From a new play play about a mother-son road trip to a jazz guitar icon and festival devoted to gems, there is plenty to see and do in the Bay Area Area this weekend.
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Here is a partial rundown.
The ‘Beat’ goes on in Mountain View
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is once again drawing from its widely acclaimed New Works Festival for a main season show — and another world premiere.
This time it’s “A Driving Beat,” a 2024 New Works Fest favorite that rides a somewhat unusual story line — a mother-son road trip — to explore how bonds can form from uncommon backgrounds. Directed by acclaimed Bay Area theater-maker Jeffrey Lo, “Driving Beat” works off a script full of great storytelling and clever insights — not to mention hip-hop music — to tell an engaging story of a White mother and her Latino son trying to forge a relationship. The play by up-and-coming Bay Area Chicanx playwright Jordan Ramirez Puckett sets the show in an intimate setting, letting the developing relationship take center stage.
The action centers largely on two actors, Jon Viktor Corpuz (as Mateo, the hip-hop-loving son) and Lee Ann Payne (as the mother, Diane). Sound designer Cliff Caruthers and beat maker Carlos Aguirre help establish the “driving beat.”
Details: Performances through Nov. 23; Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; $49-$79; find tickets, schedule and information special performances at theatreworks.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Scofield, at any age, is a treat
What’s the difference between John Scofield’s Combo 73 and Combo 66?
Pretty much only the number.
Otherwise, the bands are still being led by the same stellar jazz guitarist — the one and only Scofield — and still feature the same incredible cast of keyboardist Gerald Clayton, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart working alongside the bandleader.
The number in the equation, by the way, refers to Scofield’s age. The legendary guitarist, who has performed with such iconic jazz figures as Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Charles Mingus, was 66-year old when he first formed this multi-generational band to record the eponymous “Combo 66″ outing in 2018. Now he’s 73 and, well, you get the picture.
Of course, Scofield’s accomplishments are too numerous to list in full here. Just focusing on his more recent career highlights, however, the guitarist managed to score back-to-back best jazz album Grammys with 2015’s ”Past Present” and 2016’s ”Country For Old Men.” He brings Combo 73 to the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco for a weekend run.
Details: Shows are 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6-8; tickets start at $39.50; sfjazz.org.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Betting on Butterworth
Playwright and screenwriter Jez Butterworth has created such a deep and varied collection of plays and films it’s sometimes hard to believe they all come from the same guy. The Tony- and Laurence Olivier Award-winner is known for a fertile imagination that he applies to gripping storylines that combine realism, fantasy and folklore as well as to intriguing characters often forced to adjust to life’s twists and turns.
His first play, the 1995 crime-caper dark comedy, “Mojo,” won an Olivier award for best new comedy and he has been pretty much on a roll ever since. His slice-of-life comedy/drama “Jerusalem,” which follows a colorful British “waster” and his friends, has been called the best British play of the 21st century. Butterworth is also an in-demand film screenwriter who has written or co-written such releases as “Fair Game,” based on the the Valerie Plame story and starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts; the Whitey Bulger crime drama “Black Mass,” the James Brown biopic “Get On Up” and even a James Bond movie, “Spectre.”
Now Berkeley Repertory Theatre is presenting his most recent play, “The Hills of California,” a comedy-drama about four singing sisters gathering at a run-down beach house where their domineering mother is close to death. The play, which premiered last year, runs through Dec. 7 and his directed by former Magic Theatre director Loretta Greco.
Details: Tickets are $24-$137; go to berkeleyrep.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
A gem of a show returns to Concord
Why weren’t the geologists hungry? Because they’d lost their apatite.
Haha! Now you have the perfect ice-breaker for the least jaded event of the season: The Contra Costa Mineral & Gem Society’s Mineral and Gem Show, which this year is celebrating the group’s amazing 75 years in existence. Truly, geology rocks.
Taking place at Centre Concord, the show is meant not just for collectors of glittery, hard things, but for anybody curious about the way the planet’s put together. “Step inside and explore a dazzling world of minerals, gems, fossils, meteorites, crystals, beads, jewelry and slabs from expert vendors and collectors,” the organizers write. “Discover Earth’s hidden beauty up close through live lapidary demonstrations, educational displays and interactive exhibits that bring geology to life.”
