BAYSTAGES | 2011.05 - May

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

[THE PERFORMERS]

BETTY BUCKLEY

= The Rrazz Room

TIN HAT

= 142 Throckmorton = Freight & Salvage

SUZANNE RAMSEY

= Madrone Art Bar

[THE SHOWS]

CARE OF TREES = Shotgun Players

DISASSEMBLY

= Impact Theatre

[THE COVER]

Keeping the Music Playing

HERB &ALPERT LANI HALL = PALACE OF FINE ARTS

VICE PALACE

= Hypnodrome

[THE LATEST]

LILLIAS WHITE YERBA BUENA GARDENS FESTIVAL FREDA PAYNE

+

DIVAFEST COPIOUS DANCE

ALSO: CATS | SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL | OFF-BROADWAY BOOKS

the

room At H o t e l N i k k o S f

SAN frANciSco’S Premier NigHtclub

Apr 30-MAy 1

THE MILLS BROTHERS

AMericA’s GreAtest sinGinG Group the LeGAcy continues!

MAy 3-8

BETTY BUCKLEY

for the Love of BroAdwAy rrAZZ rooM very speciAL event!

MAy 13-15

dEL SHORES’

A sordid AffAir with speciAL Guests Ann wALker, roseMAry ALexAnder, neweLL ALexAnder, And JAson dottLey

MAy 21, June 4, June 24

THE ANITA COCKTAIL HOUR

honky tonk hootenAnny entertAinMent for the LAte-niGht crowd.

MAy 23

KAREL

STANdS UP V3.2

uncensored, unfiLtered, unhinGed.

222 mason Street, San francisco, cA 94102

MAy 2, 9, 16

AMANdA KINg

the swinG of thinGs

5/2, younG Lions w tAyLor eiGsti, euGene wArren And suryA pAtri 5/9, sf LeGends w BiLL BeLL, Jeff chAMBers And eddie MArshALL 5/16, My Guys w shotA osABe, chuck Bennett, suryA pAtri, And terrence Brewer

MAy 10-15, 17-22, 24-29

WESLA WHITfIELd

& the Mike GreensiLL trio whistLinG AwAy the dArk

MAy 20 & 22

CARLY OZARd

“soMeBody to Love; My MusicAL triBute to freddie Mercury”

MAy 22

THE QUEER QUEENS Of QOMEdY

POPPY CHAMPLIN’S & JULIE gOLdMAN MAy 28, June 25

JONATHAN PORETZ niGht BeAt At the rrAZZ rooM

rrAZZurrectinG the After-hours LounGe scene in the city By the BAy entertAinMent for the LAte-niGht crowd

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

HUGH JACKMAN May 3 to 13 Curran Theatre 445 Geary Street, SF $40 to $200 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

contributing writers KEN BULLOCK GRIER COOPER NICOLE DIAL ANDREW GILBERT STEVE MURRAY CHRIS RENé WILL SCHMID JASON VICTOR SERINUS JAMES J. SIEGEL ROBERT SOKOL Writers may submit résumés and samples to editor@baystages.com for consideration.

contributing photographers JERRY HOLLAND PAT JOHNSON ROBERT SOKOL STEVEN UNDERHILL DAVID WILSON cover image HERB ALPERT & LANI HALL image: andreas neumann

THE STAGES FESTIVAL | DIVAfest..................................................................... 2 GLOBAL | San Francisco International Arts Festival.................. 7 BURLESQUE | Suzanne Ramsey.................................................. 9 PLAY | Care of Trees....................................................................11 JAZZ | Herb Alpert & Lani Hall...................................................13 CABARET | Betty Buckley...........................................................15 PLAY | Disassembly.....................................................................17 PLAY | Moon Over Buffalo..........................................................21 REVIVAL | Vice Palace................................................................23 GARDEN | Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.................................25

image: james houston / corbis online

MUSIC | Tin Hat...........................................................................27 REFERENCE | Off-Broadway Musicals......................................29 MUSIC | Chamber Choir + String Quartet.................................31

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

advertising sales THOM WARD RON WILLIS 415.552.8040 advertise@baystages.com distribution JUAN RAMIREZ If you need additional copies or would like to become a distribution point for BAY STAGES please call our office.

PDF copies of individual articles are available upon request. Press releases and promotional materials may be sent to:

thisjustin@baystages.com

DANCE | Copious Dance.............................................................33

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

.............................36

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.

MAY 2011 |

|1

FESTIVAL

DIVA FEST

just women

by james j. siegel Exit Theatre celebrates its 10th Annual DIVAfest this month. When asked if the month-long festival of female artists has a theme, Christina Augello, founder of Exit Theatre and organizer of the event, said, “Women is the theme. Just women.”

But when looking at the roster of performers for the festival, the theme could be the diversity of San Francisco’s female artists. This year’s event welcomes singer-songwriters, a legendary beat poet, a musical and two solo performances.

Augello is featured in one of those solo shows.

She’ll play the pirate queen Grace “Grania” O’Malley in the production of A Most Notorious Woman. The story examines the life of the 16th Century Irish seafarer, including her meeting with Queen Elizabeth.

Cheryl Smith will also provide a world premiere solo performance in Lucky Girl. The show is based on “The Rape Poems,” a collection of 43 poems published by Francis Driscoll that examines the poet’s rape in 1987 and her recovery.

Also a world premiere is Eleanor, a musical comedy about Eleanor of Aquitaine, written by Dark Porch Theatre, the theatre-in-residence at the Exit Theatre.

Something completely new for DIVAfest is the presence of two singer-songwriters, Melissa Lyn and Carrie Baum Love. Lyn is an alternativefolk musician and a member of the band The Bandishere. Baum Love is a returning performer to the Exit after receiving an award for her 2008 Fringe show Exit Sign: A Rock Opera.

Finally, for the seventh year, DIVAfest welcomes beat poet Diane di Prima. Exit has produced many of di Prima’s plays, but during DIVAfest, Augello said the poet has an “open palette. She can do what she wants.” The poet will read from her vast collection of poems, published and unpublished. The theatre keeps bringing di Prima back because “she’s a great supporter of the female spirit,” said Augello.

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| MAY 2011

image: laurie gallant

Christina Augello

DIVA FEST May 5 to 28 EXIT Theatre 156 Eddy Street, San Francisco $10 to $25 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

SAY

view from the editor I lost someone very dear to me recently. We weren’t related. We weren’t even friends. If fact, in the over 40 years that this person played a significant role in my life, we only ever spoke directly to each other once and then across a crowded room.

I’m referring to Elizabeth Taylor, Dame of the British Empire, two-time Academy Award winner and one of the few people to whom the term legendary could be applied with a degree of accuracy.

As the arc of her career moved from big screen to small screen to no screen at all, she made a stop on Broadway before casting herself in a role she would play for final third of her life: AIDS activist.

Before it was fashionable or smart, Elizabeth used her considerable fame to raise money and awareness in the fight against AIDS and she made it safe for others to join her in the cause.

Next month marks the 30th year of the AIDS pandemic. It is estimated that over 30 million people worldwide live with HIV today, and that over a million people are infected with the virus each year. The fight is far from over.

What makes this an editorial topic for a performing arts magazine? Because for as long as AIDS has been part of the public consciousness performers

of every discipline have donated time and talent to combating this disease.

On May 1, the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (richmondermet.org) brings together another line-up of generous artists for an evening of music and compassion that raises needed funds for local service organizations, continuing REAF’s legacy of giving that spans almost two decades.

Education is as important as fundraising. In conjunction with their 20th anniversary production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the members of Theatre Shark (theatreshark.com) have launched an innovative, eye-catching campaign to remind people to pay attention to their own health and the health of others.

Most of us can’t do things on a truly Elizabethan scale, she should pardon the expression, but we can buy a ticket or make an appointment. There’s always time to help, so c’mon…be an angel!

ROBERT SOKOL, editor

image: david wilson

Members of the cast of Theatre Shark’s Angels in America (l-r) John Steen, Cary Cronholm, director Laura Lundy-Paine, Donald Currie, Annie Larson and Anthony Rollins-Mullen creatively spread the message of AIDS awareness.

MAY 2011

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CLOSING SHOWS 1 | No Exit

American Conservatory Theater | San Francisco $7.50-$83 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

Sartre’s 1944 existential classic, skillfully reimagined through the perspective of a series of hidden cameras.

1 | Twelfth Night

Buriel Clay Memorial Theater | San Francisco $15-$35 | 415.563.3519 african-americanshakes.org Combines Shakespeare’s poetry with an original jazz-big band score.

1 | The Busy World is Hushed

New Conservatory Theatre Center | San Francisco $24 | 415.861.4914 nctcsf.org

Hannah, a minister and bible scholar, finds her faith at odds with that of Thomas, her wayward homosexual son.

7 | A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

Gavilan Theater | Gilroy $12 | 408.846.4973 gavilan.edu

Stephen Sondheim musical-comedy loosely based on the early Roman comedies of Plautus.

7 | The Kitchen Witches

Pintello Theater | Gilroy $18 | 408.337.1599 pintellocomedy.com

Live comedy production about two life-long enemies who film a cableaccess cooking show together.

7 | The Lady with All the Answers

Lesher Center | Walnut Creek $25 | 925.943.7469 centerrep.org Theatrical celebration of Ann Landers, the trailblazing advice columnist presented by Center Rep. 8 | A Year With Frog And Toad

Front Row Theater | San Ramon $12-$18 | 925.973.3343 bayareachildrenstheater.org Bay Area Children’s Theatre presents this warm comedy, for young and old alike.

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| MAY 2011

DAILY The following listings are compiled from press releases and venue websites.

Data is subject to change without notice. Please verify performance times and dates before making your ticket purchases. Shows with multiple performances are listed in DAILY STAGES as of their first performance. CLOSING SHOWS are listed in the featured columns to the left and right with the date of the final scheduled performance noted next to the title. ONGOING SHOWS that offer regularly scheduled performances throughout the month are listed separately.

Closing and Ongoing shows are not included in the daily listings that follow.

A select list of Music Clubs and Comedy & Improv venues that offer rapidly changing schedules are listed in side columns at the end of this section.

1 | Company C

1 | Divas and Dames

Company C Contemporary Ballet presents their Spring 2011 program.

Bay Area Divas & Friends in Concert to Fight AIDS, presented by Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation.

Palace of Fine Arts Theater | San Francisco $18-$40 | 415.567.6642 companycballet.org

1 | Cirque Noveau

Brava Theatre | San Francisco $26 | No Phone cirquenoveau.com

Presenting Devil Fish, the story of a fish who falls in love with a beautiful woman. Aerial circus.

1 | F!#&ing Free Fridays

Alcove Theater | San Francisco FREE | No Phone endgamesimprov.com

Late Night Improv show called Your F!#&ed Up Relationship presented

by EndGames Improv.

1 | Priya Sisters in Concert

Louis B.Mayer Theater | Santa Clara $20 | No Phone sankritilaya.org

The famed melodious duo of the Priya Sisters in mellifluous carnatic classical vocal concert.

1 | La bohème

California Theatre | San Jose $51-$101 | 408.437.4450 operasj.org

Opera San José presents Puccini’s timeless classic of young love in 19th century Paris.

1 | John Roy

Rooster T. Feathers | Sunnyvale $12 | 408.736.0921 johnroylive.com

Chicago comic’s observations about absurdities of modern life.

Marines’ Memorial Theatre | San Francisco $30-$75 | 415.273.1620 helpisontheway.org

1 | Frederica von Stade

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $15 | 415.392.4400 performances.org

Flicka is joined by Jake Heggie and guests from Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program. Family matinee.

1 | The Tiffany Box Benefit

Ross Valley Players | Ross $75 | 415.456.9555 rossvalleyplayers.com

A true story captured in emails about living with a beloved who is dying and still very much alive.

1 | Lack, Mok, & Lin

Old First Church | San Francisco $17 | 415.474.1608 oldfirstconcerts.org

Lori Lack on piano, Christina Mok on violin and Joanne Lin on ‘cello playing Shostakovich and more.

1 | Marin Symphony

Marin Center | San Rafael $70 | 415.499.6800 marinsymphony.org

Presenting Straight to the Heart.

Alasdair Neale, conductor, Zuill Bailey, cello.

