8 cool Bay Area shows to see this weekend
Whether you’re looking for great theater or killer concerts, there is a lot to see and hear this weekend in the Bay Area. Here’s just a partial rundown.
Home is where the chaos is
The holiday season — and all of the family dissension, meltdowns and reckonings with abandoned value systems that can come with it — is over. Except at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The company this week opens “The Cult of Love,” a new family drama by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Leslye Headland, which centers on the adult members of a deeply religious family gathering for the holidays at their childhood home. They find that their emotional bonds with each other are as strong as ever, but their ties to the religious value system on which they were raised … not so much. The stress on their belief system keeps growing until things boil over. Happy holidays!
Headland, who has said she was raised in a religious family, depicted a thorny reunion of three sisters in her play (later adapted into a movie) “Bachelorette.” She is probably best known for co-creating the acclaimed comedy/drama “Russian Doll” with Natasha Lyonne, who stars in the trippy Netflix series as a game developer caught in a time loop in which she dies in every episode. Later this year, she’ll debut a new “Star Wars” series, “The Acolyte,” set approximately 100 years before the doings of “Star Wars I — The Phantom Menace.”
Details: Directed by Trip Cullman; through March 3 at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre; $33-$145; www.berkeleyrep.org
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Classical picks: Sasha Cooks, Attacca Quartet, Beethoven’s 7th
New works and beloved symphonies top the weekend’s classical music calendar, with Sasha Cooke, the Attacca Quartet, and conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste offering great programs.
Cooke’s special: Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke comes to Stanford Feb. 4 with a few friends, including pianist Laura Dahl and members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. She’ll sing the world premiere of Scott Ordway’s “Expanse of my Soul,” along with “Two Songs” by Michael Tilson Thomas; works by Debussy, Alma and Gustav Mahler, and Jennifer Higdon complete the program.
Details: Presented by Stanford Live; 2:30 p.m.; Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $15-$64; stanfordlivetickets.org.
Attacca Quartet: New works also figure prominently in the Feb. 4 appearance by the Attacca Quartet. Formed as a student ensemble at the Juilliard School 20 years ago, the Grammy-winning foursome has made a significant mark in contemporary music. At UC Berkeley, they’ll play works from their Playlist Program, including music by composers Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, Philip Glass and others.
Details: Presented by Cal Performances; 3 p.m. Feb. 4; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; tickets start at $72; calperformances.org.
Saraste at the Symphony: Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, chief conductor and artistic director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, is in town to conduct the San Francisco Symphony in two great symphonic works: Schubert’s Symphony No. 6, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2-3, Friday 2 p.m. Feb. 4; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $25-$225; sfsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
A Fast Forward homecoming
San Jose’s New Ballet is a forward-thinking troupe. That much is evidenced by the company’s annual new works program, titled “Fast Forward,” which returns this week for its seventh edition.
This year’s program presents world premiere works by six choreographers, including Iranian American, Los Angeles-based roller skating dancer Keon Saghari — aka Neon Keon — a Los Gatos native who received her classical training at the Ballet San Jose School. Saghari might be best known for her performances with such pop/rock stars as Usher (during his Las Vegas residency), Pink (at the American Music Awards) and Harry Styles (at the Grammy Awards). She also took part in a San Francisco Symphony presentation of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in December.
Her new work for Fast Forward is titled “Safar Khosh,” which she told the Los Gatan website, “is about the journey to self. For me, what has guided me a lot …is my culture and my family.”
Others presenting work at Fast Forward include Erik Wagner, a San Francisco-based dancer, teacher and choreographer who’s performed with San Francisco Ballet and other companies; Jing Zhang, a former soloist of with Ballet San Jose; Mariana Sobral, director of eMotion Arts Dance Co.; Dalia Rawson, director of New Ballet, whose work will be accompanied by the South Bay’s Top Shelf Big Band; and Linh Mai Le, director of the New Ballet School.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2; Hammer Theater Center, San Jose; $10-$35, $250 VIP tickets; newballet.com.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
New ‘House,’ same address
Henrik Ibsen shocked the theater world and infuriated audiences with his 1879 play “A Doll’s House,” which concludes – spoiler alert! – with a deeply unhappy and frustrated wife and mother walking out on her marriage. Matrimony and domesticity at the time were considered part of the basic life path for women and the idea that a wife could find these things unsatisfactory and abandon her husband and children went down about as easily as the notion of a portly, irritable reality TV show host running for president. But that’s all past us, isn’t it? Social gender norms and the institution of marriage have evolved into healthy bastions of society and everyone has moved on to more pressing problems, like why toilet paper and eggs are so expensive nowadays, right?
British playwright Stef Smith poses that question (about marriage, not the price of eggs and toilet paper) in her 2019 update of the Ibsen classic, “Nora: A Doll’s House.” This version places Nora in three time frames – 1918, 1968 and 2018 – as she grapples with a dark secret that could wreck her seemingly flawless marriage. City Lights Theater Company is presenting the thought-provoking two-hour play through Feb. 18 at its theater, 529 S. Second St., San Jose.
