and nucleus are some of the sources of the form,” says King. Hart’s original score echoes the vibrations of the cosmos and Haas’ interactive environment composed of often overlooked materials such as recycled cardboard and elastic cords, provide the backdrop to the dancers’ exploration of these concepts.

King states, “I am thrilled to be working with Mickey Hart. His musical understanding covers all the cultures of the world and beyond into the law of cosmic order... it is an inspiration, as well as his countless philanthropic efforts to help the suffering in the world.”

King’s forward-thinking choreography often involves collaborations with noted musicians, composers and visual artists such as Pharaoh Sanders, Zakir Hussein and the Shaolin Monks.

Describing his work, King says, “We see ballet, or Western Classical Dance, not as a ‘style’ but as a science of movement. The choreographic works are thought structures, treatises on life and living, whether that be scientific law or the vast quandary of the human condition. The works are created to transport or stir contemplation in the viewer--to convince and instigate.”

DANCE

ALONZO KING LINES BALLET

Drawing from a wide variety of cultural traditions to imbue classical ballet with a fresh perspective has earned him an illustrious array of awards, including the NEA Choreographer’s Fellowship, five Isadora Duncans and the 2008 Jacob’s Pillow Award.

ALONZO KING LINES BALLET April 15 to 24 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 701 Mission Street, San Francisco $15 to $65 | 415.978.2787 linesballet.org

image: rj muna

Michael Montgomery Keelan Whitmore

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Left your heart in San Francisco? Get it back at..

DAILY 17 | Café Cabaret: Gershwin’s Gold Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $25 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

The George Gershwin songbook, featuring Jessica Fischer, Christopher M. Nelson and G. Scott Lacy.

“You will laugh and cry.. A show this nuanced, this layered – and this much fun, Absolutely San Francisco is a show to see again and again.”

- Ed Attanasio, Northside San Francisco

Thu, Fri, Sat at 8pm, Sun at 3pm - Open Run

The Alcove Theater 414 Mason Street, 5th Floor San Francisco

For tickets go to www.absolutelysanfrancisco.com or telephone 1.415.992.8168

San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle

35th Annual Awards Ceremony Celebrating Excellence in Theatre for 2010!

18 | The Kitchen Series: The Skin of Our Teeth Brava Theater Center | San Francisco $20-$25 | 415.647.2822 brava.org

17 | Karla Bonoff Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $34.50-$36.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

19 | Afro-Cuban All Stars Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley $30-$52 | 510.642.9988 calperformances.org

Mandel is a pioneer of modern electric blues from Chicago who has performed with some of the greatest blues legends. With special guest Ronnie Montrose.

Soul touching songcraft from a singer-songwriter known for moody, affecting ballads with soaring melodies and soul-searching lyrics.

17 | Wire Slim’s | San Francisco $21 | 888.233.0449 slims-sf.com

While punk rapidly became a caricature of itself, Wire’s musical identity -- focused on experimentation and process -- was constantly metamorphosing.

It is a bit ironic that Ellis Marsalis had to wait for sons Wynton and Branford to get famous before he was able to record on a regular basis, but Ellis has finally received his long-overdue recognition.

6:00 pm doors open 7:30 pm awards begin

Palace of Fine Arts Theatre Lobby 3301 Lyon Street, SF Tickets $20

SFBATCC.ORG 24 |

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Tame Impala were formed from Kevin Parker’s original blues/jazz/ psychedelic band, the Dee Dee Dums.

17 | Harvey Mandel Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

18 | Ellis Marsalis Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $45-$65 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Monday, April 4, 2011

18 | Tame Impala The Fillmore | San Francisco $20 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

18 | New Pornographers Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $30 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

Formed in 1997, almost immediately recorded the classic Letter From An Occupant. Their four full-lengths received critical and public acclaim.

Join the Antrobus family as they survive the ice age, the flood, and other calamities of Biblical and alltoo-human making, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.

A towering artistic figure in his homeland, Juan de Marcos González is a man on a mission— to display to the world the wealth, diversity, and vitality of Cuban music.

19 | Clairdee Rrazz Room | San Francisco $30 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

At the crossroads of jazz, pop, blues & soul Clairdee seamlessly blends great songs & buoyant rhythms, telling riveting stories in her distinctive style.