1 | SF Symphony Chamber Music

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $36 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

Members of the SF Symphony presents chamber music featuring Beethoven’s “Archduke Trio.36.”

1 | The Little Mermaid

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House | San Francisco $30-$265 | 415.865.2000 sfballet.org

San Francisco Ballet’s “Program 8,”

by Auerbach and Neumeier.

1 | Ives Quartet

First Congregational Church | Palo Alto $25 | 650.224.7849 ivesquartet.org

Chamber music concert featuring works by Haydn, Brahms and and Elinor Armer.

1 | St. Lawrence String Quartet

Standford’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium | Palo Alto $44-$50 | 650.725.2787 https:livelyartstickets.com

Osvaldo Golijov’s Yiddishbbuk plus a Beethoven string trio and a Schubert string quartet.

1 | Alexander String Quartet

Kohl Mansion | Burlingame $15-$45 | 650.762.1130 musicatkohl.org

1 | Loveland

8 | Galileo’s Daughters

1 | Visiting Mr. Green

The relationship between science and religion and how they serve the pursuit of knowledge and truth.

Ann Randolph’s one-woman show is both comedic and touching, full of loss, laughs and human encounters.

Diablo Actors’ Ensemble Theatre | Walnut Creek $10-$25 | 866.811.4111 diabloactors.com

Two very different men must learn to get along in this uplifting offBroadway comedy.

1 | Gabriela Montero

Legion of Honor | San Francisco $25-$45 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Pianist presents solo concert of improvised classical music.

1 | All Shook Up

Bankhead Theater | Livermore $27.50-$37.50 | 925.373.6800 bankheadtheater.org

Tales of a reluctant player, a Godfearing church boy, he wanted to be just like his dear old dad.

Santa Rosa JC Theatre Arts presents this seminal rock musical.

8 | Eccentricities of a Nightingale

Aurora Theatre | Berkeley $10-$50 | 510.843.4822 auroratheatre.org

A rare production of a Tennessee Williams’ play in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

8 | The Little Mermaid

14 | Angels in America

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $30 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Rising star and jazz chanteuse Amanda King presents three evenings of straight ahead jazz standards.

Upstate New York band shares the stage with AroarA.

The Marsh | Berkeley $20-$35 | 800.838.3006 east14th.com.

Burbank Auditorium | Santa Rosa $18 | 707.527.4343 santarosa.edutheatrearts

2 | Amanda King: The Swing of Things

1 | Explosions In The Sky

1 | Don Reed – East 14th

8 | Jesus Christ Superstar

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

2 | Here We Go Magic

American instrumental post-rock band from Texas shares the stage with Papercuts.

Theatre on San Pedro Square | SJ $24 | 800.838.3006 tabardtheatre.org

Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre presents this musical inspired by and featuring the songs of Elvis.

Presenting a concert of Haydn, Shostakovich and Dvorák.

Pre-concert talk at 6pm with Kai Christiansen.

Fox Theater | Oakland $25 | 800.745.3000 thefoxoakland.com

CLOSING SHOWS

The Marsh | San Francisco $20-$50 | 800.838.3006 themarsh.org

Rickshaw Stop | San Francisco $12-$14 | At the Door rickshawstop.com

3 | Chris Cornell

The Fillmore | San Francisco $39.50 | 415.346.6000 livenation.com

Alternative rocker brings his show to the Fillmore.

Dance-theater piece returns featuring a score by Lera Auerbach.

LGBT Community Center | SF $20 | 800.838.3006 angelsinamericasf.com

Theatre Shark presents Millennium Approaches, the first half of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer-winning epic.

14 | La Traviata

Rhythmix Works | Alameda $20-$25 | 510.865.6237 viragotheatre.org

Verdi’s soaring opera, directed by Harriett March Page, starring Eileen Meredith and Jimmy Kansau.

14 | Secret Identity Crisis!

SF Playhouse Stage 2 | SF $10-$20 | At the Door un-scripted.com

A two-hour long-form story about what goes on when the masks come off, by Un-Scripted Theater Company.

15 | Cabaret

6th Street Playhouse | SR $28-39 | 707.523.4185 6thstreetplayhouse.com Kander and Ebb’s Tony awardwinning musical.

MAY 2011 |

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CLOSING SHOWS 15 | Cabaret

Sunnyvale Community Theatre | Sunnyvale $23.50 | 408.733.6611 sunnyvaleplayers.org

Musical based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories.

15 | La Belle Hélène

Cinnabar Theater | Petaluma $35 | 707.763.8920 cinnabartheater.org

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

21 | A Streetcar Named Desire

Actors Theatre of San Francisco | San Francisco $18-$38 | 415.345.1287 actorstheatresf.org

Tennessee Williams’ classic about delusion and betrayal set in a steamy New Orleans tenement.

22 | Over The River and Through The Woods

Rio Nido Lodge | Russian River $20 | 707.583.2343 pegasustheater.com

Family-friendly play about a young man dealing with two sets of overbearing grandparents.

22 | The Lily’s Revenge

Magic Theatre | San Francisco $60-$75 | 415.441.8822 magictheatre.org

Taylor Mac’s five-hour cornucopia of theatre, party, circus and social experiment.

29 | Absolutely San Francisco

Alcove Theater | San Francisco $32-$50 | 415.922.8168 absolutelysanfrancisco.com

Darlene Popovic plays six characters in this original one-woman musical.

DAILY 3 | Betty Buckley: For The Love Of Broadway

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $45-$55 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

The Tony-winning actress sings an evening of Broadway tunes from shows she’s never done.

3 | Aaron Karo

Punch Line San Francisco | San Francisco $17.50 | 800.745.3000 punchlinecomedyclub.com

Aaron Karo is a New York City comedian, columnist and author of “Ruminations on College Life.”

3 | Cannons and Clouds

Café Du Nord | San Francisco $10 | 866.468.3399 cafedunord.com

A six-piece ensemble eclectic indie rock band hailing from San Francisco.

3 | Psychedelic Furs

Slims’s | San Francisco $31 | 888.233.0449 slimstickets.com

New Wave rockers celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Talk Talk Talk” by playing the entire record.

3 | Hugh Jackman: In Performance

Curran Theatre | San Francisco $40-$200 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

The Tony-winner sings his favorite Broadway and Hollywood tunes, backed by a 17-piece orchestra.

3 | Capitol Steps

Bankhead Theater | Livermore $12-$62 | 925.373.6800 livermoreperformingarts.org

Comedy troupe, many of whom are former Capitol Hill staffers.

4 | Ballet Folklorico de Carlos Moreno

Union Square | San Francisco FREE | No Phone unionsquaresf.net

Music, dance and traditional art forms from Mexican folklore.

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4 | Silk Stockings

The Eureka Theatre | San Francisco $24-$44 | 415.255.8207 42ndstmoon.org

Cole Porter’s musical version of the Garbo classic Ninotchka.

4 | Hausmann Quartet

Hotel Rex | San Francisco $20 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

The young artists of the Hausmann Quartet present a concert as part of the “Salons at The Rex” series.

4 | Anthony Dean Griffey

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $35-$60 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

Tenor Griffey is joined in this concert with Warren Jones on piano and Paul Brown on fiddle.

4 | Wanda Jackson

Great American Music Hall | San Francisco $21 | 415.885.0750 gamhtickets.com

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Jackson still performs & records rockkabilly.

4 | Ernie Halter

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

An evening of acoustic music featuring Ernie Halter, Andy Kong and Rick Hardin.

4 | Ricky Martin

HP Pavilion At San Jose | San Jose $34.50-$87.00 | 800.745.3000 hppsj.com

Martin’s “M.A.S. Musica Alma Sexo” World Tour 2011.

4 | Hannibal Buress

Punch Line San Francisco | San Francisco $15-$21 | 800.745.3000 punchlinecomedyclub.com

Stand up comedian known for his laidback style of delivering quirky observations.

san francisco international arts festival by grier cooper

The San Francisco International Arts Festival presents an eclectic mix of artists performing an innovative array of dance, music, opera, performance art and theatre. Many are from the Bay Area but high priority is given to smaller, culturally diverse entities that have rarely or never before performed in the U.S. The festival aims to increase awareness, understanding and appreciation of the arts while putting San Francisco on the map as the host of one of the most remarkable arts festivals in the world.

This year’s festival opens May 18th with Afro-Cuban jazz great Omar Sosa, and includes performances by Teatr Zar (Poland), Iraqi Bodies (Iraq & Netherlands), and local artists Scott Wells and Hope Mohr.

Dancing Earth, a Bay Area Native dance ensemble, will present their first full-length work entitled, Of Bodies of Elements.

“We’ve grown this production from scratch,” says Tangen. “I probably had dreams that were the seeds of this over 20 years ago.” She’s known many of the dancers since they were children, and watched them evolve to become Dancing Earth’s current tribe of dancers. It was worth the wait - they have been awarded the National Museum of American Indian’s Expressive Arts award, making Dancing Earth the foremost indigenous contemporary dance ensemble in the country.

SF INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL May 18 to June 5 Various Venues, San Francisco $12 to $25 per show | 415.399.9554 sfiaf.org/2011Festival

image: paulo tavares

“It is a collaborative vision of many artists, from costume design, story sharing and music, to dance and choreography. We have developed a distinctly inter-tribal vision,” says Rulan Tangen, founding director and choreographer of Dancing Earth.

The themes of Native creation stories and myths “remind us that human beings are part of a living organism and should act in balanced relationship to this life force. Everything we do, think or feel affects everything within us and around us.” The

piece includes a contemporary depiction of the Sunflower Dance, an ancient dance of the Narragansett people, performed by three generations of women, and La Danza Del Venado, a depiction of the duality of life and death when man encounters animal, performed

by Jacoh Cortes, the director of Cuicacalli, Dancing Earth’s training ground for bilingual school children.

GLOBAL

MUSIC, MYTH & Magic

MAY 2011 |

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DAILY 4 | Theatre Encounter for Children

Lesher Center for the Arts | Walnut Creek FREE | 925.943.1775 diabloballet.org

Bringing 750 low income school children from Contra Costa County schools to experience live theatre.

5 | Disassembly

La Val’s Subterranean Theatre | Berkeley $12-$20 | 800.838.3006 impacttheatre.com

Evan is what you would call accident-prone. He’s now been stabbed in the shoulder.

5 | Cypress String Quartet

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $35-$40 | 415.392.4400 cypressquartet.com

Presenting “Call & Response: Exotic Lands Inspired Music.”

5 | Manhattan Transfer

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $35-$45 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

The Transfer’s first appearance at Yoshi’s.

5 | Mahler’s Symphony No. 9

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $15-$145 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

MTT conducts the SF Symphony’s presentation of Mahler’s symphony.

5 | The Jazz Crusaders

Yoshi’s | Oakland $35-$40 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson and Wilton Felder present their jazz favorites from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

5 | All in the Timing: 5 Short Comedic Plays by David Ives!

Flex Theatre | Redwood City $10-$15 | 650.306.3331

These five short comedic plays take you into another world and leave you laughing!

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| MAY 2011

5 | The Drowsy Chaperone

Hillbarn Theatre | Foster City $22-$32 | 650.349.6411 hillbarntheatre.org

A new musical that harkens back to the great musicals of the 1920s.

Grand sets and over 100 costumes.

5 | Eleanor

Exit on Taylor | San Francisco $10 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

Eleanor is a new dramatization of the exploits of the French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

5 | Ron Pope

Café Du Nord | San Francisco $12-$15 | 866.468.3399 cafedunord.com

Singer, songwriter and blues-rock inspired guitarist.

5 | Cats

Orpheum Theatre | San Francisco $30-$150 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

The world-famous musical based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.”

5 | Louis Bravo’s Forever Tango

Lesher Center for the Arts | Walnut Creek $39-$90 | 925.943.7469 lesherartscenter.org

Featuring twelve world-class tango dancers, one vocalist and an onstage eight piece orchestra.

5 | David Templeton

Roxie Theater | San Francisco $10-$12 | At the Door roxie.com

Outrageous true story of former teenage fundamentalist and how he was saved from being saved.

