From a cool concert series to ‘Cabaret’ and two free music series, there are some cool things to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Cookout Concerts are back in Novato
Oakland Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito, jazz great Bill Frisell, alt-rock favorites Cracker, acclaimed mandolinist Sierra Hull and popular guitarist Chris Shiflett (of Foo Fighters fame) are among the acts set to perform during the 11th annual Cookout Concert Series kicking off Monday at HopMonk Tavern in Novato.
Other acts in the lineup — which is presented by local promoter KC Turner — include Bill Kirchen (June 28), Box Set (June 7), James McMurtry (June 14), Megan Slankard (July 13), the Wood Brothers (July 27) and Toad the Wet Sprocket (July 19-20).
The outdoor series kicks off Monday with Brooklyn soul/disco outfit Say She She, featuring vocalists Piya Malik (formerly of El Michels Affair and Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham, and Nya Gazelle Brown. The group is touring in support of its latest full-length, “Silver,” which came out last year and earned some nice reviews.
Say She She is also set to perform at the big BottleRock Napa Valley festival on May 24.
Details: Concerts run through Oct. 11. For tickets and other information, visit kcturnerpresents.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: SFS chamber concerts; ‘Requiem
Chamber music in Davies Hall; a rare performance of a Maurice Duruflé masterwork in Oakland; and an anniversary celebration at Berkeley’s esteemed Crowden School highlight this week’s classical music calendar.
Small pleasures: The San Francisco Symphony’s chamber music concerts never fail to please; this Sunday, a group of eight musicians come together in Davies Hall to play a program of works by Tchaikovsky, Penderecki, Durwynne Hsieh, and Edgar Meyer.
Details: 2 p.m. May 26; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $40; sfsymphony.org.
French gems: Mountain View-based The Ensemble Continuo has a rare performance of Durufle’s “Requiem,” featuring organist David Jonies and presented on Friday evening in one of the Bay Area’s most beautiful cathedrals. The program also includes Durufle’s “Quatre motets” and Lili Boulanger’s “Psaume 24.”
Details: 8 p.m. May 24; Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland; $25-$100; ensemble-continuo.com.
Crowden celebration: It’s a big month at Berkeley’s Crowden School, marking four decades of nurturing young composers and conductors. On Saturday, the Crowden 40th Anniversary Concert features the world premiere of “Arches” by composer Samuel Adams, along with special gu takesests including the Friction Quartet.
Details: 6:30 p.m. May 25; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $50-$100 general, $35 seniors, $10 youth; crowden.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Center Rep takes on ‘Cabaret’
The Kit Kat Klub is about to open at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.
We are, of course, talking about the den of uneasy hedonism at the center of “Cabaret,” the famed Kander and Ebb musical that captures life and love amid the close of Germany’s Weimar Republic and the Jazz Age and the rise of the Nazi Party. Amid this tipping point in history, American writer Clifford Bradshaw falls in love with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles.
The 1966 musical has become a classic of musical theater and, although its success was somewhat muted at first over concerns about its moral content. It has since gone on to numerous productions and revivals and has featured actors including Judi Dench, Joel Grey, Alan Cumming, Emma Stone, Michelle Williams and Neil Patrick Harris in starring roles. And of course it was adapted into 1972 movie directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York.
Now Center Repertory Company is presenting the iconic musical in a production helmed by Center Repertory Company’s artistic producer Markus Potter.
Details: May 26-June 23; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $48-$73; lesherartscenter.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
‘Alice’ adaptation plays in GGG
An inspired blend of wit and whimsy, San Francisco’s We Players’ “Adventures with Alice” is a delight — especially for those familiar with “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass” by 19th-century British writer Lewis Carroll. We Players founder-artistic director Ava Roy, who’s adept at site-specific adaptations, drew from both books to create this rollicking adventure set in Golden Gate Park.