19 | Janet Jackson Bill Graham Civic Auditorium | SF $49.50-$149.50 | 850.417.7316 apeconcerts.com

Jackson will be bringing her Janet Jackson Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour.

19 | Rick Shapiro Comedy Club at Castagnola’s | SF $15 | 415.347.6719 wharfroomcomedy.com

Rick is featured in the latest awardwinning comedic book “Satiristas” and a regular on HBO’s sitcom, Lucky Louie.

a serious sonata series

by jason victor serinus Canadian pianist Robert Silverman returns twice this month to San Jose’s intimate jewel box of a theatre, Le Petit Trianon, to complete his Beethoven Sonata series. Among the six sonatas scheduled for the two concerts are the astoundingly difficult “Hammerklavier,” aka Sonata No. 29 in B flat Major, Op. 106 (April 7), and Beethoven’s final sonata, No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (April 14).

sonata

ROBERT SILVERMAN

Although Silverman has never desired to forge a major career on the level of Andras Schiff, who recently performed Beethoven’s sonatas in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, his series of recordings for Stereophile and IsoMike have made him a legend among audiophiles. Series producer Michael Silver of Audio High in Mountain View, himself a trained pianist, first encountered Silverman’s playing in 2003, when the artistry on a live recording struck him as so exceptional that he invited the pianist to San Francisco to perform the complete Mozart sonatas.

“There have been many other great works written for piano, but Beethoven’s have never been surpassed,” declared Silverman from Canada. “This has been an exploration of what a smart musician Beethoven was and how many things he took care of. No matter what insights you come up with, Beethoven is ahead of you.”

Silver is producing and recording Silverman’s entire San Jose Beethoven series as a benefit for the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

All proceeds will help upgrade an existing audiovisual room at the hospital, and also help build Elf Foundation Rooms of Magic on every floor of the hospital’s new wing, set for completion in 2016.

images: courtesy photo

At one of Silverman’s recent concerts, Silver was monitoring Silverman’s performance of Beethoven’s beloved “Moonlight” Sonata when he overheard someone in the audience gasp and comment to her neighbor about the beauty of the playing. Expect musicianship just as special at the final two concerts.

ROBERT SILVERMAN April 7 and 14 | 8:00 pm Le Petit Trianon Theatre 72 North Fifth Street, San Jose $15 to $50 | 650.964.4000 trianontheatre.com

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SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 19 | The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart Great American Music Hall | SF $17 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

New York four-piece who plays sweet and noisy POP with boy/ girl vocals, blissful melodies and blistering drums.

CABARET April 15 to May 15 6th Street Playhouse West 6th Street, Santa Rosa $15 to $39 | 707.523.4185 6thstreetplayhouse.com

Wooten, known for his solo recordings and tours, and as a member of the Grammy-winning super group, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, has won most every major award given to a bass guitarist.

20 | Cypress Hill The Warfield | San Francisco $42 | 415.345.0900 thewarfieldtheatre.com

The pioneering rap-rock quartet Cypress Hill - founders B-Real (Louis Freese), DJ Muggs (Lawrence Muggerud) and Sen Dog (Senen Reyes), along with member Eric Bobo have come a long way from the streets of South Central L.A. 20 | Dengue Fever The Fillmore | San Francisco $22.50 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

KILLER QUEEN: THE STORY OF PACO, THE PINK POUNDER April 28 to May 28 Michael Boxer Gym & Barbershop 96 Lafayette Street, SF $20 | 415.504.2432 theoffcenter.org

Peter Griggs stars in a one-man musical about a gay boxer’s struggle to belong as a gay man of color within the macho world of boxing.

The show is performed to live accompaniment of songs by Queen’s Freddie Mercury and staged in an actively working boxing gym.

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Dengue Fever is Chhom Nimol – who sang regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia - Ethan Holtzman (keyboards), Zac Holtzman (guitar), David Ralicke (horns), Senon Williams (bass) and Paul Smith (drums).

See article on Page 19.

20 | Nigel Richards 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $20-$23 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

From Blasphemy to Rapture, an exciting new cabaret devised and performed by Nigel Richards, who will be best known to San Franciscans for his acclaimed performance in Black Rider at the Geary in 2006.