6 | Cinematic Titanic

Castro Theatre | San Francisco $35-$60 | 415.621.6120 castrotheatre.com

The Mystery Science Theatre 3000 gang dissect Rattlers & Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World.

by chris rené In the musical Gypsy, burlesque is looked down on as the court of last resort for those desperate enough to do anything to stay in showbiz. That was then, this is now according to Suzanne Ramsey. Twice a month patrons at the Madrone Art Bar find Ramsey in her alter ego, Kitten on the Keys, playing Tin Pan Alley tunes and regaling the crowd with the allure, the humor and a touch of the bawdy charm that she calls New Burlesque.

Ramsey knows her subject. She’s been Mistress of Ceremonies for the Tease-O-Rama burlesque convention and recently appeared in the French film Tournee, in which she plays a character “loosely based on myself, though I think I’m funnier in real life.” She travels internationally with a troupe of burlesque performers and writes and records her own music.

According to Ramsey, if people know about burlesque at all, what they know involves stripping and she’s here to tell you there is so much more to the genre. “It’s about comedy and parody and exaggeration.

It’s a variety show and a way of taking a concept and making it understandable to the masses.

Of course, there should be some tease and then a lot of glamour.”

BURLESQUE

SUZANNE RAMSEY

kitten on the keys of new burlesque

Name Name

image: film du poisson

There also needs to be a sense of anticipation. “You can go to a strip club, some money changes hands, and you know what you’re gonna get. Burlesque is theatrical, and as such it always has the potential to surprise you.”

KITTEN ON THE KEYS 2nd and 4th Thursdays 6:00 to 9:00 pm Madrone Art Bar 500 Divisadero Street, SF No Cover | 415.241.0202 madroneartbar.com

MAY 2011 |

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Tony & Emmy Award winner

illias LWhite SAT., MAY 14 at 8 PM VENETIAN ROOM

Fairmont San Francisco Buy tickets ($45) at www.bayareacabaret.org or City Box Office (415)-392-4400

DAILY 6 | Battle of the Bay Theatresports

6 | Hausmann String Quartet

An improv competition between two Bay Area-themed teams presented by BATS Improv.

Joined by Michael Edwards, on quintets for clarinet and string quartet by Brahms and Mozart.

Bayfront Theater | San Francisco $17 | No Phone improv.org

6 | Aurora Mandolin Ensemble

Sunnyside Conservatory | San Francisco $10 | No Phone sunnysideconservatory.org

A benefit for Sunnyside Conservatory, featuring mandolins, mandola, guitar, mandocello, and flutes.

6 | You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Santa Clara University | Santa Clara $14-$16 | 408.554.4015 scu.educpa

Schulz’ classic about an average day in the life of Charlie Brown.

Fess Parker Studio Theatre.

6 | Secret Garden

Montgomery Theatre | San Jose $23 | 408.792.4111 cmtsj.org

Orphaned in India, young Mary returns to Yorkshire to live with her embittered uncle and his son.

6 | The Real Americans

The Marsh - San Francisco | San Francisco $25-$35 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Dan Hoyle’s critically acclaimed account of his immersive experience with America’s polarized politics.

6 | Jimmy Tingle

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $20-$30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Commentator and humorist brings his Jimmy Tingle for President show to Marin.

10 |

| MAY 2011

Old First Church | San Francisco $17 | 415.474.1608 oldfirstconcerts.org

6 | SCUBA 2011

ODC Theater | San Francisco $15-$18 | 415.863.9834 odctheater.org

Katie Faulkner (SF), Amelia Reeber (Seattle), and Chris Yon (Minneapolis) in a weekend of dance premieres.

6 | Smuin Ballet

YBCA (Novellus Theater) | San Francisco $20-$62 | 415.978.2787 smuinballet.org

Smuin’s Spring Program includes Momentum, Mozart’s Requiem and Michael Smuin’s To The Beatles.

6 | La Traviata

Rhythmix Cultural Works | Alameda $25-$40 | 510.865.6237 viragotheatre.org

Virago Theatre Company presents Verdi’s masterpiece of love, sacrifice and redemption.

6 | Malo

Fox Theatre | Redwood City $20-$25 | 650.369.7770 tickets.foxrwc.com

Latin rock band presents their 40th Anniversary Cinco de Mayo Celebration concert.

6 | Pegi Young

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $25-$30 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

Late-blooming singer/songwriter shares her repertoire of understated, weighty work.

by ken bullock “What happens when your partner embarks upon a path that you simply cannot follow?” Director Susannah Martin expanded on the cryptic description of E. Hunter Spree’s new play, Care of Trees.

designed the costumes) allows us to flow in and out of many worlds, and the work of “an amazing team of designers” including Ball, Lucas Krech (lights), Jake Rodriguez (sound) and Ian Winters (videography).

“It’s a love story, sort of. Two people do it all. He’s an environmental attorney with Midwestern working class roots; she’s an architect from old moneyed Chicago, whose developer father the attorney has filed injunctions against. We see them meet, marry.. and she appears to get sick. She becomes convinced she’s becoming a tree.”

The play itself, the designers’ work--”and how the actors are able to interact” (Liz Sklar as Georgia, Patrick Russell as Travis)--combine to “capture an idea ... ‘There are no permanent structures,’ as Georgia, the architect says.

Two people are telling the story, without much downtime offstage,” Martin concluded. “To really listen, really be in there with them, the audience will need everything that is onstage just as much as the actors will.”

Telling this unusual story created a challenge, which Spree and Martin have met with film, showing memories before the time of the play. “It looks back on the relationship through his eyes, remembering,” she says, “and moves both forwards and backwards in time.”

Martin collaborated on Paducah Mining Company’s production a decade ago. (“’Dig Deep’ was on the back of our t-shirts”) A beautifully abstract, yet tactile-feeling set of a forest, though not in the sense of ‘trees on stage,’ by Nina Ball (who also

PLAY

CARE OF TREES

shotgun players tend an emotional forest

CARE of trees May 18 to June 19 Ashby Stage 1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley $17 to $26 | 510.841.6500 shotgunplayers.org

image: ian winters

Liz Sklar Patrick Russell

MAY 2011 |

| 11

ONGOING SHOWS Beach Blanket Babylon

Club Fugazi | San Francisco $25-$80 | 415.421.4222 beachblanketbabylon.com

The world’s longest running musical revue, Steve Silver’s ever-evolving creation is packed with hilarious spoofs of pop culture & politics.

Big City Improv

Shelton Theater | San Francisco $20 | 510.595.5597 bigcityimprov.com Big City Improv’s shows are fastpaced, un-scripted and created on the spot using audience suggestions and participation.

Magic at The Rex

The Rex Hotel | San Francisco $25 | 415.273.9790 magicattherex.com

In this intimate cocktail lounge setting you will be up close and personal with every flick of the wrist and wave of a hand.

Peter Morrison

Marrakech Magic Theater | San Francisco $38 | 877.624.4264 sanfranciscomagictheater.com

Morrison demonstrates sleight-ofhand magic and feats of mentalism.

Marga’s Funny Mondays

The Marsh | Berkeley $10 | 800.838.3006 themarsh.org

Marga Gomez hosts a comedy & variety showcase with rising stars, comedy big shots, contests, prizes every Monday night.

Mark Pitta & Friends

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $15-$25 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org Stand-up comedy every Tuesday - a premier comedy showcase for up and coming comedians and established headliners.

Party of 2

The Shelton Theater | SF $27-$29 | 800.838.3006 partyof2themusical.com

The New Mating Musical - comic songs about independent types who meet, mate, move in and grapple with issues of Love and Proximity.

DAILY 6 | Spring Dance Concert 2011

Evert B. Person Theatre | Rohnert Park $16 | 707.664.2353 sonoma.eduperformingarts

Sonoma State dance students are featured in performances of original choreography.

6 | Yanni

San Jose Civic | San Jose $30-$79 | 800.745.3000 yanni.com

After 30 years of instrumental performance, Yanni is adding voices to his melodies.

| MAY 2011

Thee Parkside | San Francisco $12 | At the Door theeparkside.com

British rockers share the stage with Prima Donna and Midnite Snaxxx.

7 | Improvised Film Noir

Bayfront Theater | San Francisco $17 | No Phone improv.org

Each night, a one-of-a-kind dark mystery unfolds before your eyes.

Presented by BATS Improv.

6 | A Most Notorious Woman

7 | Ricardo Lemvo

The story of Grace Grania O’Malley, the Irish pirate queen of the sixteenth century.

Lemvo’s band Makina Loca blends Afro-Cuban rhythms with panAfrican styles.

Exit Theatre | San Francisco $10-$25 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

6 | CéU

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $35-$75 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Sao Paulo-born Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças sings as part of SFJazz’s Spring Season.

6 | Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

The Independent | San Francisco $15 | 877.435.9849 theindependentsf.com

Sharing the stage with Youssoupha Sidibe with Mystic Rhythms Band.

6 | Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $10-$18 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

Civic Arts Stage Company production of Kate Wiggins’ story.

6 | Diablo Ballet

Shadelands Arts Center Auditorium | Walnut Creek $19-$36 | 925.943.1775 diabloballet.org

West Coast premiere of Val Caniparoli’s duet from Gustav’s Rooster.

12 |

6 | Eddie And The Hot Rods

Yerba Buena Gardens | San Francisco FREE | No Phone ybgf.org

7 | Forever Tango

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | San Jose $40-$100 | 408.792.4111 artbeatshows.org

Forever Tango traces the colorful history of tango through music, dance, and dramatic vignettes.

7 | Femikaze and Joe Nguyen

The Marsh | Berkeley $15-$50 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Comedy Brains - Saturday nights at The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley.

7 | As You Like It

The Marsh | San Francisco $8-$14 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Marsh Youth Theater presents a hilarious updated musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy.

7 | Victoria George

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $20-$30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

CD tour for singer/songwriter who occupies the border between alt country and folk rock.

keeping the music playing by robert sokol

According to Herb Alpert, “keeping it fun” is the not-so-secret ingredient of the successful long-term professional collaboration he shares with Lani Hall, his wife of almost four decades. “I like to play, Lani likes to sing, and we’re working for the right reasons,” says the eight-time Grammy winner. “We also have tremendous respect for each other’s gifts,” says Hall.

Alpert’s sweet trumpeting gifts first reached broad appeal in the early ‘60s with “The Lonely Bull” by “Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.” The dual ironies in the first single of that song are that the there was no group – just Alpert overdubbing his own playing - and when he did assemble the Brass not one of them was Hispanic.

image: andreas neumann

Hall can tell a similar tale. Born and raised in Chicago, her voice caught the ear of band leader Sergio Mendes who was assembling the team for his Brazil ’66 group. She recorded with the group for five years, singing lead vocals on “Mas Que Nada” and other hits.

Their paths converged 45 years ago when Mendes brought his group in to audition for A&M, the record label Alpert founded with Jerry Moss. “I already knew what he looked like,” remembers Hall “because I had cut school in 1962 to watch a dance show on television and Herb was the guest artist.

JAZZ

herb alpert & lani hall

He was just so beautiful,” she laughs. “When he smiled…that was it!”

In the here and now, the couple has been recording on the Concord Jazz label. Released earlier this year, “I Feel You” is a free-flowing, eclectic collection of songs Hall says “have been in our heads for a while” that range from Van Morrison’s “Moondance” to Meredith Willson’s “Til There Was You” from The Music Man. Tracks from the new CD may point the way for their Palace gig but, borrowing the title from their previous album, “Anything Goes” according to Alpert. “We have three wonderful musicians with us. We’re all on the same page musically and it’s very spontaneous. Lani introduces the song, but then everything that happens behind her is all improv. We have the charts, but the playing is of the moment and that’s what makes it fun night after night.”

HERB alpert & lani hall May 17 | 8:00 pm Palace of Fine Arts 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco $57.50 | 510.548.3010 apeconcerts.com

MAY 2011 |

| 13

RECOMMENDED

DAILY 7 | Shana Morrison

7 | Atmosphere

Singer / songwriter returns to the Rancho.

Sharing the stage with Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz, Blueprint, Grieves, and Budo and Sab.

Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $15 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

7 | Reborning

SF Playhouse | San Francisco $30-$50 | 415.677.9596 sfplayhouse.org

FREDA PAYNE May 14 | 8:00 pm Yoshi’s 1330 Fillmore Street, SF $30 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

The ravishing and tuneful Freda Payne returns to the Bay Area in her Yoshi’s debut. Payne has been singing for over 50 years and has refined a technique that makes her an ideal interpreter of the classic jazz stylings of the likes of Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald (whose work Payne features in a tribute concert she has performed around the world) and Lena Horne - three ladies she will be tributing in this show.

