January 2019 – Repeat Performances

January 31, 2019

Berkeley Symphony – bold and satisfying

With a scant one week’s notice, guest conductor Joseph Young stepped in on January 31 for an ailing Jonathon Heyward, who was himself about to guest conduct the Berkeley Symphony during their year-long search for a new Musical Director. That one week was a very short time to learn the music, but Young stepped up to the plate (or podium, rather) and conducted with clarity and passion, leading the Berkeley Symphony musicians in a top-notch performance. [caption id="attachment_2233"...

Categories: music

January 30, 2019

The dark shores of Albee’s “Seascape”

It takes place on a beach, with scraggy grasses and a path winding up through the large, hilly dunes. The sand reflects back light, suggesting the open expanses along a vivid sea. Only above is not a blue dome of sky, but rather the black cavernous upper reaches of the stage, with bright white spots hung in regular patterns on the lighting grid. The effect is surreal and perfectly in keeping with Edward Albee’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Seascape. The production is the...

Categories: theater

January 26, 2019

“King of Yees” at SF Playhouse

Born in San Francisco Chinatown, unable to speak Chinese and a thoroughly American woman, playwright Lauren Yee has written an homage to her father and Chinese-American culture in King of the Yees, which opened at San Francisco Playhouse this past weekend. The play is funny, insightful and touching. And it’s brilliantly produced, with inspired direction by Joshua Kahan Brody and non-stop, fast-paced acting by a team of five actors in multiple roles. Centered in an...

Categories: theater

January 25, 2019

SF Ballet’s sunny “Don Quixote”

San Francisco Ballet opened its 2019 season this past Friday with Don Quixote, a story ballet loosely based on the classic Spanish novel, Miguel Cervantes’ wry satire of a minor Spanish nobleman who has read so many chivalric romances that he is driven mad. Petipa’s 1869 version of the ballet, however, was like the story ballets of the time, a romantic portrayal of love. The complex and tragicomic knight of the 17th-century novel puts in a very minor but comic appearance. Don...

Categories: dance

January 19, 2019

Operatic Snapshots

An elegant blonde in off-white straight skirt, coat and black pumps sings, “I like order … straight margins, brief conversations.” She is Ivonne, head secretary of the steno pool, and we feel we know her – her primness, her insistence on order, her unwavering devotion to distance and form. She stands before the audience, as if it were a mirror in the company bathroom, and she instructs on the neatest, most efficient way to apply lipstick: Cherries in the Snow, Revlon’s finest: “the...

Categories: opera

January 18, 2019

Dancing life, its pains and joys

Cal Performances brings many wonderful dance companies to Zellerbach Hall, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is one of them. The Chicago–based contemporary dance company presented two programs this past weekend, along with a community dance class on Saturday morning. Friday’s performance opened with three short pieces with choreography by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe and Alejandro Cerrudo. Unlike many smaller companies that perform works primarily by their founding artistic directors,...

Categories: dance