20 | The Last Roundup Great American Music Hall | SF $30 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

The New Orleans Radiators have combined the traditional musical styles of their native city with more mainstream rock and R&B influences to form a bouncy, funky variety of swamp-rock they call fish head music.

21 | Far Easter 6 Cobb’s Comedy Club | SF $20.50-$22.50 | 415.928.4320 cobbscomedy.com

Dat Phan is the original winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. With special guests Rex Navarrete, Ali Wong and Rajan Dharni.

21 | Gender Mystic New Conservatory Theatre Center | SF $28-$38 | 415.861.4914 nctcsf.org

See article on Page 33.

A benefit production for NCTC starring Didik Nini Thowok, direct from Indonesia. Using masks and dance forms from various Asian traditions he is one of the few Indonesian dancers who explore transgender culture in the Indonesian historical context.

20 | Lynda Carter Rrazz Room | San Francisco $45-$55 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

21 | Randy Newman Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $55-$65 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

20 | SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK Rio Theatre | Santa Cruz $30 to $40 | 831.427.2227 kuumbwajazz.org

See article on Page 21.

Newman’s groundbreaking work has led to five Academy Awards (19 nominations), five Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards.

images: eric chazankin (cabaret - peter warden, marjorie rose taylor, jacquelyn wells), jose guzman-colon (killer queen - peter griggs)

One of Kander and Ebb’s most enduring works, based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories” which became the play I Am A Camera by John van Druten. The 1966 Broadway show made a star of Joel Grey and the re-imagined 1972 film solidified Liza Minnelli’s legendary status.

The rise of the Nazi regime is the backdrop for this musical tale of singer Sally Bowles and the colorful people around her.

19 | Victor Wooten Band Yoshi’s | Oakland $28 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

20 | CORDELIA NOHspace | San Francisco $25 | 800.838.3006 theatreofyugen.org

swimming upstream toward home by grier cooper

Alaska-born choreographer Emily Johnson created The Thank You Bar for Catalyst Dance with composermusicians James Everest and Joel Pickard. It is an intimate performance experience that intermingles dance, multi-layered original soundscape, storytelling and visual image with ideas of displacement, longing, language, preconceived notions, architecture, myth and history to ask the question: What is a true home?

The Thank You Bar takes its name from the Que-Ana, Johnson’s grandmother’s bar and family home in Alaska. (Que-Ana is “thank you” in the Yup’ik language.) Johnson spent much of her childhood there tying fish strips and cleaning clams. Those memories inform her process and evoke a sense of longing. “I understand that as I work as an artist in a city far from home, I lose time to learn from my family and the elders of my ancestral community. It is a trade off. I choose to live where I do, but feel displaced and miss where I am from.”

Location is another important concept. “I like to think about how we affect and are affected by the places we are in,” says Johnson, who learns some history of every building where she performs and integrates it into each performance. “I try to build a little home for us – the cast, the audience, the dance, music, and stories – so that for the short time we are together we have an impact on each other. Once we begin seeing our home towns, cities, communities as living and changing places, we respect our place in it a little more.”

DANCE

THE THANK YOU BAR

THE THANK YOU BAR April 7 to 10 ODC Theater 3153 17th Street, San Francisco $18 | 415.863.9834 odctheater.org

image: courtesy photo

After watching salmon migrate thousands of miles and swim up waterfalls, Johnson believes that humans can also be called to do amazing things. Accordingly, her work invites audiences to see things with a fresh perspective. “A simple turn of our head brings an entirely new vista with an amazing array of possibility and meaning,” she says.

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GEORGE & IRA GERSHWIN’S

strike up the band apr 6–24

DAILY 21 | Steven Curtis Chapman Uptown Theatre | Napa $40-$50 | 800.745.3000 uptowntheatrenapa.com

Singer-songwriter Chapman pours his heart and soul into his music and will inspire and enchant you.

42ndstmoon.org • (415) 255-8207 20% off Wed-Sat. Code: MOONSTAGE

21 | The Lily’s Revenge Magic Theatre | San Francisco $20-$30 | 415.441.8822 magictheatre.org

A fantastical cornucopia of theatre, party, circus, and social experiment, The Lily’s Revenge cross examines with humor, heart, and irreverence one of our oldest institutions.