Attendees will enjoy trancing out in the popular Fluorescent Tent, where rocks glow like alien candy under UV light. There are door prizes, raffles, silent auctions and gifts and jewelry for holiday shopping. Kids can engage in games and rock painting. And for the first time, the society’s official mascot Diablo Dan will make an appearance — he’ll be posing at the photo booth. Make sure to tell him what a gneiss shirt he’s wearing.
Details: Show runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 8 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 9 at 5298 Clayton Road, Concord; $10 general admission ($9 seniors, age 12 and under free), ccmgsclub.com/show.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Doc fest returns with lots of choices
SFFILM’s Doc Stories film series continues to curate one of the finest collections of cutting-edge documentaries you’ll find anywhere, and this year’s program is just more proof.
The 11th annual celebration of nonfiction cinema opens Nov. 6 with Oscar-winning director Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour”) and Mark Obenhaus’ take on the career of tenacious Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, whose reporting was credited with exposing the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. The film, “Cover-Up,” screens at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. with Hersh, Poitras and Obenhaus slated to attend.
We also recommend two-time Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot’s “The Eyes of Ghana,” a touching tribute to the power of cinema and the diligent work of documentarian and professor Chris Hesse, 93, as he tries to save from destruction and decay some 1,300 reels of film — some of which he directed – that document African independence and the political career of Kwame Nkrumah. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama and Moses Bwayo, “The Eyes of Ghana” is a gorgeous and inspirational film with a soul-stirring score from Kris Bowers. It screens 11 a.m. Nov. 8. In all, more than a dozen documentaries and short-film packages are on the lineup.
Details: All screenings at the Vogue Theater, 3920 Sacramento St., San Francisco; most screenings cost $21.50, special events are more, ticket packages also available; tickets and schedule at sffilm.org.
– Randy Myers, Correspondent
Classical picks: Sibelius, Handel, Wagner
From folk-inspired Sibelius to Italian treats, then moving on to a rare opportunity to experience one of the world’s great operas, there’s a wealth of music on this week’s calendar. Read on for the top picks taking us through mid-November.
Canellakis conducts: Coming up at San Francisco Symphony is a program of works by Dvorak, Prokofiev, and Sibelius. Conducted by Karina Canellakis, it begins with Dvorak’s “Scherzo capriccioso,” followed by Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with Alexandre Kantorow as soloist. After intermission is Sibelius’s beautifully folk-inspired Opus 22, “Four Legends from the Kalevala,” a sequence of four tone poems composed in 1896.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6-8; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $25-$150; sfsymphony.org.
“All’Italiana”: Twelfth Night, the New York-based early music ensemble founded by Rachell Ellen Wong and harpsichordist David Belkovski, makes its Berkeley debut with Handel’s “Aminta e Fillide,” a rarely performed pastoral cantata/Romantic comedy sung in English and starring soprano Nicoletta Berry and mezzo-soprano Megan Moore in the title roles.
Details: Presented by Cal Performances; 3 p.m. Nov. 9; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $71-$76; calperformances.org.
A can’t-miss “Parsifal”: Two performances remain for “Parsifal” at San Francisco Opera. Now in its first return to the company in 25 years, Wagner’s 1882 opera is directed by Matthew Ozawa, conducted by Eun Sun Kim, and features Brandon Jovanovich in the title role. It’s a can’t-miss experience for any opera lover.