A young artist who crafts dolls begins to suspect that a client may be the mother who abandoned her.

7 | Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $45-$150 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

MTT conducts the SF Symphony’s presentation of Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony.”

7 | Best of PlayGround Festival

Thick House | San Francisco $30-$40 | 415.992.6677 playground-sf.org

Seven plays and playwrights are selected annually for the Emerging Playwright Award.

7 | Fishtank Ensemble

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

High-energy Gypsy music.

7 | Bombay Bellywood

LILLIAS WHITE May 14 | 8:00 pm The Venetian Room 950 Mason Street, SF $45 | 415.392.4400 bayareacabaret.org

The powerhouse singer/actress makes her first San Francisco visit in eight years. Fresh from her recently completed Nigerian tour of the Broadway musical Fela!, the Tony winner for The Life pays tribute to that show’s composer with My Guy Cy, which will feature songs from Coleman’s prolific career including the shows Sweet Charity, Little Me, City of Angels, and Barnum.

14 |

| MAY 2011

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $25-$35 | 707.226.7372 bellydancesuperstars.com

The Bellydance Superstars present their modern interpretation of this exotic and ancient artform.

7 | Santa Rosa Symphony

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts | Santa Rosa $28-$55 | 707.546.3600 santarosasymphony.com

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky and Sophia Gubaidulina’s Fairytale Poem.

Greek Theatre | Berkeley $35 | 800.745.3000 apeconcerts.com

7 | Yanni

The Warfield | San Francisco $39-$89 | 800.745.3000 yanni.com

After 30 years of instrumental performance, Yanni is adding voices to his melodies.

7 | SF Follies

Theater 39 | San Francisco $35 | 800.838.3006 sffollies.com

SF Follies takes a wicked wink at the City’s past, present and future.

7 | Diane di Prima

Exit on Taylor | San Francisco $5 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

Poetry reading by Beat icon and current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima.

7 | Lucky Girl

Exit Theatre | San Francisco $15-$25 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

The true story of a woman piecing together the shards of a life shattered by rape.

7 | Rhett Miller

Café Du Nord | San Francisco $25 | 866.468.3399 cafedunord.com

Front man and main songwriter of the rock ‘n’ roll quartet The Old ‘97s, Miller offers his solo show.

7 | The English Beat

Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $22-$25 | 877.435.9849 bimbos365club.com

Bringing their ska stylings to Bimbo’s.

7 | The Sun Kings

Town Hall Theatre | Lafayette $40-$60 | 925.283.1557 thtc.org

Town Hall Music Series presents this Beatles tribute band.

by robert sokol Betty Buckley never seems to be idle for very long.

She’s either on a TV set or in a recording studio or a concert hall. Last October she spent several weeks here in a workshop of the new musical Tales of the City, which begins previews ten days after she completes her week of concerts at the Rrazz Room.

Tales will be told, but without Buckley. “I was thrilled to build the character,” she says of the role of Anna Madrigal.

“We tried to make it work out but it was a scheduling conflict so it didn’t work for me to do it, which was too bad. I was very disappointed.” Judy Kaye will play the role at A.C.T. this summer.

CABARET

BETTY BUCKLEY

she’d rather be horsing around

Despite all the activity – “They just called me for a Law & Order and I couldn’t make it!’” – Buckley would like nothing better than to spend all her time with her horses. “I wish I could,’ she says with a sigh, “but it’s kind of a Catch 22.

I’ve got to work to pay for the horses.”

She frets over them too. “I went over to visit my baby horse. She’s two. Her name is Honey Bear. Her real name is Bit O’ Honey Boone. She went off to cutting horse training school and promptly got sick as soon as they started riding her,” she says with rueful humor. “She’s had this life of leisure since she was born. So I went to cheer her up and let her know that I had not abandoned her.”

Buckley has not abandoned Broadway show tunes either. Her concert here will be an amalgam of songs she loves from shows she has never done.

“I used to call them my shower songs but now I’ve had to learn the words, “ she laughs.

Name Name

The title of the act - For the Love of Broadway - was selected from a contest Buckley conducted via facebook and Twitter, having been introduced to the social media scene by her brother, director Norman Buckley.

image: courtesy photo

“I joined and promptly became an addict,” she says. “All my friends and family were like, ‘We need to stage an intervention.

She’s on there all hours of the day and night.’ I think I’ve pulled back a little bit in recent history because it was just taking way too much time.” betty buckley May 3 to 8 The Rrazz Room 222 Mason Street, San Francisco $45 to $55 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

MAY 2011 |

| 15

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 8 | Axis Dance Company

9 | Mogwai

This company incorporates both disabled & non-disabled dancers in its performances.

Scottish five-piece post-rock band, with Errors.

8 | Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

Bankhead Theater | Livermore $21-$33 | 925.373.6800 livermoreperformingarts.org

Union Square | San Francisco FREE | No Phone axisdance.org

DIVAS & DAMES May 1 | 7:30 pm Marines’ Memorial Theatre 609 Sutter Street, SF $30 to $75 | 415.273.1620 richmondermet.org Valarie Pettiford (above) and a host of Bay Area perfomers are joining together to present a onetime, one-night only benefit to raise funds for The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Other artists include La Toya London, Lisa Vroman, Connie Champagne, Carly Ozard, Carmen Milagro, Matthew Martin and Sharon McNight.

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $42 | 415.392.4400 chambermusicsf.org

8 | Two Sisters and a Piano

Classical Indian vocalist is accompanied by Eyvind Kang, Will Bernard, and Scott Amendola.

Alter Theatre | San Rafael $25 | 415.454.2787 altertheater.org

Nilo Cruz’s play about two sisters living under house arrest in Cuba as the Soviet Union is crumbling.

8 | KT Tunstall

Great American Music Hall | San Francisco $24 | 415.885.0750 gamhtickets.com

Fox Theater | Oakland $49.50-$85 | 800.745.3000 thefoxoakland.com

Costello brings his “Revolver Tour” to the Fox. 8 | William Fitzsimmons

16 |

| MAY 2011

Del Valle Fine Arts presents awardwinning pianist Martina Filjak.

10 | Shweta Jhaveri

8 | Elvis Costello & The Imposters

West Coast premiere of the duet from San Francisco Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Val Caniparoli’s Gustav’s Rooster, Balanchine’s pas de deux from Apollo, Sally Streets’ Encores, Tina Kay Bohnstedt’s My Way and the finale from Walk Before Talk by KT Nelson.

9 | Martina Filjak

Chamber Music San Francisco presents the newly-formed Archetti Baroque String Ensemble.

Tunstall brings her self-described Nature Techno rock to the stage.

DIABLO BALLET May 6 to 7 Shadelands Arts Center 111 N. Wiget Lane, Walnut Creek $19 to $36 | 925.943.1775 diabloballet.org

The Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $23.50-$26.00 | 800.745.3000 theregencyballroom.com

The Independent | San Francisco $18 | 877.435.9849 theindependentsf.com

Introspective songwriter Fitzsimmons shares the stage with Slow Runner.

9 | Bill Burr

Punch Line San Francisco | San Francisco $35 | 800.745.3000 punchlinecomedyclub.com

High-energy stand up comedy.

Yoshi’s | Oakland $20 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

10 | Taj Mahal

Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $49.50-$54.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

A benefit for “Wonderful Women of Science” featuring Taj Mahal and his trio, plus Maria Muldaur.

10 | Wesla Whitfield & Mike Greensill Trio

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $35-$45 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

The beloved San Francisco singer and recording artist backed by her husband’s jazz trio.

10 | Doggone Funny

Punch Line San Francisco | San Francisco $20 | 800.745.3000 punchlinecomedyclub.com

Comedy fundraiser for Hopalong Animal Rescue. Johnny Steele, Sandy Stec, Reggie Steele, Paco Romane.

10 | The Raveonettes

Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $25 | 877.435.9849 bimbos365club.com

Danish pop duo take the stage.

reading the instructions by nicole dial

In Disassembly, a new work by emerging playwright, Steve Yockey, an extremely accident prone young man returns to his apartment after being stabbed in the shoulder. While he is there, his fiancé and twin sister struggle to fend off visitors and patch him up. Set in real time, this dark farce explores themes of love as each new startling revelation uncovers the secrets everyone seems to be hiding.

As a reply to romantic comedies, Yockey wanted to challenge the usual structure of boy meets girl, loses girl and wins her back. “Romantic comedies are reflected to us so often that we start to think that’s how it is, but life is much more violent and messy.” Yockey said.

Inspiration stuck while he was working with a series of Aesop’s fables. The story of a fox and a crow particularly caught his attention. The fox flatters a crow who is holding a piece of cheese. The crow accidently drops the morsel and the fox devours it.

Disassembly uses the fable as an initial idea and delves deeper into the concept of how much people need to be loved and their expectations about relationships.

happenstance while surfing the internet and since then the theatre has performed four of his plays. This will be the second of his plays opening at Impact as a world premiere.

PLAY

DISASSEMBLY

Although Impact theatre may be a smaller, more intimate venue, it’s making big statements as it aims to expose younger audiences to new playwrights such as Yockey. “The future of American theatre depends on nurturing new voices. This is a place where we could see something honest about our own lives.

Everyone wants to see their own story reflected and discussed,” Hillman said.

Disassembly May 5 to June 11 Impact Theatre 1834 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley $12 to $20 | 800.838.3006 impacttheatre.com

Melissa Hillman, the Artistic Director of Impact Theatre, found a previous play of Yockey’s by

image: cheshire isaacs

(l-r) Andrea Snow, Nick Trengove, Tim Redmond, Kathryn Zdan, Dina Percia, Seth Thygesen, Marissa Keltie

MAY 2011 |

| 17

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DAILY 11 | Anne Bourne

Meridian Gallery | San Francisco $10 | 415.398.7229 meridiangallery.org

Toronto-based composer/performer presents Ondes-water songs, solo improvisations for cello and voice.

11 | Tommy & The High Pilots

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Rickshaw Stop | San Francisco $10 | 415.861.2011 rickshawstop.com

Fox Theatre | Redwood City $50 | 650.369.7770 tickets.foxrwc.com

12 | Nakamatsu Plays Two

Hawaiian party featuring vocalist Raiatea Helm with Kawika Alfiche and Hula Halau.

Local favorite and international star pianist Jon Nakamatsu performs two featured works.

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

11 | Hobo Paradise

San Jose Repertory Theatre | San Jose $34-$75 | 408.367.7255 sjrep.com

A contemporary twist on the ageold tradition of matchmaking.

12 | Tin Hat

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $18-$21 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

| MAY 2011

12 | The Sun Kings

11 | Raiatea Helm & Band

12 | Love in American Times

18 |

MTT conducts the SF Symphony in Mahler’s “Symphony No. 6.”

Beatles tribute band performs a benefit concert for the Young Dreamer Network.

JL Stiles, on guitar and vocals, leads this ragtime band of horns and a rhythm section.

415.370.7152 PHOTOGRAPHY

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $15-$140 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

Sharing the stage with Bird By Bird and Beta State.

Elbo Room | San Francisco $6 | At the Door elbo.com

steven underhill | .com

12 | Mahler’s Symphony No. 6

Band’s atmospheric sound sways between the worlds of folk, classical, Americana and more.

12 | As You Like It

Zeum Theater | San Francisco $18 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

“All the world’s a stage” in one of Shakespeare’s best-loved and most romantic comedies.

California Theatre | San Jose $39-$75 | 800.745.3000 symphonysiliconvalley.org

12 | Citizen Cope

The Independent | San Francisco $25 | 877.435.9849 theindependentsf.com

Born Clarence Greenwood, Cope brings his solo acoustic concert to The Independent.

12 | The Wizard of Oz

Town Hall Theatre | Lafayette $15 | 925.283.1557 thtc.org

Presented by Town Hall Kids Players.

12 | Chicago

Campbell Theatre | Martinez $20-$30 | 925.798.1300 willowstheatre.com

Kander and Ebb’s long-running, Tony-winning musical about murder and celebrity in the Roaring ‘20s.