The outdoor show begins with Alice descending a hill from behind a eucalyptus tree and urging everyone to join in following the frazzled White Rabbit. The audience is guided through the park (from near Spreckels Lake to Portals of the Past), following a perplexed and often indignant little Alice (a charming portrayal by Regina León in bloomers and pinafore) and the perpetually tardy White Rabbit (Britt Lauer). As audience members walk from scene to scene, they meet and sometimes interact with most of the familiar characters culled from the books: the White King, the White Queen, the Red Queen, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Humpty Dumpty, the Mad Hatter, and more.
First performed last year, and now slightly changed, including more audience interaction, “Alice” works for kids and adults alike as performed by this altogether excellent troupe of acrobatic and inventive actors.
Details: Through June 2; Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; show starts near the N Polo Field and ends near Portals of the Past; $20-$80; weplayers.org.
— Jean Schiffman, Bay City News Foundation
Pher’s free homecoming show
Singer, songwriter and producer Pher was born Chris Turner in Oakland and grew up absorbing the sounds of Bay Area’s rich jazz, soul and R&B sounds. Now based in New York, he has forged an enviable career as a educator at The New School – his alma mater – and as a singer who’s found success both as a solo headliner and as a much-in-demand collaborator. With a sound that embraces straight-ahead and contemporary jazz as well as soul and R&B (including the slow-burning bedroom-soul hit “Cool Down”), Pher has earned praise for his work on Big Apple jazz collective Snarky Puppy’s 2016 release “Liquid Love,” and has gone on to work with a wide range of A-List artists, including Usher, Stevie Wonder, Robert Glasper, Eddie Palmeri, Esperanza Spalding, Jon Batiste and many more. Pher has credited his Bay Area upbringing with helping develop his wide-ranging vocal talents, and this week he returns to his roots to perform a free show Thursday as part of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.
Details: 12:30-1:30 p.m. May 23; Yerba Buena Gardens Great Lawn, Mission Street between 3rd and 4th streets; free; ybgfestival.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Free music + dances in Golden Gate Park
If you happen to find yourself in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, May 25 – and we could think of way worse places to be on a long weekend in early summer – you can catch the latest chapter in a long-running San Francisco tradition. We’re talking about the 142-year-old Golden Gate Park Band, which performs for free on Sunday afternoons in the park each year from May through October. Billed as San Francisco’s oldest music organization, the band recently welcomed a new music director, Dr. German Gonzalez. He’ll lead the outfit as it presents a differently themed concert each week.
This week’s concert, titled “Armenian Echoes,” celebrates the 106th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. Curated by Lena Manugian, the program features such works as Gomidas’ “Dele Yaman,” Alexander Arutiunian’s Concerto for Trumpet and Band, and a number of traditional Armenian dance songs, as well as segments from Aram Khachaturian’s “Gayne Ballet,” among other works. The concert will also feature child and adult dancers from San Francisco-based Araz Dance Group.
Details: 1 p.m. May 26; Spreckels Temple of Music, also known as the Golden Gate Bandshell; free; goldengateparkband.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Reading, writing and reproduction:
Thanks to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and a bruising presidential election campaign, women’s reproduction issues are seemingly as prevalent – and as politicized – as ever these days. The hot-button topic is getting a sassy yet hard-hitting look with “Breed or Bust,” a solo theater show written and performed by Joyful Raven now playing at The Marsh Berkeley. Raven has presented solo shows, and has directed scores of similar shows by other performers, for some 20 years. Her “Tales of a Sexual Tomboy” enjoyed a successful off-Broadway run and was an award-winner at the San Francisco International Fringe Festival.
In “Breed or Bust,” described by organizers as a subversive and timely mix of standup comedy and storytelling, Raven covers a wide range of potent issues as she “reckons with her reproductive choices and contends with her primal baby-making instincts.”
Details: 8 p.m. May 25 and June 8; The Marsh Berkeley; $20-$100; themarsh.org.
— Bay City News Foundation