“Dogfight” at the SFPlayhouse is a “Musical Love Story,” the old-fashioned kind of American musical where boy meets girl, there is a crisis and then they re-meet and everything is perfect. But this has a twist and even though it is placed during the Vietnam wartime in 1963 it feels very modern. The music is modern as well. The music and lyrics of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul come from the school of Steven Sondheim or even Leonard Bernstein with…
Parisian Ensemble Visits the West Coast BERKELEY—An earth-shaking, all-contemporary, all-imported concert was saved with two ensemble pieces offering real music, not just sonic experiments. For the first time since its founding in 1976, Pierre Boulez’s renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain came to Cal from Paris, borrowing a good many percussion instruments from the university for the occasion. For Cal Performances, the booking marks a milestone. Musicians from Paris, yes, but only one of the four composers, Franck Bedrossian, was French. Ascribe it…