BERNSTEIN’S ‘CANDIDE,’ A HIT IN CONCERT

BERNSTEIN’S ‘CANDIDE,’ A HIT IN CONCERT

It’s a Cynical Ill Wind, Blowing Very Well OAKLAND—Pulling off an enhanced concert version of Bernstein’s sprawling stage work “Candide” was a fitting season-ending achievement for the Oakland East Bay Symphony, with 11 solo singers plus chorus supplementing the orchestra. It marked the fitting cherry atop the 25-year OEBS stint of Music Director Michael Morgan, who had been a protégé of Bernstein himself more than 30 years ago. A large and enthusiastic crowd saluted this chameleon of a work, unlike…

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SHIFTING SHOALS, SHIFTING FAMILY TIES

SHIFTING SHOALS, SHIFTING FAMILY TIES

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New Play at Berkeley Rep By Carol Benet artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater Weeks starting May 5, 2015 Vol. 17, No. 53 BERKELEY — Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Heads of Passes” is a faith-based play with a topline cast about family conflicts in the Deep South, loosely based on the Biblical “Book of Job.” With added rewrites after its Berkeley Rep run, it will be headed to New York City. Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney is big…

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CAN AILEY CO. BUILD UPON ITS PAST?

CAN AILEY CO. BUILD UPON ITS PAST?

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Its Old Repertory Is Still the Best By Karl Toepfer artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area dance Weeks starting April 28, 2015 Vol. 17, No. 56 BERKELEY — Last week, the Alvin Ailey Company visited Berkeley, bringing with it three programs in six concerts. The programs mostly featured new works receiving their Bay Area premieres and works adopted by the Ailey Company. The only piece choreographed by Ailey was Revelations, his great, enduring, and immensely popular hit…

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UNIQUE AQUATIC CREATION AT S.F. BALLET

UNIQUE AQUATIC CREATION AT S.F. BALLET

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But Will It Have Legs (or Fins?) to Endure Vol. 17, No. 52 Computer animation in live ballet took a quantum leap with the premiere work “Swimmer,” at the S.F. Ballet through April 21. Techno-enhanced ballet will never again be the same. The blending of projections with live dancers was so well done (by Kate Duhamel, the trompe-l’oeil video designer) that you were never quite sure where one ended, the other began. Live strap-hangers peopled a projected commuter bus. Dancer…

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RATMANSKY’S TRIUMPHAL BALLET NIGHT

RATMANSKY’S TRIUMPHAL BALLET NIGHT

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The brilliance and imagination of choreographer Alexei Ratmansky flows abundantly over the stage, where the San Francisco Ballet performed his arresting “Shostakovich Trilogy,” honoring the composer through a trio of works co-produced with the American Ballet Theatre. Whether it’s the feathery-light steps of the dancers giving the illusion of floating, or the corps’ arms undulating overhead in unison like willows in the wind, Ratmansky takes dance to a new level quite different from Balanchine (though both emerged from St. Petersburg,…

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‘TARTUFFE’ ANEW AT THE BERKELEY REP

‘TARTUFFE’ ANEW AT THE BERKELEY REP

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Timely Hypocrisy, Pomposity, Comedy By Carol Benet artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater Weeks starting April 5, 2015 Vol. 17, No. 49 BERKELEY—Molière’s satirical comedy “Tartuffe,” first performed in 1664, remains one of the most timely scripts ever written despite the vast time gap since it appeared, it. In it, Molière makes fun of excessive religiosity, yet this new interpretation at Berkeley Rep by Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp, who plays Tartuffe, is both hilarious and…

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DUSTED OFF, FROM THE TOP SHELF

DUSTED OFF, FROM THE TOP SHELF

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And an Operatic 1st: a ‘Sex-and-a-half-Tet’ SAN JOSE, CA—Score one with staging Mark Lanz Weiser’s 1998 work “Where Angels Fear to Tread” at Opera San Jose. This was the last of many admirable judgments by OSJ founder (and former mezzo great) Irene Dalis, who pushed mounting the work despite the 31-year record of chancey audience response to new works at OSJ. 15 years had passed since the troupe had mounted any premiere. This may well be judged her crowning production…

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