Details: 6 p.m. Nov. 7 and 13; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $36-$447; sfopera.com.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Freebie(s) of the week
The first Friday of the month is a pretty good day if you feel like having some free artsy fun in San Jose or Oakland. San Jose’s South First Fridays Art Walk event finds a host of art centers and galleries staying open until 9 p.m. and offering free admission. This is particularly convenient if you feel like taking in Indonesian artist Susiyo’s trippy and colorful creations now on display as part of his “Rider of Reveries” exhibit at the Anno Domini gallery, 366 S. First St. At the MACLA Latin America cultural center at 510 S. First St., you can catch the interactive exhibit “There Are New Suns,” examining the struggle between cultural resilience and gentrification, which is in its final week. Also on Friday, the center hosts a Voces del Campo Poetry Party, celebrating new books by acclaimed Latinx poets Mayra Flores and Cristal Gonzalez. At the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., members of Opera San Jose will perform highlights from its production of “Madama Butterfly.” And the San Jose Jazz Break Room, 310 S. First St., will host a steady stream of performances topped by the terrific sax man Howard Wiley. There’s a lot more on tap during South First Fridays; a complete rundown of events and offerings is at www.southfirstfridays.com. Meanwhile, Oakland First Fridays is hosting a special “Season of Giving” edition of its monthly First Fridays celebration. You’ll find live music and arts performers, a light show, and a jam-packed marketplace full of all kinds of products to peruse. The free event runs 5 to 9:30 p.m. Friday on Telegraph Avenue, between West Grand Avenue and 27th Street. More information is at www.oaklandfirstfridays.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Time for the blues
Longtime Bay Area bluesman J.C. Smith has been around the block, traveling not only in the U.S., but also to far-flung places like Argentina, Armenia, Canada, Chile, China, Latvia, Portugal, Russia, even Siberia.
But he and his band always enjoy appearing at home around the Bay Area. The award-winning vocalist and his band, favorites in the South Bay, are excited about a gig at San Francisco’s Biscuits & Blues this weekend.
Now playing with bandmates Stevie Q on bass, Noel Catura on sax, Scott Porter on keyboard and Tim Richard on drums, vocalist-guitarist Smith has made six albums over the past two decades or so, starting with 2004’s “That’s What I’m Talk’n Bout.” The most recent, 2019’s “In the Groove,” includes original tunes and fun covers of songs made famous by Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, George Benson and Stevie Wonder.
Still, the band is best known for its rockin’ live shows. Smith’s motto has been to “keep the blues alive and take the message to the people.” He and his band live up to it.
On Saturday, patrons may want to arrive early and enjoy a meal from the club’s great menu featuring Southern and soul food.
Details: Shows are at 6:30 and 9 p.m.; Biscuits & Blues, 401 Mason St.; $35-$40; biscuitsandblues.com.
— Bay City News Foundation
An L.A. fantastic four
The Grammy-winning Los Angeles Quartet, longtime favorites of Bay Area arts presenters San Francisco Performances, return to the Herbst Theatre on Nov. 8 with a program that amply demonstrates the depth and diversity of their repertoire. As is customary, they will perform a couple of works written by their members, William Kanengiser’s “Air & Ground” and “Maracasalsa,” a work fusing Brazilian rhythmic traditions with classical forms (toccata and fugue) by the newest member, Douglas Lora, who joined the ensemble in 2023. Also in the lineup are the Adagio movement from Beethoven’s famed “Moonlight Sonata” (arranged by Kanengiser), the third movement from J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3,” the “Danse Négre from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “African Suite,” Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No 2,” Philip Houghton’s “Opals,” Hermeto Pascoal’s “D´Sabado pra Dominguinhos,” Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “A Lenda do Caboclo” and Paulo Bellnati’s “A Furiosa.”
Details: Performance time is 7:30 p.m.; $60-$80, www.sfperformances.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
A special guest in San Jose
Iranian American concert pianist and composer Faranak Shahroozi, who emigrated to the United States a few years after the Iran Revolution threw her home country into turmoil, specializes in lush, ultra-romantic works for the keyboard. Her subsequent degree in classical piano performance came from her studies at San Jose State University, so it is entirely appropriate that the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Day Turner, has put her front and center at a Nov. 9 concert in the St. Francis Episcopal Church in the city’s Willow Glen neighborhood. The program, titled “An Evening of Persian Delights,” consists of works she has written, including “Persia” and “Behind the Veil” from her “Eternal Love” album, “Circles of My Mind,” “Lovestruck” and other pieces to be announced.
Details: 7 p.m.; $20-$85, sjco.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