22 | Amon Amarth Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $22.50 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

Amon Amarth have managed to establish themselves as one of Europe’s top death metal acts through hard work, relentless touring, and consistently solid albums.

design publications websites

22 | Karen Lovely Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $20 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Backed by her stellar band the multiple award-winning Lovely delivers a blistering mix of contemporary & old school blues.

22 | Linda Eder Marines’ Memorial Theatre | SF $49.50-77.50 | 415.771.6900 therrazzroom.com

Linda Eder reunites with Frank Wildhorn on the new album, “Now,” marking the musical return of this legendary team.

22 | ANGELS IN AMERICA San Francisco LGBT Community Center $15 to $30 | 800.838.3006 angelsinamericasf.com

415.552.8040 780 sutter street san francisco, ca 94109

See article on Page 31.

www.viamedia.net

Orny made an impact at the Montreal Comedy Festival, had a deal with Warner Brothers Studio,

a division of Caselli Partners LLC

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22 | Orny Adams Improv Comedy Club | San Jose $15 | 408.280.7475 improv.com

and has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.

22 | Over The River and Through The Woods Rio Nido Lodge | Russian River $20 | 707.583.2343 pegasustheater.com

This is a witty but family-friendly play about a young man dealing with two sets of overbearing grandparents, who try to set him up with a nice girl to marry instead of leaving New Jersey for a job in Seattle.

22 | Poncho Sanchez Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $30-$45 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

Acclaimed Latin jazz percussionist.

22 | Randy Newman Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $25-$85 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Occupying a singular niche in American music, Randy Newman combines Brill Building pop craftsmanship with rock ‘n’ roll irony in songs that have been lovingly covered by a breathtaking array of artists 22 | Susan Werner Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $22.50-$24.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Werner brings a supple alto and powerful guitar and piano ability to the stage, spicing up her remarkable songcraft with a charismatic presence and whip-smart social commentary.

22 | Tank Yoshi’s | Oakland $26-$30 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Tank is one of the most recognizable names in modern R&B, known for vivid storytelling and sensual love songs. He’s an icon in the making, with four albums and eight Grammy nominations under his belt.

22 | Tommy Castro Fox Theatre | Redwood City $20-$35 | 650.369.7770 foxrwc.com

A night of serious blues and boogie woogie featuring Tommy Castro, Marcia Ball and Earl Thomas.

by liza mock

The more a group of artists insists on being seen as “anti-rock-and-roll, and anti-celebrity” the more they are seen as such. This is the case with the mysterious The Residents, who do not reveal their identities, do not grant interviews and have never shown their faces, yet who have acquired a cult following and have been in the business since 1972.

image: courtesy photo

The band, or group as they prefer to be thought of, is fiercely individualistic and seems to be guided only by their inner sense of artistic freedom. There are four core members, and the group has been quoted as saying The Residents “write, record and perform music, so I suppose that kind of makes them a band.

However, they think of themselves as a ‘group’ which is not so directly music-orientated.” It’s true, the band is more than a band, it’s a mini-universe too big for individual names or faces.

When asked about their individual identities, they reply, “if the question is “what are the names the parents gave to the people making up The Residents,” then I would say that those names belong to individuals and not the group. The group doesn’t have names within its structure. If the question is the real “who,” meaning the philosophy and outlook, then that is all clearly stated in the work. I would find it difficult to summarize.”

MUSIC

THE RESIDENTS

still faceless after all these years

The real facts known about The Residents are sparse and loosely evidenced, though dogged fans create extensive databases of recordings and various other forms of artistic expressions, including a CD-ROM game accompanied by a graphic novel. Former fan club president “Uncle Willie” wrote a fiction/nonfiction history of the group called “Uncle Willie’s Highly Opinionated Guide to the Residents” in 1993, and The Simpson’s creator and Residents fan Matt Groening wrote his own version, titled “The True Story of The Residents.” Whatever the case may be with the history and personal identities of this group of lunatic, visionary, free thinking artists, their music is hauntingly pretty and their show offers a chance for the listener to step into a strange world wholly fabricated, shaped and birthed from the fabric of a truly creative collective mind.