13 | Company C

Lesher Center for the Arts | Walnut Creek $18-$40 | 415.567.6642 companycballet.org

Company C Contemporary Ballet presents their Spring 2011 program.

13 | Mack and Mabel

Saratoga Civic Theater | Saratoga $23-$30 | 408.266.4734 southbaymt.com

Jerry Herman’s endearing, romantic tale of the silent film era about a director & his greatest star.

13 | Of Montreal

The Fillmore | San Francisco $25 | 415.346.6000 livenation.com

Alternative rockers bring their show to the Fillmore.

13 | Rabbit Hole

Ross Valley Players | Ross $25 | 415.456.9555 rossvalleyplayers.com

The Corbetts appear to have everything, until an accident shatters their lives.

13 | Volti Choral Concert

Berkeley City Club | Berkeley $10-$30 | 415.771.3352 voltisf.org

A program of modern choral works exploring awareness of the physical & metaphysical.

13 | The Rippingtons

Yoshi’s | Oakland $28 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Featuring Russ Freeman, contemporary jazz.

13 | Tin Hat

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

Chamber jazz/folk group features musical settings of poetry by e.e. cummings.

13 | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

Pear Avenue Theatre | Mountain View $20-$30 | 650.254.1148 thepear.org

Twain’s wisecracking hero finds himself zapped from industrial America to medieval England.

13 | Great Moments in Opera

San Mateo Performing Arts Center | San Mateo

$38 | 650.941.5291 peninsulasymphony.org

Highlights from Carmen, The Barber of Seville, I Pagliacci, Aida, and Faust. Peninsula Symphony.

13 | Take 6

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $35-$50 | 707.226.7372 take6.com

A cappella jazz group evokes the era of doo-wop and gospel groups with a modern sensibility.

13 | Foreverland

Last Day Saloon | Santa Rosa $10-$13 | 707.545.2343 lastdaysaloon.com

A 14-piece band tribute to Michael Jackson. With lead vocals, four horns & a six-piece rhythm section.

13 | A Sordid Affair

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $35-$45 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Del Shores’ Sordid Lives troupe plays an evening of comedy with musical guest artist Jason Dottley.

13 | The Cars

Fox Theater | Oakland $49.50 | 800.745.3000 thefoxoakland.com

Celebrating the release of their new album “Move Like This.”

13 | Tontawald

Exit on Taylor | San Francisco FREE | 800.838.3006 cuttingball.com

Part concert, part dance, part fairy tale, and inspired by the work of Poland’s famed Teatr ZAR. 13 | Eat Our Shorts 3

Stage Werx | San Francisco $10-$15 | 800.838.3006 stagewerx.org

GuyWriters presents seven short plays about seven gay men in one apartment building.

13 | Femi Kuti

Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $30-$30 | 877.435.9849 bimbos365club.com

Carrying the Afrobeat torch originally lit by his father, Fela.

With his band The Positive Force.

MAY 2011 |

| 19

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 13 | Chanticleer

14 | Edgar Meyer

Chanticleer’s newest explorations are from Berkeley-based composer, DJ Mason Bates. World premiere.

Double-bassist Meyer presents works by Edgar Meyer, Bach, Bottesini and more.

Bankhead Theater | Livermore $12-$62 | 925.373.6800 livermoreperformingarts.org

13 | Curtains

CATS May 5 to 15 Orpheum Theatre 1192 Market Street, SF $30 to $150 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

Though often the object of derision by today’s theatre snobs, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicaliztion of T.S. Eliot’s book of children’s poems was once the longest-running show on Broadway and the hottest ticket of its time in New York and London.

With Puccinni-inspired melodies, colorful costumes, inventive staging and the international hit song “Memory,” the show still can be solid family entertainment.

Morgan Hill Community Playhouse | Morgan Hill $18 | At the Door svct.org

Kander and Ebb musical whodunit set in Boston in 1959. A theaterloving detective must solve a crime.

14 | Ehsan Khaje Amiri

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | San Jose $45-$100 | 408.792.4111 sjtix.com

Son of Persian traditional music singer Iraj, Amiri sang in the film Moon is Shining Tonight.

14 | Emily Heller And Friends

The Marsh | Berkeley $15-$50 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Comedy Brains - Saturday nights at The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley.

14 | Mort Sahl

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $30-$40 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

THE STOPS May 20 to June 25 New Conservatory Theatre 25 Van Ness Avenue, SF $24 to $40 | 415.861.8972 nctcsf.org

Three lady organists (David Bicha, Cameron Cummings, Johnathan Reisfeld) decide to take their act on the road. They find out that their favorite organist and Christian songwriter is gay and has been ousted from the Quad Cities Faith Tabernacle. What will Ginny, Rose, and Euglena do? This San Francisco musical premiere is directed by F. Allen Sawyer, with choreogrpahy by Stephanie Temple, and songs by Eric Lane Barnes, who wrote the libretto with Drew Emery.

20 |

| MAY 2011

Fearless political satire - the first humorist featured on the cover of Time Magazine.

14 | Lillias White

Venetian Room | San Francisco $45 | 415.392.4400 bayareacabaret.org

Bay Area Cabaret presents Broadway star Lillias White and her tribute to Cy Coleman, My Guy Cy. 14 | Alexander String Quartet

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $25-$46 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

Presenting Bartók String Quartets Nos. 5 and 6.

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $35-$60 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

14 | Rumbache

Osher Marin JCC | San Rafael $22 | 415.444.8000 marinjcc.org

Salsa/timba band perform classic and contemporary Cuban and salsa repertoire, plus their own originals.

14 | Kira Soltanovich

Elbo Room | San Francisco $10-$12 | 415.552.7788 elbo.com

Ukranian-born writer and actress showcases her high-energy, physical stand-up routine.

14 | Freda Payne

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $30 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

A tribute to the great ladies of jazz: Ella, Lena & Sarah.

14 | Roy Rogers

Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $15-$18 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

With the Delta Rhythm Kings and their slide guitars.

14 | My Son Pinocchio

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts | Mountain View $20 | 650.903.6000 pytnet.org

When toymaker Geppetto wishes for his puppet son to come to life, he has no idea what he’s in for.

14 | Great Moments in Opera

Flint Center | Cupertino $38 | 650.941.5291 peninsulasymphony.org

Highlights from Carmen, The Barber of Seville, I Pagliacci, Aida, and Faust. Peninsula Symphony.

by steve murray If you love a great farce, head to Bus Barn Stage Company’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo. The comedy centers around over-the-hill repertory thespians George and Charlotte Hay who, while touring the backwaters in 1953 with tired versions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Private Lives, learn that Frank Capra is expected at the matinee to consider casting them in his next movie.

Keeping with the genre’s formula, a domestic crisis drives George to drink, new and ex-lovers appear, and hilarious misunderstandings and madcap adventures ensue in this comic romp of mistaken identities. The plot includes romantic triangles, alot of confusion and some wonderful backstage hijinks. Relying heavily on situation comedy, sexual innuendo and slapstick, the action and dialogue are fast-paced.

“In a really good farce, there needs to be something that the characters desperately need to have,” says director Ana-Catrina Buchser. “It doesn’t matter if it’s absurd for the audience, it matters that the characters would do anything for it. There also needs to be a lie or a gross misunderstanding, which ends up being multiplied as different characters try

to cover for it, and hopefully, the multiplications contradict themselves at one point. Moon Over Buffalo stays true to form and delivers some wonderfully ridiculous situations.”

play

MOON OVER BUFFALO

ludwig farce lends bus barn a comic tenor

A hit for Carol Burnett in 1996, the play later opened at London’s legendary Old Vic starring Joan Collins and Frank Langella, under the title Over the Moon.

“Ken Ludwig speaks of the French playwright Georges Feydeau as being his inspiration,” says Buchser. “What Feydeau did was perfect the style of the farce. What Ludwig does is take Feydeau’s structure and give it finesse.”

MOON OVER BUFFALO May 19 to June 18 Bus Barn Theater 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos $24 to $30 | 650.941.0551 www.busbarn.org

image: joyce goldschmid

Patricia Tyler Louis Schilling

MAY 2011 |

| 21

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 14 | Peng Xiuwen

15 | Ives Quartet

Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra presents a tribute in honor of Peng Xiuwen’s 80th birthday.

Chamber music concert featuring works by Haydn, Brahms and and Elinor Armer.

California Theatre | San Jose $25-$75 | 800.745.3000 fyco.org

14 | Melissa Lyn

15 | VOENA

Alternative-folk concert is part of Exit Theatre’s 2011 DIVAfest.

60+ harmonious a cappella voices, ages 8 to 18, featuring unique vocal arrangements, music and dance.

Exit Theatre | San Francisco $10 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

15 | TM Krishna

JOE ROGAN May 12 to 14 Cobb’s Comedy Club 915 Columbus Avenue, SF $30.50 to $32.50 | 415.928.4320 cobbscomedyclub.com Joe Rogan was the host of the reality show, Fear Factor, for six seasons on NBC. Prior to Fear Factor, Rogan played Joe Garrelli, the resident electrician on the hit NBC comedy series NewsRadio. .

Spangenberg Theater | Palo Alto $20 | No Phone sankritilaya.org

TM Krishna brings classical Indian music on his tour of North America.

15 | Taiwan in the Gardens

| MAY 2011

Paramount Theatre | Oakland $55-$75.50 | 800.745.3000 chelseahandler.com

Stand up comedian presents her latest show, Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me.

15 | Mark Lundholm

Direct from Taiwan an exhibition by the Keelung Chung Cheng Folk Sports Troupe.

Showtime stand-up comic uses his troubled past as fodder for his dark comedy.

15 | Symphony Parnassus

16 | Diane Keaton

15 | SF Symphony Youth Orchestra

22 |

15 | Chelsea Handler

Cobb’s Comedy Club | San Francisco $20.50 | 800.745.3000 cobbscomedyclub.com

With special guest Keisuke Nakagoshi on piano, performing Andriasov, Rachmaninoff & Dvorák.

Seven stories, seven lives, one apartment building. This timely and heartfelt compilation program delves into the comic and dramatic stories of gay men, their lives, loves and lusts. The one-act plays are by James A. Martin, Bob Hayden, Joe Besecker, Steve M Salzman, Tom W. Kelly, Rodney “Rhoda” Clay, and Joseph Frank.

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $25-$30 | 707.226.7372 voena.org

Yerba Buena Gardens | San Francisco FREE | No Phone ybgf.org

Old First Church | San Francisco $22 | 415.474.1608 oldfirstconcerts.org

EAT OUR SHORTS 3 May 13 to 21 Stage Werx 533 Sutter Street, SF $10 to $15 | 800.838.3006 guywritersonline.org

Le Petit Trianon | San Jose $25 | 650.224.7849 ivesquartet.org

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $12-$45 | 415.864.6000 sfsymphony.org

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | San Jose $40-$70 | 408.792.4111 uniquelives.com

The Oscar-winning actress will talk about her 50+ films, her photography & more.

17 | Candide of California

Gough Street Playhouse | San Francisco $28 | 510.207.5774 custommade.org

30th anniversary concert of the SF Symphony’s Youth Orchestra.

Brian Katz’ modern adaptation of Voltaire’s satirical masterpiece full of sarcasm and dark comedy.

15 | Cody Simpson & Greyson Chance

17 | Herb Alpert & Lani Hall

YouTube teen sensations take to the stage together.

The trumpet master and his wife spend an evening with songs from their new CD “I Feel You.”

Great American Music Hall | San Francisco $18 | 415.885.0750 gamhtickets.com

Palace of Fine Arts Theater | San Francisco $57.50 | 800.745.3000 apeconcerts.com

by will schmid It’s time for more musical mayhem as you visit Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical. A riff on Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death with a score by Scrumbly Koldewyn and a book by Martin Worman, the Thrillpeddlers have barely had a chance to recover from their 22-month run of Pearls Over Shanghai before tackling this newest venture.

Also true to the spirit of 1972 is the continued participation of composer Koldewyn, who will serve as musical director, as he did for most of the Pearls run, in addition to writing seven new songs and updating the book.

revival

VICE PALACE

the last cockettes musical

True to the spirit of the original 1972 production, which starred Divine and Mink Stole, this almost 40th anniversary revival casts Joshua Devore, better known as porn performer Tober Brandt, in the role of Ricciolini, amidst characters named Divina, Vagina Dentata, and Madame X.