Details: $28-67; cltc.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Barron’s beautiful world
Kenny Barron has long been considered one of true legends of jazz, a pianist with stunning technical skills, and a voracious musical appetite that has led him to conquer countless jazz genres and settings. The NEA Jazz Master and 11-time Grammy nominee gained stardom in the early ‘60s with his work with Dizzy Gillespie and he has since worked with such luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Stan Getz, James Moody and Ron Carter. Now 80 years old, he remains at the top of his game as he settles in this week for a four-show run at the SFJAZZ Center, where he is a resident artistic director.
True to his legendary versatility, Barron is performing four completely different concerts during his run. At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, he plays with his renowned trio, including bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa (with whom he has worked for 27 years) and drummer Johnathan Blake. At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 he performs with the Kenny Barron Quintet (which includes his trip plus SFJAZZ Collective trumpeter Mike Rodriguez and Bay Area-raised saxophone great Dayna Stephens) in a concert that will spotlight his 2018 album “Concentric Circles.” At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3, Barron will delve into a night of Brazilian jazz with a new band that includes flutist Anne Drummond, percussionist Valtinho Anastacio, drummer Rafael Barata, vibraphonist Nikara Warren (who happens to be his granddaughter) acclaimed bassist John Patitucci. And at 2 p.m. Feb. 4, he’ll head a show of wild improvisational jazz with renowned multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu, young hotshot trombonist Kalia Vandever, bassist John Patitucci, and rising-star drummer Lesley Mok.
Details: All shows in SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium; $25-$105; www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Brewer’s got the blues
Bay Area guitarist Terrence Brewer has won wide acclaim as a first-rate guitarist comfortable in dealing in jazz, blues and other forms of American roots music. He’s also developed a reputation as a first-rate educator. On Feb. 4, he gets to do a little of both in one show. The musician, band leader and producer is coming to the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley to present a program titled “Delta Deep Dive,” an immersive look at the history of the Mississippi Delta Blues.
Part-concert, part-tutorial, the event will find Brewer discussing, with lots of musical accompaniment, the history of the blues and how the guitar became dominant in shaping the development of the music. The presentation will also feature audio and video clips and allow plenty of time for audience questions and answers. Along the way, Brewer, who has 11 albums to his credit, will touch on blues greats from B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf to lesser-known (but no less important) early artists such as Charlie Patton, Eddie “Son” House, and David “Honey Boy” Edwards to contemporary standard bearers such as Keb’ Mo’ and Bonnie Raitt.
Details: 1 p.m. Feb. 4; $25; https://thefreight.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Whether you’re looking for great theater or killer concerts, there is a lot to see and hear this weekend in the Bay Area. Here’s just a partial rundown.
Home is where the chaos is
The holiday season — and all of the family dissension, meltdowns and reckonings with abandoned value systems that can come with it — is over. Except at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The company this week opens “The Cult of Love,” a new family drama by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Leslye Headland, which centers on the adult members of a deeply religious family gathering for the holidays at their childhood home. They find that their emotional bonds with each other are as strong as ever, but their ties to the religious value system on which they were raised … not so much. The stress on their belief system keeps growing until things boil over. Happy holidays!
Headland, who has said she was raised in a religious family, depicted a thorny reunion of three sisters in her play (later adapted into a movie) “Bachelorette.” She is probably best known for co-creating the acclaimed comedy/drama “Russian Doll” with Natasha Lyonne, who stars in the trippy Netflix series as a game developer caught in a time loop in which she dies in every episode. Later this year, she’ll debut a new “Star Wars” series, “The Acolyte,” set approximately 100 years before the doings of “Star Wars I — The Phantom Menace.”
Details: Directed by Trip Cullman; through March 3 at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre; $33-$145; www.berkeleyrep.org
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Classical picks: Sasha Cooks, Attacca Quartet, Beethoven’s 7th
New works and beloved symphonies top the weekend’s classical music calendar, with Sasha Cooke, the Attacca Quartet, and conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste offering great programs.
Cooke’s special: Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke comes to Stanford Feb. 4 with a few friends, including pianist Laura Dahl and members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. She’ll sing the world premiere of Scott Ordway’s “Expanse of my Soul,” along with “Two Songs” by Michael Tilson Thomas; works by Debussy, Alma and Gustav Mahler, and Jennifer Higdon complete the program.
Details: Presented by Stanford Live; 2:30 p.m.; Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $15-$64; stanfordlivetickets.org.
Attacca Quartet: New works also figure prominently in the Feb. 4 appearance by the Attacca Quartet. Formed as a student ensemble at the Juilliard School 20 years ago, the Grammy-winning foursome has made a significant mark in contemporary music. At UC Berkeley, they’ll play works from their Playlist Program, including music by composers Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, Philip Glass and others.
Details: Presented by Cal Performances; 3 p.m. Feb. 4; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; tickets start at $72; calperformances.org.