THE RESIDENTS April 15 to 19 | 9:00 pm Bimbo’s 365 Club 1025 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco $30 | 415.474.0365 bimbos365club.com

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DAILY

Music • Dining Dancing • Fun!

22 | SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK Yoshi’s | San Francisco $38 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

842 4TH STREET SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 WWW.GEORGESNIGHTCLUB.COM

See article on Page 33.

(877) 568-2726

April Highlights

22 | Tsai Chin Charity Concert Flint Center | Cupertino $50-$120 | 408-252-7070 flintcenter.com

Presented by the Chinese Cancer Memorial Foundation.

22 | Yonder Mountain String Band The Fillmore | San Francisco $25 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

CARLOS REYES

THURSDAY • APRIL 7TH • 8PM CD RELEASE PARTY $20 PLUS ANY ADDITIONAL TICKET FEE

FRIDAY • APRIL 8TH • 8PM

GRAMMY NOMINEE + GUEST BRAD BROOKS

$10 ADVANCE • $15 AT THE DOOR IMAGE: DAN GOLDEN

PLUS ANY ADDITIONAL TICKET FEE

LESTER CHAMBERS BLUES REVUE

ALMOST EVERY SUNDAY • 2PM* SPECIAL LOCAL & NATIONAL GUEST ARTISTS

$10 PLUS ANY ADDITIONAL TICKET FEE * CALL TO CONFIRM DATES

COMEDY WEDNESDAYS • 8PM GREAT GUEST LINE-UP $5 OFFWITH COUPON CODE: COMEDY5OFF

ALL SHOWS ARE 21 AND OVER.

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23 | Buddy Guy & John Nemeth Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $20-$65 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

In an art form that’s practically been defined by the rediscovery of long neglected artists, Buddy Guy stands alone in recent decades as a giant reclaimed from obscurity.

BONNIE HAYES

$10 PLUS ANY ADDITIONAL TICKET FEE

Blending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences that the band cites, Yonder has pioneered a sound of their own.

23 | Foreverland Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $22 | 415.474.0365 bimbos365club.com

14-piece tribute to Michael Jackson.

With four lead vocalists, four horns and a six-piece rhythm section, the ensemble is a remarkable and rocking Michael Jackson revue.

23 | Jonathan Poretz Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Poretz, who has starred as Sinatra in the long-running show, The Rat Pack is Back, is bringing back the carefree spirit and fun filled nightlife that epitomized the casino lounges of the swinging ‘60s.

23 | Kurt Elling Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley $24-$52 | 510.642.9988 calperformances.org

When Kurt Elling hits the stage with

his unique scat-vocalese style, you know you’re in the presence of a worthy successor to Mark Murphy and Johnny Hartman.

23 | LA BOHÈME California Theatre | San Jose $51 to $101 | 408.437.4450 operasj.org

See article on Page 15.

23 | Tommy Castro & Marcia Ball Uptown Theatre | Napa $30 | 800.745.3000 uptowntheatrenapa.com

R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist Tommy Castro is joined by singer, pianist Marcia Ball for a rollicking evening.

23 | Tribute to Johnny Cash Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $15-$25 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

A musical tribute to the one and only Johnny Cash.

23 | UK Reunion Tour Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $62.50-$96.50 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

Featuring Eddie Jobson and John Wetton with Alex Machacek (guitar) and Marco Minnemann (drums) playing the music of UK and King Crimson.

25 | American Me Comedy Punch Line Comedy Club | SF $20 | 415.397.4337 punchlinecomedyclub.com 25 | Curtis Salgado Biscuits & Blues | San Francisco $22 | 415.292.2583 biscuitsandblues.com

Singer Salgado inspired John Belushi to create The Blues Brothers when Belushi was in Eugene, Oregon to film Animal House and caught Curtis’s act.

26 | Saints & Tzadiks Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $24.50-$26.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

The band has gathered a rich mix of songs from Jewish and Irish traditions on love, death, betrothal, betrayal and the demon drink.

by james j. siegel Tony Kushner’s Angels in America debuted in San Francisco 20 years ago. Now, the Pulitzer Prizewinning play that opened dialogue on AIDS and HIV, returns to the city under the leadership of Theatre Shark. And according to Donald Currie, Artistic Director of the theater company, Angels is still as relevant as it was two decades ago.