“We had to go much deeper. I basically double the size of the script,” says Koldewyn. “Poe was no slouch when it comes to his theme. He originally wrote a four-page short story but it brings up all these big philosophical questions about the absurdity of life and the meaning of death.”

Koldewyn promises another black-out show – “we refer to it as our spook show” – and lots of special effects. “There’s also going to be some Grand Guignol in the production,” he says. “We’ve got a Caligula number that just goes wild!”

image: david wilson

Thrillpeddlers’ South of Market home at Hypnodrome is one of San Francisco’s many excellent, intimate performance spaces. Weekend shows sell out quickly, so book your Shock Box or Turkish Lounge today!

VICE PALACE: the last COckettes musical Through June 22 Hypnodrome 575 10th Street, San Francisco $20 to $35 | 800.838.3006 thrillpeddlers.com

Joshua Devore aka Tober Brandt

MAY 2011 |

| 23

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 17 | Buffalo Tom

A plane crashes and the only survivors are a group of schoolboys who turn into a bloodthirsty tribe.

Boston-based rocker introduce tracks from their 8th album, “Skins,” released in February.

19 | Yelle

Slims’s | San Francisco $21 | 888.233.0449 slimstickets.com

18 | Oscar Reynolds

Union Square | San Francisco FREE | No Phone unionsquaresf.net

Silk Stockings May 4 to 22 Eureka Theatre 215 Jackson Street, SF $24 to $44 | 415.255.8207 42ndstmoon.org

The Cold War turns hot in Cole Porter’s final Broadway musical, a sly and sophisticated take on a classic film. Ninotchka, a stern Russian commissar, is seduced by the joys of Paris and the charms of an American film agent, Steve Canfield. Wacky Hollywood star Janice Dayton, a Russian composer and three errant commissars add to the merrymaking.

Oscar Reynolds plays South American guitar with Bolivian flutes.

18 | Tales of the City

American Conservatory Theater | San Francisco $35-$120 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

World premiere of the musical based on Armistead Maupin’s beloved San Francisco stories.

18 | Eliza Gilkyson

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

Featuring new tunes from her album “Roses at the End of Time.”

18 | Care of Trees

Ashby Stage | Berkeley $17-$26 | 510.841.6500 shotgunplayers.org

What it’s like to care for something fragile and spectacular without understanding the rules.

18 | Omar Sosa & John Santos

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $12-$20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

SHAZIA MIRZA May 9 | 8:00 pm El Rio 3158 Mission Street, SF $7 to $20 | 415.522.3737 koshercomedy.com

Shazia Mirza is a British Muslim stand up comedian of Pakistani descent from London. She works all over the world and has toured the US, Sweden, Denmark, France Holland, and Germany. She has been profiled on 60 Minutes and in “The New York Times” and has appeared on Last Comic Standing and Have I Got News for You (BBC).

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| MAY 2011

Opening night of the SF International Arts Festival. AfroCuban and Latin Jazz greats share the stage.

19 | Les Nubians

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $30 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

Afropean French/Cameroonian sister duo celebrate their new CD “Nü Revolution.”

19 | Lord of the Flies

Lucie Stern Theater | Palo Alto $5-$12 | 650.463.4970

The Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $22 | 800.745.3000 theregencyballroom.com

French native brings her electropop beats, sharing the stage with French Horn Rebellion.

19 | MONGER

Marines’ Memorial Theatre | San Francisco $12-$20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

Barak Marshall and company makes their Bay Area debut with a physical-theater work for ten dancers.

19 | The Gospels of Childhood Triptych

St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church | San Francisco $20-$48 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

Northern California debut of Teatr Zar, the resident company at the Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland.

19 | Ravi Shankar

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $35-$95 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Acclaimed sitar player shares the stage with his daughter, Anoushka Shankar.

20 | Distracted

City Lights Theater | San Jose $25-$35 | 408.295.4200 cltc.org

Poignant comedy about a mother who dives into research mode fearful that her son may have A.D.D.

20 | Arturo Sandoval

Campbell Heritage Theatre | Campbell $46 | 408.866.2700 arturosandoval.com

Cuban-born composer and trumpet player Arturo Sandoval.

asian american orchestra fetes coltrane by jason victor serinus

GARDEN

yerba buena gardens FESTIVAL

Anthony Brown

Diversity abounds at the annual free Yerba Buena Gardens Festival (YBGF). Held outdoors on three stages located in and around the Yerba Buena Center arts complex, centered on Mission between 3rd and 4th Streets, the festival offers an astounding variety of cultural events whose richness reflects the multi-ethnicity of the Bay Area.

The festival gets going this month with the launch of its weekly major Saturday afternoon events. The free concerts, which often draw up to five thousand music lovers to the Gardens’ Esplanade stage, take place each Saturday from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

image: courtesy photo

Making their YBGF debut on Saturday, May 28, is Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra.

Under the leadership of percussionist, composer, university professor, and Smithsonian Associate Scholar Brown, the unique 16-piece ensemble specializes in performances that blend the sonorities and improvisational approaches of jazz with Asian musical instruments and sensibilities.

The orchestra’s tantalizing program, India & Africa: A Tribute to John Coltrane, promises a unique multicultural perspective on 12 compositions written by or associated with the late great jazz saxophonist. The tribute will not only mix instruments of European and American vintage with those of various Asian cultures, but also underscore the spiritual associations between Coltrane’s jazz

and the Indian tradition. Expect Coltrane as you’ve never heard him before.

“What’s really great about the festival is that there’s really no division between front and back stage,” says YBGF director Linda Lucero. “The festival encourages interaction. After the performance, performers may ask the audience if there are questions, or they may take advantage of breaks between pieces discuss why they’re performing the music. People also approach the stage after the performance to converse with musicians.” Given that the Coltrane tribute is sure to draw a large audience, don’t everybody ask at once.

Also launching this month is YBGF’s new Spoken Word series. On May 17 at 12:30 p.m. Litquake offers a tribute to Gertrude Stein. Once the summer gets underway, there will be so many events each month – July alone has 17 – that you’ll want to consult the festival’s online calendar or printed program to keep track. yerba buena gardens festival May 7 to October 11 Yerba Buena Gardens Mission to Howard Streets and 3rd to 4th Streets, San Francisco FREE | 415.543.1718 ybgf.org MAY 2011 |

| 25

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 20 | Muriel Anderson

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $23-$32 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Harp-guitarist is joined by flamenco guitarist Raughi Ebert, accompanied by percussion and base.

20 | Van-Anh Vanessa Vo & Friends

TALES OF THE CITY May 18 to July 10 American Conservatory Theater 415 Geary Street, SF $35 to $120 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org Armistead Maupin’s beloved and quintessentially San Francisco characters have moved from newsprint to novels to miniseries.

Now they sing the songs of John Garden and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, with a book by Avenue Q’s Jeff Whitty. Judy Kaye is Anna Madrigal and leads a cast that includes Mary Birdsong, Manoel Felciano, Alex Hsu, Richard Poe, Andrew Samonsky, Pamela Myers, Wesley Taylor and Betsy Wolfe as Mary Ann Singleton.

Old First Church | San Francisco $17 | 415.474.1608 oldfirstconcerts.org

Vo on Vietnamese traditional instruments and voice, with Freddy Clarke and Billy Johnson.

20 | The Sun Kings

Rancho Nicasio | Nicasio $18-$20 | 415.662.2219 ranchonicasio.com

A salute to the Beatles.

20 | The Stops

New Conservatory Theatre Center | San Francisco $24-$40 | 415.861.8972 nctcsf.org

Three lady organists take their act on the road but discover that their favorite organist is gay.

20 | Poor Man’s Whiskey

Great American Music Hall | San Francisco $15-$18 | 415.885.0750 gamhtickets.com

High-energy show fusing folk, funk, rock and disco styles.

20 | Rogers & Hart A Celebration

BLUE MAN GROUP May 24 to June 19 Golden Gate Theatre 1 Taylor Street, SF $50 to $200 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

Blue Man Group is best known for their wildly popular theatrical shows and concerts which combine comedy, music, and technology to produce a totally unique form of entertainment. Kids will enjoy the lights, color and spectacle. Adults enjoy the humor, social commentary and depth of the characters.

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| MAY 2011

Douglas Morrisson Theatre | Hayward $28 | 510.881.6777 dmtonline.org

The first act sets the stage for romance, the second act is comprised of their satiric gems.

20 | Dido and Aeneas

Lucie Stern Theater | Palo Alto $35-$60 | 650.424.9999 wbopera.org

West Bay Opera presents two very different stories of love forsaken as a pair of operas.

20 | Moon over Buffalo

Bus Barn Theater | Los Altos Hills $24-$30 | 650.941.0551 busbarn.org

Over-the-hill repertory thespians are touring the backwaters in ‘53 when Frank Capra pays a visit.

20 | Wanda Sykes

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts | Santa Rosa $50-$65 | 707.546.3600 wandasykes.com

Emmy-winning comedian Wanda Sykes brings her smart stand up for the first time to Sonoma County.

20 | Carly Ozard: Somebody to Love Freddie Mercury

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Bay Area singer pays tribute to her childhood idol, Queen’s Freddie Mercury.

20 | Much Ado About Nothing

Theatre on San Pedro Square | San Jose $15-$25 | 800.838.3006 arclightrep.org

This witty,romantic comedy of mistaken identity and redemption is set in Mission San Jose in 1847.

20 | Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night

Exit on Taylor | San Francisco FREE | 800.838.3006 cuttingball.com

Drumhead looks for Jesus as he puts dead mice into boxes of Lucky Charms in Andrew Saito’s play.

20 | Of Bodies of Elements

Marines’ Memorial Theatre | San Francisco $20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

Presented by Dancing Earth, a Native American contemporary dance ensemble directed by Rulan Tangen.

by andrew gilbert Founded by three East Coast transplants accordionist Rob Burger, violinist Carla Kihlstedt and guitarist Mark Orton - Tin Hat Trio emerged in the late 1990s as the quintessential Bay Area acoustic ensemble. Steeped in European classical music and jazz improvisation, the conservatory trained musicians wove together a vast array of influences, from Nino Rota film scores and Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango to Delta blues, old-time Appalachian songs, and Hank Williams. With the group’s ravishing 1999 debut “Memory Is An Elephant” and 2000’s luminous follow up “Helium” (both on Angle), its slippery themes seemed to infiltrate the aural atmosphere, as Orton’s compositions “Big Top” “Waltz of the Skyscraper” and “Esperanto” found their way into films and public radio interstices.

When Burger exited the band in 2004, Tin Hat reinvented itself, dropping Trio from its moniker and recruiting New York harpist Zeena Parkins, best known for her extensive work with Bjork, and a variety of guests such as Bryan Smith on tuba and euphonium. A sense of tragedy and ineffable loss infiltrated the band’s sound on 2005’s haunting “Book of Silk” (Ropeadope), which marked the emergence of Kihlstedt as a major compositional voice. Delving even deeper into lost worlds and doomed romanticism, Tin Hat introduced a new

incarnation on 2007’s “The Sad Machinery of Spring” (Hannibal/Rykodisc) featuring Berkeley clarinet master Ben Goldberg and multiinstrumentalist Ara Anderson, a regular Tom Waits collaborator. So whither Tin Hat? Last year the group transformed its sound again with the exit of Anderson and the recruitment of accordion expert Rob Reich. On their return to Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage, Tin Hat introduces a sheaf of new songs designed for Kihlstedt’s striking vocals, setting ee cummings poetry to music.

music

tin hat

from trio to quartet

TIN HAT May 12 | 8:00 pm 142 Throckmorton Theatre 142 Throckmorton Street, Mill Valley $18 to $21 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.com May 13 | 8:00 pm Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison Avenue, Berkeley $22.50 to $24.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org Rob Reich, Mark Orton, Ben Goldberg, Carla Kihlstedt

image: lisa carroll

Name Name

MAY 2011 |

| 27

JUST RELEASED

DAILy 20 | Hope Mohr Dance

Southside Theatre | San Francisco $20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

World premiere of Plainsong. Part of SF International Arts Festival.