Saraste at the Symphony: Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, chief conductor and artistic director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, is in town to conduct the San Francisco Symphony in two great symphonic works: Schubert’s Symphony No. 6, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2-3, Friday 2 p.m. Feb. 4; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $25-$225; sfsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
A Fast Forward homecoming
San Jose’s New Ballet is a forward-thinking troupe. That much is evidenced by the company’s annual new works program, titled “Fast Forward,” which returns this week for its seventh edition.
This year’s program presents world premiere works by six choreographers, including Iranian American, Los Angeles-based roller skating dancer Keon Saghari — aka Neon Keon — a Los Gatos native who received her classical training at the Ballet San Jose School. Saghari might be best known for her performances with such pop/rock stars as Usher (during his Las Vegas residency), Pink (at the American Music Awards) and Harry Styles (at the Grammy Awards). She also took part in a San Francisco Symphony presentation of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in December.
Her new work for Fast Forward is titled “Safar Khosh,” which she told the Los Gatan website, “is about the journey to self. For me, what has guided me a lot …is my culture and my family.”
Others presenting work at Fast Forward include Erik Wagner, a San Francisco-based dancer, teacher and choreographer who’s performed with San Francisco Ballet and other companies; Jing Zhang, a former soloist of with Ballet San Jose; Mariana Sobral, director of eMotion Arts Dance Co.; Dalia Rawson, director of New Ballet, whose work will be accompanied by the South Bay’s Top Shelf Big Band; and Linh Mai Le, director of the New Ballet School.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2; Hammer Theater Center, San Jose; $10-$35, $250 VIP tickets; newballet.com.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
New ‘House,’ same address
Henrik Ibsen shocked the theater world and infuriated audiences with his 1879 play “A Doll’s House,” which concludes – spoiler alert! – with a deeply unhappy and frustrated wife and mother walking out on her marriage. Matrimony and domesticity at the time were considered part of the basic life path for women and the idea that a wife could find these things unsatisfactory and abandon her husband and children went down about as easily as the notion of a portly, irritable reality TV show host running for president. But that’s all past us, isn’t it? Social gender norms and the institution of marriage have evolved into healthy bastions of society and everyone has moved on to more pressing problems, like why toilet paper and eggs are so expensive nowadays, right?
British playwright Stef Smith poses that question (about marriage, not the price of eggs and toilet paper) in her 2019 update of the Ibsen classic, “Nora: A Doll’s House.” This version places Nora in three time frames – 1918, 1968 and 2018 – as she grapples with a dark secret that could wreck her seemingly flawless marriage. City Lights Theater Company is presenting the thought-provoking two-hour play through Feb. 18 at its theater, 529 S. Second St., San Jose.
Details: $28-67; cltc.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Barron’s beautiful world
Kenny Barron has long been considered one of true legends of jazz, a pianist with stunning technical skills, and a voracious musical appetite that has led him to conquer countless jazz genres and settings. The NEA Jazz Master and 11-time Grammy nominee gained stardom in the early ‘60s with his work with Dizzy Gillespie and he has since worked with such luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Stan Getz, James Moody and Ron Carter. Now 80 years old, he remains at the top of his game as he settles in this week for a four-show run at the SFJAZZ Center, where he is a resident artistic director.
True to his legendary versatility, Barron is performing four completely different concerts during his run. At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, he plays with his renowned trio, including bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa (with whom he has worked for 27 years) and drummer Johnathan Blake. At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 he performs with the Kenny Barron Quintet (which includes his trip plus SFJAZZ Collective trumpeter Mike Rodriguez and Bay Area-raised saxophone great Dayna Stephens) in a concert that will spotlight his 2018 album “Concentric Circles.” At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3, Barron will delve into a night of Brazilian jazz with a new band that includes flutist Anne Drummond, percussionist Valtinho Anastacio, drummer Rafael Barata, vibraphonist Nikara Warren (who happens to be his granddaughter) acclaimed bassist John Patitucci. And at 2 p.m. Feb. 4, he’ll head a show of wild improvisational jazz with renowned multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu, young hotshot trombonist Kalia Vandever, bassist John Patitucci, and rising-star drummer Lesley Mok.
Details: All shows in SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium; $25-$105; www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Brewer’s got the blues
Bay Area guitarist Terrence Brewer has won wide acclaim as a first-rate guitarist comfortable in dealing in jazz, blues and other forms of American roots music. He’s also developed a reputation as a first-rate educator. On Feb. 4, he gets to do a little of both in one show. The musician, band leader and producer is coming to the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley to present a program titled “Delta Deep Dive,” an immersive look at the history of the Mississippi Delta Blues.
Part-concert, part-tutorial, the event will find Brewer discussing, with lots of musical accompaniment, the history of the blues and how the guitar became dominant in shaping the development of the music. The presentation will also feature audio and video clips and allow plenty of time for audience questions and answers. Along the way, Brewer, who has 11 albums to his credit, will touch on blues greats from B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf to lesser-known (but no less important) early artists such as Charlie Patton, Eddie “Son” House, and David “Honey Boy” Edwards to contemporary standard bearers such as Keb’ Mo’ and Bonnie Raitt.
Details: 1 p.m. Feb. 4; $25; https://thefreight.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
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