Debuted in 1982, Cats is one of the most recognized productions in American musical theater of the last 50 years. Penned by contemporary master Andrew Lloyd Webber, this Tony Award-winning musical ranks fourth on the list of longest-running shows on Broadway—eclipsed by The Lion King, Chicago, and Webber’s magnum opus, Phantom of…
Continue reading »
by
Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
The televised improv comedy show where “everything’s made up and the points don’t matter” launched thousands of community improv groups back in the early 2000s, when it was a ratings behemoth for ABC. After nearly a decade off air, Whose Line is it Anyway? was revived by the CW and is now…
Continue reading »
by
Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
Anerae Brown is not the only rapper to keep a career afloat from behind bars. However, the dedication and ingenuity Brown demonstrated while serving a 31-year sentence for first degree murder are certainly notable. Over the course of his 26 years in prison, he released 12 albums, recording grainy flows over a…
Continue reading »
by
Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
Not to be confused with the swashbuckling English novel and its many movie adaptations (that’s Beau Geste), this stage comedy presents a young Jewish woman trying to fool her meddling parents by hiring an actor to play her perfect boyfriend while keeping her real goy-friend—a WASP-y executive named (of all things) Chris…
Continue reading »
by
Bill Kopp on February 13, 2019
Smooth R&B vocal group The Whispers have been a fixture of the music landscape for 50 years. With a sound that draws from vocal greats like The Temptations, The Whispers’ soothing approach keeps the focus on the vocals. But the enduring act has also applied a solid slow-jam dance groove to its…
Continue reading »
by
Wallace Baine on February 13, 2019
The Brooklyn-based performance group Half Straddle presents this hybrid show, which is part rock concert and part theatrical production, centered on a live band working through issues such as complicated family dynamics, sexuality and feminism with songs. It’s all based on playwright and Half Straddle artistic director Tina Satter’s real-life estrangement from…
Continue reading »
by
Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
No one wants to be replaced by a newer, hipper model—especially robots, who aren’t afforded the kind of sympathy humans get when they’re dumped for the next best thing. This is the subject of Nufonia Must Fall, a multimedia hip-hopera by Eric San (Kid Koala) and K.K. Barrett. Hip-hop heads know San…
Continue reading »
Bay Area musician Marinero crafts gauzy, laid-back indie rock,inflected with Spanish and island flourishes. His latest single, “Flor de Jamaica,” is a wispy number that sways lightly like a palm tree blown by a mild tropical breeze. The track features bright strokes of bittersweet guitar chords, glittering atop a calm ocean of…
Continue reading »
by
Nick Veronin on February 13, 2019
So many peace-loving, flower-powered Baby Boomers were devastated by the election of Richard Nixon. The same goes for the wide-eyed Millennials, who as recently minted adults cast their very first presidential votes for Barack Obama, only to be deflated by the rise of Donald Trump. In 1982, a cohort of Gen-X-ers—raised by…
Continue reading »
by
Mike Huguenor on February 13, 2019
These days, it seems that innovation outpaces our ability to understand what it is doing to us. As Californians, we are used to tectonic shifts, but the ground beneath us is now in a constant state of flux. There are new means of transportation, communication and expression; new ways to meet people,…
Continue reading »