Also presenting FACT/SF. KARRIN ALLYSON ‘Round Midnight

Allyson applies her languid vocal style to an eclectic jazz collection of classic songs. The mellow arrangements centered around guitar, flute and harmonica lines are made for relaxed listening on a rainy afternoon. (concordmusicgroup.com)

20 | BodyParkour

CounterPulse | San Francisco $12-$20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

Scott Wells & Dancers present kinetic dance works as part of the SF International Arts Festival.

20 | Queer

Southside Theatre | San Francisco $20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

Erling Wold’s original verbatim musical theatre production of William Burrough’s landmark novella.

20 | Lionel Loueke

CARNIVAL Original London Cast

In another limited edition, firsttime-on-CD release, Bruce Kimmel remasters the 1963 production of Bob Merrill’s charming musical.

Sally Logan stars as Lili, who knows that “Love Makes the World Go Round.” (kritzerland.com)

YBCA (Forum Theatre) | San Francisco $30-$50 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Benin-born Loueke shares the stage with drummer Ferenc Nemeth and bassist Massimo Biolcati.

20 | funky METERS

Bimbo’s 365 Club | San Francisco $75-$150 | 877.435.9849 bimbos365club.com

Headlining Blue Bear Live VI - a benefit for Blue Bear’s youth music education program.

20 | Will Durst

Town Hall Theatre | Lafayette $25 | 925.283.1557 thtc.org

Town Hall Comedy series brings funnyman Durst back to the Town Hall.

LINDA EDER Now

21 | BlacKMahal

Two decades after their time as the “It” couple of Broadway, ex-marrieds Linda Eder and Frank Wildhorn have reconciled...at least in the recording studio. Eder sings a dozen Wildhorn numbers from shows present and past. (sonymasterworks.com)

28 |

| MAY 2011

Yerba Buena Gardens | San Francisco FREE | No Phone ybgf.org

San Francisco-based live music experience complete with drums, DJs, horns, hip-hop MCs.

21 | Brian Malow & Michael Capozzola

The Marsh | Berkeley $15-$50 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Comedy Brains - Saturday nights at The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley.

21 | New Century Chamber Orchestra

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $29-$49 | 415.392.4400 ncco.org

World Premiere of American composer Mark O’Connor’s newest work, “Elevations.”

21 | Doug Varone and Dancers

YBCA (Novellus Theater) | San Francisco $30-$50 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

Presenting the West Coast premiere of Chapters from a Broken Novel.

21 | Poncho Sanchez

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $15-$25 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

Chicano conguero leads his Latin Jazz Band.

21 | Comedy Tonight

Garret at A.C.T. | San Francisco $15-$20 | 415.749.2228 act-sf.org

A Young Conservatory program featuring the talents of the A.C.T. Musical and Cabaret Ensembles.

21 | Non Stop Bhangra

Rickshaw Stop | San Francisco $10-$20 | 415.861.2011 rickshawstop.com

Dance performances, live music, visuals, live painting, and DJs, with Dholrhythms Dance Company.

21 | Mas Pasión

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts | Santa Rosa FREE | 707.546.3600 wellsfargocenterarts.org

American Philharmonic shares the stage with QuinTango. Music, dance and stories.

the neon lights are bright there too by robert sokol

Sometimes treated like the second class citizen of New York theatre, Off-Broadway (or the hyphen-free version if you prefer) has been home to a more than respectable number of cultural touchstones - and not just The Fantasticks! From Threepenny Opera in the ‘30s to this decade’s Road Show, Manhattan theatre beyond the Tony Award umbrella has long been a fertile creative ground that is neither merely stepchild nor stepping stone to Broadway. Two new reference books offer researchers and enthusiasts a wealth of information at their finger-tips and, unlike the internet, these books are never down.

REFERNCE

ON OFF-BROADWAY

Covering the 80-year span from 1919 to 2009, Thomas S. Hischak offers a congenial, userfriendly consumer volume. He characterizes OffBroadway as the scrappy youngster, shorter on funds but more direct in the messaging. It’s a metaphor that carries through to the book, which does not claim to be exhaustive but instead focuses in 381 shows that get to the point of what, in Hischak’s reasoning, constitutes the key history of Off-Broadway.

If the sheer heft of Dan Dietz’s volume does not convince you it is a serious piece of work, the price tag will. Clearly compiled for the academic market, a four-page preface explains data organization structures and then you are off to A...My Name Is Alice. 1,831 entries later you learn that the script for Zombies from the Beyond was published in 2007 by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Alphabetical and chronological lists open the book. Like the debate about whether or not The Black Crook was the first Broadway musical, OffBroadway’s birth is equally murky. Hischak’s first chapter starts with 1919’s Greenwich Village Follies and stops with 1941’s No For An Answer.

The appendices start with a chronology (1909’s The Pipe of Desire), a more limited discography than Hischak’s volume, a list of published scripts, and entries D though T of subjective lists (gay or Jewish themed shows, composer revues), followed by a bibliography, a surprising (and welcome) 70-page song index, a people index and one for theatres fill out the 648 pages.

From then on it’s a chapter per decade with each show getting light general data and narrative assessment.

There’s a woefully brief photo section and appendices include an under-detailed discography, a limited bibliography and general index. A breezy read, this book could satisfy the average user even at this price, but the dearth of complete data like song lists for musicals among its 469 pages will annoy scholars.

OFF BROADWAY MUSICALS, 1910-2007 Dan Dietz $295 | 800.253.2187 mcfarlandpub.com

image: via media

OFF-BROADWAY MUSICALS Since 1919 Thomas S. Hischak $75 | 800.462.6420 www.scarecrowpress.com

Individual show entries are richly detailed with alphabetical cast and character names, plot or act summaries, technical credits and supplemental notes on various aspects of the production. This scholarly volume is four times the price of the other, but the depth of information offered here makes it well worth it.

MAY 2011 |

| 29

SPOTLIGHTS

DAILY 21 | The Anita Cocktail Hour

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

San Francisco’s very own bawdy, blond bouffant chanteuse is back in her new late night series debut.

21 | Kylie Minogue

Bill Graham Civic Auditorium | San Francisco $65-$125 | 800.745.3000 apeconcerts.com

SHIRLEY VALENTINE May 27 to June 12 Cinnabar Theatre 3333 Petaluma Boulevard $15 to $25 | 707.763.8920 cinnabartheater.org Mary Gannon Graham reprises her acclaimed performance as middle-aged, working-class British housewife, Shirley Valentine, who suddenly leaves her home and husband for a special two-week trip to Greece where she finds adventure, hope, humor, and the freedom to be herself.

Minogue brings her “Aphrodite - Live 2011 World Tour” to San Francisco.

21 | Carrie Baum Love

Exit Theatre | San Francisco $10 | 800.838.3006 theexit.org

Singer-songwriter presents a concert as part of Exit Theatre’s 2011 DIVAfest.

21 | Citizen Fish

Thee Parkside | San Francisco $12 | At the Door theeparkside.com

English band shares the stage with The Apathy Cycle and Krum Bums.

22 | Mobile Homeboys

Five-time Obie Award-winning actor-playwright David Greenspan comes direct from New York to present his one-man show Plays, a word-for-word performance of the Gertrude Stein essay of the same name. Plays offers new insights into the possibilities of modern performance, and provides unique access to Stein’s otherwise complex ideas about literature and life.

30 |

| MAY 2011

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $44 | 415.392.4400 chambermusicsf.org

Chamber Music San Francisco presents pianist Nakamatsu.

22 | New Century Chamber Orchestra

Osher Marin JCC | San Rafael $29-$49 | 415.444.8000 ncco.org

World premiere of American composer Mark O’Connor’s newest work, “Elevations.”

22 | Aleron Trio

Old First Church | San Francisco $17 | 415.474.1608 oldfirstconcerts.org

An ensemble of three young women from Taiwan, France, and the U.S. Beethoven & Dvorák.

22 | Ann Moss soprano

Hemlock Tavern | San Francisco $40 | 415.648.5236 nvcm.org

Noe Valley Chamber Music presents Ann Moss accompanied

by Luke Aaron Mayer on guitar.

Union Square | San Francisco FREE | No Phone unionsquaresf.net

22 | Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet

22 | Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back...

Jazz quartet led by award-winning trumpeter, Oakland-born Ambrose Akinmusire.

Five-part harmony accompanied by banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, harmonica, bass and drums.

PLAYS May 26 and 29 Contemporary Jewish Museum 736 Mision Street, SF $20 | 415.655.7800 thecjm.org

22 | Jon Nakamatsu

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | San Jose $49 | 408.792.4111 sjtix.com

A modern swing tribute to the music of Frank Sinatra.

22 | Cantos for Pachamama

142 Throckmorton Theatre | Mill Valley $20-$30 | 415.383.9600 142throckmortontheatre.org

Songs for Mother Earth lead

by Peruvian shaman and instrumentalist Tito La Rosa.

YBCA (Forum Theatre) | San Francisco $20-$35 | 415.978.2787 ybca.org

22 | Porter’s Picks

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $25 | 707.226.7372 nvoh.org

Cafe Cabaret event featuring the clever and brilliant songs of Cole Porter performed by SF artists.

22 | Queer Queens of Qomedy

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Poppy Champlin and Julie Goldman offer a lesbian look at funny things.

chamber choir + string quartet by jason victor serinus

If you can’t remember the last time you heard a chamber choir paired with string quartet, you’re not alone. Although the handshake between four-part chorus and four-instrument quartet seems like a natural, very few composers have written for the combination. Perhaps out of concerns for balance between the forces, most have traditionally chosen to accompany choirs with either piano or orchestra.

Magen Solomon, director of the 24-person San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA), and cellist Alexander “Sandy” Walsh-Wilson, founder of the Alexander String Quartet (ASQ) are dedicated to bringing chorus and string quartet together.

After close to three years in preparation, their two ensembles join forces to present With Strings Attached: Music For Chamber Choir And String Quartet. The collaboration includes three newly commissioned works from living composers Paul Seiko Chihara, Michael Gandolfi, and Veronika Krausas.

The two songs of Gandolfi’s Winter Light, settings of poems by Amy Lowell, are simple portraits of nature. Chihara’s Clair de lune takes off from Debussy’s work of the same name, and boasts wonderful romantic colors. Also on the program is one the few older classical works for choir and quartet, Beethoven’s short Elegischer Gesang. Together with works by Brahms and three other modern composers, they should make for one of those unmissable only in San Francisco experiences. with strings attached May 7 | 8:00 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church 1111 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco May 14 | 8:00 pm St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Avenue, Oakland May 15 | 4:00 pm St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto $20 to $35 | 800.838.3006 sfca.org

image: courtesy photo

From a Bay Area perspective, perhaps the most exciting work is Krausas’ language of birds.

The five little pieces, to text by the great San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, derive from Brian Goggin’s outdoor bird sculpture adjacent to Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Bookstore. The sculpture consists of bird-shaped books that project short text onto the sidewalk. Krausas has set those texts, which read like West Coast versions of Zen koans, to music. “It’s all perfect, and very San Francisco” says Solomon. “One of them reads, ‘I put my cap in

the cage and went out with a bird on my head.’

One wonders if there was more than a flower in the poet’s hair.”

music

WITH STRINGS ATTACHED

MAY 2011 |

| 31

JUST RELEASED

DAILY 22 | JAPAN ROXX!!

The Independent | San Francisco $13-$15 | 877.435.9849 theindependentsf.com

Fundraiser benefiting Red Cross Japan featuring bernadette, Sex Industry and Tidelands.

SISTER ACT Original London Cast

Patina Miller reprises her London role, so it seems doubtful the cast of the just-opened Broadway show will get their own recording. Victoria Clark fans will have to suffice with Sheila Hancock’s Mother Superior. (ghostlightrecords.com)

22 | Stephen Prutsman

Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $16-$24 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

San Francisco pianist-composer Stephen Prutsman presents his program Bach and Forth.

23 | Karel Stands Up

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

The radio host and comedian shares his uncensored world view.

24 | Twilight Singers

AN EVENING WITH SUTTON FOSTER

Everything goes on the second CD from the star of the brand new revival of Anything Goes.

Recorded live at Café Carlyle, Foster injects her guileless charm into everyone from Ellington and Arlen to Sondheim and Schwartz. (ghostlightrecords.com)

The Fillmore | San Francisco $22.50 | 415.346.6000 livenation.com

Alternative rock band brings their show to the Fillmore.

