Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is closing its 30th season in top form at Fort Mason’s Southside Theatre with a top-flight production of “Fabulation,” a sharp, funny and unapologetically unsentimental story about a self-centered woman who finds love and family only as a result of losing money and power.Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize winner for “Ruined,” now onstage across the Bay at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is the author of the edgy morality tale, subtitled “The Re-education of Undine.” Margo Hall fully embodies the character, Undine Barnes Calles, a self-made, high-
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It seems like a stretch of the imagination, seeing guys from Journey and Night Ranger on the musical theater stage. But there they were for an instant, helping cast members of “Rock of Ages” revel in the glory of the 1980s during Wednesday’s opening-night curtain call at the Curran Theatre.
The show’s appealing star, Constantine Maroulis of “American Idol” fame, shouted out to the audience to acknowledge the “real” rockers, whose music still sounds good — even in the unlikely form of a hit Broadway jukebox musical on a tour stop in San Francisco.
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Lorraine Massey, author of “Curly Girl: The Handbook,” will speak at noon Tuesday at Madusalon, 300 Divisadero St., S.F.; at 7 p.m. Tuesday at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland; and at noon Wednesday at Peninsula Beauty in Burlingame.
Being at the forefront of the “pro-curl revolution,” can you briefly describe what you advocate? All it is, really, is cleansing hair properly and letting it dry naturally.
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Eighteen-year-old skater Mariyah Thurston, from Moreno Valley, appears as Princess Tiana and other characters in Disney on Ice’s “Let’s Celebrate!” closing today at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
You’ve skated both professionally and competitively. Can you compare the two experiences? They’re different, and you get into different mindsets. You’re much more focused in competition. In shows, there’s a consistency and routine, and you find places where you can play. You even can give high-fives to kids in the audience.
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For Constantine Maroulis, playing the lead in the musical “Rock of Ages” represents a very particular dream come true. “I wanted to be in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘West Side Story’ at the same time,” he says with enthusiasm, knowing how his background was perfect preparation for the role of an aspiring rocker in the hit 1980s-set jukebox musical opening Wednesdsay at the Curran Theatre.
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Cancer patient Jennifer Goodman Linn, a six-time survivor still fighting sarcoma, is the founder of Cycle for Survival, a fundraiser for rare cancer research taking place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Equinox Fitness Club, 301 Pine St., San Francisco.
How are you? The doctors were saying prepare for the worst, but I’ve bounced back.
Does Cycle for Survival involve riding stationary bikes? Yes. It’s a four-hour relay on an indoor bike, with teams of two to eight people sharing the ride. Anyone can do it!
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With his thoroughly intriguing and entertaining one-man presentation “Obscura: A Magic Show,” Christian Cagigal proves a fine example of the adage “good things come in small packages.” Onstage through April in the appropriately cozy Exit Studio in the middle of the Tenderloin, this “evening of short stories and strange happenings” wraps cool card tricks, audience participation, appealing low-tech props and Cagigal’s undeniably irresistible delivery into a one-of-a-kind experience.
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Craig Jessup has 20 songs about love he is singing in a show called “Funny Valentine.” In the collection of tunes he will perform with pianist-arranger Ken Muir the day before Valentine’s Day in Mill Valley, the Bay Area cabaret veteran aims to capture not just the thrill of being in love, but the downside too. “I can comment on falling in and out of love, and rediscovering love,” Jessup says. “Each song is like a small play, and together the tunes make up a whole cycle.”
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This year, San Francisco jazz-cabaret singer Paula West’s winter engagement is an unprecedented eight weeks at the Rrazz Room.Toward the end of her opening-night set last week, she asked her audience of admirers — including local singers Carly Ozard, Denise Perrier, Amanda King, Mike Greensill and Wesla Whitfield — to “tell everybody they better get their butts over here.”West need not plead, however.
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For Alice Ripley, playing the lead in the acclaimed musical “Next to Normal” is not a matter of choice.“I can’t say no to Diana. She’s going to have to say no to me sometime,” the San Leandro-born, Midwest-bred actress says during a phone interview.Opening next week at the Curran Theatre, the show — about ups and downs in a modern suburban family — is remarkable because it is simultaneously, and extremely, meaningful and emotional.
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The title “The World’s Funniest Bubble Show” is not an exaggeration, and its creator, the Amazing Bubble Man, lives up to his name.Also known as Louis Pearl, he is a real pro, holding a tough crowd of little ones and their parents captive with a set of tricks using just soap and water.Skillfully adding silliness, sass and a smattering of science, he makes the show — onstage in its seventh extension at The Marsh in Berkeley — that rare animal: entertainment that is gobs of fun, and educational too.
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Don Reed seems to be entering 2011 in fine form.
The Oakland-bred comedian apparently is spending weekdays warming up audiences for Jay Leno’s show in Southern California, and on weekends, he’s back in Berkeley doing his one-man show “East 14th:True Tales of a Reluctant Player.”
The show is a bona fide hit. It began at The Marsh in San Francisco in May 2009, enjoyed a successful run in New York and has been extended again and again in its current weekend East Bay venue.
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What a wonderful idea for the holidays: a show about finding true meaning in life.The execution is as good as the concept, as the Marsh Youth Theater proves with its positively inspirational production of “Siddhartha, The Bright Path” onstage through 2011 in San Francisco.The original musical — book, music and lyrics by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo, Danny Duncan and George Brooks — is based on the life of Buddhism founder Siddhartha Gautama, who was born into royalty but abandoned the riches of his youth in search of spiritual enlightenment.
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Give “Shrek the Musical” an “A” for being adorable. There’s something for everyone in this stage version of DreamWorks’ hit animated ogre-themed movie based on the children’s book by William Steig. The touring production onstage at the Orpheum in The City, which features a good number of artists from the original Broadway show, is the perfect holiday entertainment. It serves up consistent laughs, eye-popping sparkle, jolly tunes and even some heartwarming emotion.
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Give "Shrek The Musical" an A for being adorable. There's something for everyone in this stage version of DreamWorks' hit animated ogre-themed movie based on the children's book by William Steig. The touring production onstage at the Orpheum in The City, which features a good number of artists from the original Broadway show, is the perfect holiday entertainment. It serves up consistent laughs, eye-popping sparkle, jolly tunes and even some heartwarming emotion.
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