After weeks of brainstorming what show to produce next, John Steen, who plays Joe Pitt in the upcoming production, suggested the company tackle Angels in honor of its 20th anniversary. Currie said everyone on the theater team said “yes, without hesitation.”

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center will host the show, which will include an outreach program urging younger members of the community to get tested for HIV. “Our partnership with The Center just seemed so perfect because from the start we all knew this was more than just another production of a play, but a call out to the LGBT community to look at our history since the bomb fell in the early ‘80s,” said Currie.

Laura Lundy-Paine, director of Angels, agrees.

“Young people are still dying,” she said. “This is still going on. [Young people] have stopped using condoms and stopped talking about AIDS.”

While Angels is 20 years old, Lundy-Payne said the production is not dated. In fact, she believes it could have been written yesterday.

PLAY

ANGELS IN AMERICA

20th anniversary of landmark aids drama

“There are references to Ronald Reagan and the GOP, but it is exactly the same right now.

These dynamics don’t change. These elements have not changed. It’s still very much with us,” she said.

While U.S. politics are still divisive, and AIDS and HIV are still taboo subjects, the most important theme of the play, according to Lundy-Paine, is the commonality between people. More importantly, how we all suffer, no matter our sexuality, race or religion.

“We are all alive and suffer from persecution and are reaching out and finding angels when we need it,” she said.

ANGELS IN AMERICA April 22 to May 14 San Francisco LGBT Community Center 1800 Market Street, San Francisco $15 to $30 | 800.838.3006 angelsinamericasf.com

image: david vilson

John Steen Donald Currie

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NEW RELEASES

ANGIE DOCTOR DAN SCHUMACHER He Said, She Said

As members of the renowned a capella quartet The Bobs, both Dan Schumacher and Richard Greene are well aware of the power and range of just four voices. But what about half that number? What about two?

Greene produced and arranged this outing for Schumacher and Angie Doctor to stunning results. Mixing standards like “One Note Samba” and Greene originals, the album is an intricate vocal balacing act and game of catch as Schumacher and Doctor lob melody, harmony and effects back and forth - sometime in mid line. The album is sure to delight advocates of an instrument-free existence. (richardbobgreene.com)

DAILY 28 | Accept Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $30-$32 | 415.673.5716 theregencyballroom.com

28 | Oleta Adams Rrazz Room | San Francisco $49.50 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

28 | KILLER QUEEN: THE STORY OF PACO, THE PINK POUNDER Michael Boxer Gym & Barbershop 96 Lafayette Street, SF $20 | 415.504.2432 theoffcenter.org

28 | Philip Glass Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $35-$45 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

After quite a few years away from the visible hard rock scene, Germany’s legendary Accept have returned to the metal forefront with an elated new singer, a euphoric new album and global tours.

See article on Page 26.

28 | Donald Glover The Fillmore | San Francisco $20 | 800-745-3000 thefillmore.com

I AM DONALD TOUR featuring Donald Glover and Childish Gambino.

28 | Jamie Kennedy Cobb’s Comedy Club | SF $20.50-$23.50 | 415.928.4320 cobbscomedy.com

Jamie Kennedy, a multitalented comedian-actor-writer-producer, is a true hyphenate. He may be seen acting in a film one minute and on stage doing stand up the next.

28 | Jonathan Biss Plays Beethoven Davies Symphony Hall | SF $15-$135 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

Star of a handful of Broadway shows including Pippin, Jesus Christ Superstar and, most recently, Wicked, Ben Vereen’s lengthy career spanned many mediums. At 64, the sprightly Tony-winning actor has released his first non-theatrical recording in 30 years. Well, not exactly nontheatrical. The CD is, in fact, a cast album of sorts for the one-man show Vereen toured through San Francisco a year or so ago. There’s a medley from the aforementioned hit shows, some Rat Pack styled standards, and a couple of nods to Sammy Davis, Jr. If you like Vereen’s gently raspy and congenial style, this CD will please. (ghostlightrecords.com)

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Peter Oundjian and the young piano virtuoso Jonathan Biss join forces with the Orchestra in Beethoven’s regal “Emperor Concerto,” the last of the composer’s piano concertos and one of the grandest statements of his oeuvre.