24 | Kate Royal

Herbst Theatre | San Francisco $35-$60 | 415.392.4400 sfperformances.org

Soprano is accompanied by pianist Chris Glynn.

24 | S. Carey

Café Du Nord | San Francisco $14 | 866.468.3399 cafedunord.com

Sean Carey, member of Bon Iver, brings his solo shot to the stage.

24 | Blue Man Group

Golden Gate Theatre | San Francisco $50-$200 | 888.746.1799 shnsf.com

WOMEN ON THE VERGE...

Original Broadway Cast

The very short-lived David Yazbeck musical with the Tony-laden cast of Laura Benanti, Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sherie Rene Scott gets a gorgeous CD treatment. (ghostlightrecords.com)

32 |

| MAY 2011

The internationally famous multimedia show.

24 | Blues in the Night

Lesher Center for the Arts | Walnut Creek $38-$45 | 925.943.7469 centerrep.org

Center Rep presents 26 hot and torchy blues songs from the ‘20s and ‘30s in this stage musical.

25 | Little Shop of Horrors

Boxcar Playhouse | San Francisco $20-$50 | 415.776.1747 boxcartheatre.org

Boxcar puts the Skid Row back into Little Shop. Based on the movie and musical of the same name.

25 | Aloe Blacc

Great American Music Hall | San Francisco $19 | 415.885.0750 gamh.com

Producer, rapper and singer Blacc is also versed in many different instruments.

25 | Soul Survivors

Yoshi’s | Oakland $22-$28 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Eric Roberson and Vivian Green together onstage at Yoshi’s.

26 | Eoin Harrington

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $20-$25 | 707.226.7372 eoinharrington.com

Bay Area crooner has shared the stage with Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, Train, Sara Bareilles.

26 | Dawn Robinson

Yoshi’s | San Francisco $38 | 415.655.5600 yoshis.com

Front woman of En Vogue is joined

by R&B stylist Ginuwine.

26 | David Greenspan

Contemporary Jewish Museum | San Francisco $20 | 415.655.7800 thecjm.org

One man show Plays, a word-forword performance of the Gertrude Stein essay of the same name.

lamenting addiction

by grier cooper A failing relationship, one person waiting and secretly hoping for the other person to change. To stay … or not? The world premiere of Secret’s Lament by Copious Dance Theater traces the downward spiral of the addict, consumed with the disease of addiction, and the lover, who hopes that love will override the addiction.

Set to live music by award-winning composer/ vocalist/pianist Katy Stephan, it is a dance of dysfunctional partnership, the lover keeping the secret of pain and disappointment. “They are people around us or perhaps they are us,” says Kat Worthington, choreographer and founder of Copious Dance Theater. “However, you cannot fix or control anyone. Focus on yourself and accept responsibility for your own contentment and joy.

Why not begin with oneself instead of waiting for the other to change?”

Copious Dance Theater takes its name form the Latin word “copiosus”, meaning abundant, or plentiful. Founded in 2009

by Worthington, the company’s mission is to (copiously) give back to the Creator and the community at large. Company members have made good on that promise by serving meals at Glide Memorial Church. The company has distinguished itself by its dedication

to athleticism, European aesthetics and the modern dance technique of Lester Horton.

Worthington also teaches Horton’s technique, known for its incorporation of diverse elements of world dance, at Alonzo King’s Lines Dance Center in San Francisco.

DANCE

COPIOus dance

Choreography is an organic process for Worthington. “We play, teach and explore until we stumble upon something worth pursuing more thoroughly. Music motivates me. I hear a song and ‘see’ the dance that goes with it.”

Katy Stephan’s music for Secret’s Lament is an integral piece of the production, although the choreography was created before the music in this case. Worthington says, “I feel like I’m doing things backwards this time.” She’s enthusiastic about the company’s first home season. “Working with such committed, talented and beautiful dancers is exciting and humbling at the same time.”

COPIOUS DANCE May 13-15 Z Space 450 Florida Street, SF $18 to $22 | 415.626.0453 copiousdance.org

image: hemali acharya zaveri

Laura Sharp Kat Worthington

MAY 2011 |

| 33

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).

BISCUITS & BLUES Union Square, San Francisco biscuitsandblues.com | 415.292.2583

Bottom of the Hill Potrero Hill, San Francisco bottomofthehill.com | 415.621.4455

Café du Nord

Upper Market, San Francisco 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, San Francisco gamh.com | 888.233.0449

Hemlock Tavern

Polk Gulch, San Francisco hemlocktavern.com | No Calls

Independent

Alamo Square, San Francisco theindependentsf.com | 415.771.1421

Johnny Foley’s

Union Square, San Francisco johnnyfoleys.com | 415.954.0777

Rancho Nicasio

Marin ranchonicasio.com | 415.662.2219

Regency Ballroom

DAILY 26 | Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter

Marion E. Greene Theatre | Oakland $25-$30 | 510.436.5085 theatrefirst.com

After losing a leg in Iraq, combat vet Sutter returns home with a sense that she doesn’t belong.

26 | Laurie Antonioli

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

Lyricist/vocalist Antonioli is accompanied by a four-man band.

26 | Experience Hendrix

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts | Santa Rosa $45-$85 | 707.546.3600 experiencehendrixtour.com

Celebrating the music and legacy of Jimi Hendrix, this tribute tour features over a dozen artists.

26 | Tracy Morgan

Cobb’s Comedy Club | San Francisco $42.50-$43.50 | 800.745.3000 cobbscomedyclub.com

30 Rock star Morgan brings his stand-up show to Cobb’s.

26 | Noah And The Whale

The Independent | San Francisco $18-$20 | 877.435.9849 theindependentsf.com

London-based band is joined onstage by Bahamas.

27 | Cirque Noveau

Montgomery Theatre | San Jose $26 | No Phone cirquenoveau.com

Civic Center, San Francisco theregencyballroom.com | 800.745.3000

Presenting Devil Fish, the story of a fish who falls in love with a beautiful woman. Aerial circus.

Rickshaw Stop

27 | The Pride

Civic Center, San Francisco rickshawstop.com | 415.861.2011

Slim’s

SOMA, San Francisco slims-sf.com | 888.233.0449

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| MAY 2011

New Conservatory Theatre Center | San Francisco $24-$29 | 415.861.8972 nctcsf.org

Oliver, Philip, and Sylvia are caught in a kind of erotic time warp, between 1958 and today.

27 | Hiroshima

Yoshi’s | Oakland $28 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Celebrating the release of their 14th album since 1980.

27 | Shirley Valentine

Cinnabar Theater | Petaluma $25 | 707.763.8920 cinnabartheater.org

Disillusioned housewife Shirley Valentine has to go to Greece to finally discover who she really is.

27 | Madame Ho

Exit on Taylor | San Francisco FREE | 800.838.3006 cuttingball.com

The story of a real-life 19th century brothel hostess, single mother, Chinese immigrant, and ghost.

27 | Khambatta Dance Company

CounterPulse | San Francisco $20 | 800.838.3006 sfiaf.org

San Francisco debut of the fivemember Seattle-based company.

Part of SF International Arts Festival.

27 | Rickie Lee Jones

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $20-$65 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Jones revisits the material from her early albums “Rickie Lee Jones” and “Pirates.”

27 | Ruckatan Latin Tribe

Firehouse Arts Center | Pleasanton $15-$20 | 925.931.4848 firehousearts.org

Ruckatan is a group of musicians from diverse backgrounds who share a love for Latin music.

28 | Tribute to John Coltrane

Yerba Buena Gardens | San Francisco FREE | No Phone ybgf.org

The 16-member ensemble Asian American Orchestra presents India and Africa: A Tribute to John Coltrane.

28 | Smart Smut with Liz Grant & Friends

29 | Espinoza Paz

COMEDY & IMPROV

The Marsh | Berkeley $15-$50 | 415.282.3055 themarsh.org

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts | Santa Rosa $80-$105 | 707.546.3600 wellsfargocenterarts.org

Comedy Brains - Saturday nights at The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley.

Rising star singer/songwriter from Sinaloa, Mexico.

The following is a partial list of comedy clubs and improv groups in the Bay Area. Please call or check the websites to get the latest schedules, ticket information, age limits and minimum charges (if any).

28 | Let Me Down Easy

29 | Usher

BATS

Berkeley Repertory Theatre | Berkeley $47-$65 | 510.647.2949 berkeleyrep.org

Anna Deavere Smith examines the body politic in her one-woman show with a cast of thousands.

28 | Jonathan Poretz: Night Beat at The Rrazz Room

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $25 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

A late night lounge event for connoisseurs of the Vegas style and sound.

28 | Tony Bennett

Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco $75-$150 | 866.920.5299 sfjazz.org

Winner of 15 Grammys, Bennett presents his interpretations of classics from the American Songbook.

28 | Zepparella

Slims’s | San Francisco $15 | 888.233.0449 slimstickets.com

Tribute band has recorded two albums in their five years together so far.

29 | Siegfried

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House | San Francisco $95-$295 | 415.864.3330 sfopera.com

San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner’s third Ring opera.

29 | Aaron Neville

Napa Valley Opera House | Napa $55-$75 | 707.226.7372 aaronneville.com

Sweet-voiced soul singer from Louisiana.

HP Pavilion At San Jose | San Jose $46.50-$125.00 | 800.745.3000 hppsj.com

With special guest AKON. 29 | Lykke Li

The Regency Ballroom | San Francisco $30-$32 | 800.745.3000 theregencyballroom.com

Swedish-native Li shares the stage with Grimes.

30 | Mads Tolling

Yoshi’s | Oakland $14 | 510.238.9200 yoshis.com

Tolling presents a quartet tribute to Jean-Luc Ponty.

30 | An Evening With Bill Kwan

The Rrazz Room | San Francisco $20 | 800.380.3095 therrazzroom.com

Return engagement of his debut CD - Pentimento - release concert.

31 | George Winston

Freight & Salvage | Berkeley $36.50-$39.50 | 510.644.2020 thefreight.org

Pianist and composer Winston returns to The Freight after his sold-out show in January.

Marina, San Francisco improv.org | 415.474.6776

BIG CITY IMPROV

Union Square, San Francisco sheltontheater.com | 415.433.1227

COBB’S COMEDY CLUB North Beach, San Francisco cobbscomedyclub.com | 415.928.4320

THE COMEDY SHOP Mission, San Francisco comedyshop.wordpress.com

COMEDYSportz

San Jose comedysportzsanjose.com

THE DARK ROOM

Mission, San Francisco darkroomsf.com | 415.401.7987

ENDGAMES IMPROV Union Square, San Francisco endgamesimprov.com

ENSO

Half Moon Bay ensohmb.com | 650.726.1409

FUNNY TUESDAYS

Castro, San Francisco harveyssf.com | 415.431.4278

THE IMPROV

San Jose improv.com | 408.280.7475

THE MARSH

Berkeley themarsh.org | 415.641.0235

KOSHER COMEDY

Various, San Francisco koshercomedy.com | 415.522.3737

PUNCHLINE COMEDY CLUB Enbarcadero, San Francisco punchlinecomedyclub.com | 415.397.7573

ROOSTER T. FEATHERS Sunnyvale roostertfeathers.com | 408.736.0921

SECRET IMPROV SOCIETY Union Square, San Francisco improvsociety.com

STONE SOUP IMPROV Oakland stonesoupimprov.com | 510.380.6808 MAY 2011 |

| 35

BACK The cast and crew at the closing night of Thrillpeddler’s Pearls Over Shanghai at the Hypnodrome

Marc Huestis and Justin Vivian Bond at the Castro

image: david wilson

image: steven underhill

RJ Helton at the Design Center

Ewan McGregor at the Castro

Louise Pitre at the Rrazz Room

image: steven underhill

image: steven underhill

image: via media

Steve Ross and Barry Lloyd at the Hotel Nikko

Shirley Jones at the Castro

Sony Holland at home

image: via media

image: steven underhill

image: jerry holland

Jason Graae at the Rrazz Room

Adam Hughes of Australia’s Thunder Down Under

Britney Spears at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

image: pat johnson

image: via media

image: steven underhill

design publications websites

415.552.8040 780 sutter street san francisco, ca 94109

www.viamedia.net a division of Caselli Partners LLC

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TOURS

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