Although British choreographer Wayne McGregor’s “Borderlands” made its world premiere at the War Memorial Opera House on Tuesday night, the piece looks rather familiar.
The finale to San Francisco Ballet’s Program 1, “Borderlands” feels like a B-side to McGregor’s 2006 work “Chroma” – which SFB performed just last year. The works share similar sets, costumes, lighting and staging but use different music.
“Borderlands’” score, by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney, sounds like a 1980s industrial soundscape infused with melodramatic piano.
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Of many bewitching female portraits in art, Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” remains one of the most luminous.
“Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis,” on view through June 2 at the de Young Museum, features 34 other paintings by 17th century Dutch masters, including Rembrandt, Pieter Claesz, Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch and Jacob van Ruisdael.
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Love it or hate it, suburbia is an omnipresent facet of American society and culture. San Francisco photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards can’t quite turn her back on it.
Edwards’ “Suburban Dreams,” on view at the Oakland Museum of California through June 30, features some 22 large-format photographs mostly shot in Silicon Valley.
She gives suburbia a mythical edge, at the same time observing commonplace, contemporary ideals and aspirations.
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When the lights went down at San Jose’s HP Pavilion Thursday, the roar was deafening. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Ball,” the 26-year-old pop star’s third concert tour, was about to debut in the Bay, and her fans, the Little Monsters,” were ready.
Ever subtle, Gaga arrived riding a black unicorn out of a multi-story gray castle. Like Medieval Times on steroids, the structure is the main set for the two-hour plus show. The militaristic, flag-bearing minions following Gaga are her dancers, showing off many semaphoric talents.
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It’s easy to think most artists court the muse by living monastically, locking themselves up in a room. But Tom Franco and Julia Lazar have other ideas.
Co-founders of the East Bay’s Firehouse Art Collective, artists Franco (yes, as in the Palo Alto Francos, brother to James and Dave) and Lazar seek collaboration and community.
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In “Somewhere,” making its regional premiere at TheatreWorks, some talented Puerto Rican children want to try out for “West Side Story,” but they’re hampered, because they are losing their family’s home.
In 1959 — when ground broke to begin building New York’s Lincoln Center — 7,000 families, many Puerto Rican, were displaced. The little-known issue provides the crux of the plot of the dance-filled play by Matthew Lopez, which begins previews Wednesday in Mountain View.
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If 2012 had a rough end for Rrazz Room owners Robert Kotonly and Rory Paull, the pair is starting off 2013 with a bang.
Despite leaving Hotel Nikko under difficult circumstances, they booked Jefferson Starship to play the official opening of their new space, Live at the Rrazz (in the former Cadillac dealership building at 1000 Van Ness Ave.) on Thursday.
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It’s hard to say what could be more comforting in the foggy Outer Sunset than an impeccable bowl of steaming soup. Maybe that perfect soup with some homemade butter and bread, inventive entrees and artisanal cocktails.
Outerlands has it all, and walking into the cozy, woody retreat — complete with a driftwood, Hobbit-hole loft — is a bit like putting on a favorite, well-worn sweater: warm, soft and inviting.
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Everyone knows that Beat brothers Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady loved the ladies, but few have heard the women’s stories.
“The women were often in the shadows in the Beat movement, which is a shame,” says Gerald Nicosia, co-author of “One and Only: The Untold Story of ‘On the Road,’” a book that expounds on the real life of Lu Anne Henderson, the basis for the character Marylou in Kerouac’s classic novel.
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Significant, profitable and divisive, California’s agricultural industry is powerful. That reality is reflected in “I See Beauty In This Life: A Photographer Looks at 100 Years of Rural California,” a show of more than 150 photographs from the 19th century to the present depicting the nit, grit, pomp and circumstance of farming culture.
On view at the California Historical Society, the exhibit is a collaboration between the CHS and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton.
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For those who don’t have a holiday plan, here are some entertaining options for ushering in the new year — all are happening Monday.
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For those who haven’t gone completely digital yet, here are recommendations for readers and book lovers, including notable volumes published this year, and last-minute gift ideas, too.
FICTION
Sweet ToothBy Ian McEwan ($26.95)The author of “Atonement” returns with a tale of love, espionage and word play, complete with dazzling dialogue and astute narrative observation.
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Nineteen years ago, a Jewish comedian from New York found herself doing stand-up Hanukkah humor in a Chinese restaurant in western Massachusetts.
The comedian is Lisa Geduldig. Her fluke night became Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, now a San Francisco institution featuring mostly Jewish entertainment, on Christmas, in a Chinese restaurant.
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For those who prefer last-minute shopping, here are some easy-to-purchase gift ideas; many can be found in independent stores in San Francisco and greater Bay Area.
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Here are a few suggestions for those who love gadgets — and isn’t that everyone?
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