28 | La Traviata Rhythmix Cultural Works | Alameda $20-$25 | 510.865.6237 viragotheatre.org

Virago Theatre Company presents Verdi’s soaring opera, directed by Harriett March Page of Goat Hall Productions, and starring Eileen Meredith, Ray Chavez and Jimmy Kansau.

Etudes and other work for solo piano.

29 | Goapele Yoshi’s | San Francisco $28 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

This spiritual love child of Sade and D’Angelo mixes sweet soul vocals, jazz funk instrumentation and hip hop rhythms by underground Bay Area beatmasters.

29 | Jabari Davis & Associates The Purple Onion | San Francisco $20 | 866.320.0602 jabaridavis.com

Jabari Davis & Associates is creating the premiere comedy production house and bringing a sense of investment back to the comedy community.

29 | Kathleen Madigan Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $27.50-$44 | 415.673.5716 sfstandup.com

An American Comedy Award winner as best female stand-up, her accessible and unpretentious style has earned her a devoted and growing following.

29 | La Belle Hélène Cinnabar Theater | Petaluma $35 | 707.763.8920 cinnabartheater.org

Cinnabar Young Rep presents this operetta by Lacques Offenbach with Donald Pippin’s English translation.

images: courtesy photos (cds - he said, she said; ben vereen)

BEN VEREEN Steppin’ Out Live

Oleta Adams has inspired a growing legion of fans in the U.S. and Europe with journeys of the heart via songs that draw deeply from her roots in gospel, while crossing effortlessly into the realms of other music genres.

a mission of justice through music by andrew gilbert

Founded in the struggle for civil rights, Sweet Honey In the Rock has flourished for almost four decades, through shifting political currents, evolving musical styles and numerous personnel changes.

Steeped in African American culture, the sixwoman a cappella ensemble performs an expansive repertoire in which West African chants, field hollers, blues, spirituals, gospel, folk tunes, protest songs, jazz, soul and even hip hop all intermingle.

With two Grammy Awards to its credit, the group has never been afraid of new influences, which have cycled in with new singers, just as the ensemble’s audience has expanded generationally. Sweet Honey, which takes its name from Psalm 81:16, performs at Santa Cruz’s Rio Theatre and presents the West Coast debut of a new show at Yoshi’s San Francisco.

Over the years the group has kept AfricanAmerican vocal traditions in the spotlight through performances that are as theatrical as they are soulful. Decked out in colorful, flowing robes, the women weave interlocking vocal lines, while creating intricate polyrhythms with foot stomps and hand percussion. As politically engaged as ever, Sweet Honey released its 18th album last year “Are We A Nation?” (She Rocks 5), a response to Arizona’s controversial legislation targeting illegal immigrants.

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK April 20 | 7:00 pm Rio Theatre 1025 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz $30 to $40 | 831.427.2227 kuumbwajazz.org April 22 to 24 Yoshi’s 1330 Fillmore Street, San Francisco $38 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

image: courtesy photo

Backed by a versatile jazz trio, the group explores the music of three legendary activist/artists: the high priestess of soul Nina Simone, the folk/blues chanteuse Odetta, and South African freedom singer Marian Makeba. Sweet Honey’s roots go back to the mid-1960s, when Bernice Johnson Reagon formed the SNCC Freedom Singers to raise awareness and money for the civil rights struggle.

But it was the women’s movement that gave shape to the singular ensemble, which emerged alongside writers like June Jordan, Toni Morrison, Alice

Walker and Toni Cade Bambara at a time when powerful female African-American voices were coming to the foreground.

MUSIC

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK

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RECOMMENDED

DAILY 29 | Los Pinguos 142 Throckmorton | Mill Valley $20-$30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

The sound of Los Pinguos has claimed fans worldwide, from their hometown of Buenos Aires to the streets of Los Angeles.

30 | Blame Sally Great American Music Hall | SF $31 | 415.885.0750 musichallsf.com

San Francisco folk-rock quartet with an attitude, combining acoustic textures with Americana harmonies and an independent spirit.

30 | Kevin Hart Paramount Theatre | Oakland $59.50-$69.50 | 850.417.7316 paramounttheatre.com

30 | Little Mermaid SF War Memorial Opera House | SF $48-$265 | 415.865.2000 sfballet.org

John Neumeier’s superlative work of dance-theater returns featuring an evocative score by Lera Auerbach, this heart-wrenching story of sacrifice and unrequited love comes to life against dazzling scenic, costume and lighting designs.

30 | Valeriya in Concert Scottish Rite Masonic Center | SF $$45-$85 | 818.377.2101 ticketsr.com

Russian pop diva Valeriya is coming to San Francisco with her new show Songs That You’ve Loved.

The star of ABC-TV’s The Big House and he’s one of America’s funniest.

See him live on stage at the Paramount!

Robben Ford has earned international acclaim playing with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Gregg Allman, Michael McDonald, Larry Carlton, Phil Lesh and countless others. Having grown up in Northern California, he was steeped in the San Francisco music scene of the ‘60s and in particular with the blues.

With an extensive recording career, Ford continues to tour the world with his own trio and as part of Renegade Creation, as well as teach music clinics here and in Europe.

Robben’s wife, acclaimed singer Anne Kerry Ford, will be opening the show, accompanied by pianist John Boswell. Having performed on Broadway, in cabaret rooms, and concert halls, she defies genre.

A graduate of Juilliard’s school of drama, Anne has worked extensively on stage, television and film. She has three solo recordings to her name, including “Weill,” which was recorded in Cologne’s Philharmonic Hall with WDR’s Big Band for composer Kurt Weill’s centenary.

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HAUSCHKA April 7 | 8:00 pm Great American Music Hall 859 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco $18 to $42.95 (Dinner) | 415.567.6642 gamh.ocom

images: george b. wells (robben ford), l. eugenia stewart (anne kerry ford), red bird management (hauschka)

ROBBEN FORD ANNE KERRY FORD April 2 | 8:00 pm 142 Throckmorton Theatre 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley $22 to $30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

a spectacle of traditional music and dance by steve murray

Shen Yun Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization based in New York, takes their craft very seriously.

As the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company, they draw on millennia of traditional culture in dance and music to present a new and fresh portrait of China to Western audiences.

For many in the US, a Shen Yun show may be their first initiation to the beauty, skill and tremendous history of traditional Chinese performance arts.

Every year, Shen Yun unveils an entirely new lineup of dances, songs, and musical scores. At the core of Shen Yun’s performances is classical Chinese dance with China’s numerous ethnic and folk dance styles rounding out the evening.

SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS April 8 to 10 | 8:00 pm San Jose Center for the Performing Arts 255 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose $100 to $150 | 408.792.4111 sanjose.org

image: courtesy photo

Animated backdrops transport the audience to another world. Projected behind the dancers, the hi-tech images lift the stage and set it amidst blossoming landscapes, deep forests, Mongolian prairies, or celestial paradises. One of the features that strikes audience members most is Shen Yun’s colorful costumes. Hundreds of gorgeous, handmade garments span China’s dynasties, regions, and ethnic groups.

In a collection of short pieces, audiences travel from the Himalayas to tropical lake-filled regions.

Tenors, sopranos and other award-winning vocalists perform piano-accompanied solos, along with a regular favorite - the stirring melodies of the two-stringed erhu, also known as the Chinese violin. Shen Yun’s one-of-a-kind orchestra, with its all-original compositions, blends East and West like no other. The distinctly Chinese sound of ancient instruments like the erhu and the pipa are bathed in a rich sea of Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. The result – two great classical musical traditions producing one fresh, unexpected sound.

CULTURAL

SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS

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BACK Jamie Ross and Constantine Maroulis of Rock of Ages at the Hotel Adagio

Anika Noni Rose at the Fairmont Hotel

image: steven underhill

image: via media

Sally Kellerman and Steven Underhill at the Hotel Nikko

Sony Holland at the Rrazz Room

Rufus Wainwright at the We Were Here premiere

image: steven underhill

image: terry dudley

image: steven underhill

Joan Rivers at the Castro Theatre

CeCe Peniston at the Hotel Nikko

Rashad Naylor and Travis Walker of Rock of Ages at the Hotel Adagio

image: steven underhill

image: via media

image: via media

John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey at the Venetian Room

Amanda McBroom at the Rrazz Room

Linda Purl and Kevin Spirtas at the Rrazz Room

image: via media

image: via media

image: via media

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