There’s a graciousness to conversation with Trini Lopez that flies in the face of today’s sound-bite-driven, self-obsessed world of showbiz. “May I tell you a story?” he asks, and the pause lengthens to the point where you realize the question is sincere. Lopez, who makes his Rrazz Room debut this week, has many stories to tell from both before and after his debut album — filled with hits such as “La Bamba” and “If I Had a Hammer” — made him a name a half-century ago. Read More

Nobody told actor and comedian Jay Mohr that his stand-up gig at Cobb’s this weekend coincided with the San Francisco LGBT Pride parade and celebration. “That is fantastic,” he says. “I’m not gay, but I am certainly on the waiting list. I’ve got my Rufus Wainwright CDs, I have my Hermés man-bag, and I’m very much aware that bear Alec Baldwin is much hotter than twink Alec Baldwin.“ Read More

Frameline 36 — this year’s edition of the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival running Thursday through June 24 — has the broad theme “Find Your Story.” Second only to concepts of male and female, and sometimes blurring that line, LGBT people — frequently appended with Q, I and other initials — represent a thoroughly diverse spectrum of humanity. Read More

Based on a 1946 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis and filmed in 1964 as “Zorba the Greek” with Anthony Quinn, the 1968 musical “Zorba,” onstage in a revival at the Eureka Theatre, has excellent credentials. Songs are by John Kander and Fred Ebb, then basking in “Cabaret” glow. The book is by Joseph Stein, lauded for adapting Sholom Aleichem’s stories into “Fiddler on the Roof.” If you squint, you just might imagine you are seeing a mish-mashup of those two better shows in “Zorba.” Read More

There’s an admirable core of pragmatism to Debbie Reynolds. The Hollywood star turned 80 on April 1, but she’s nobody’s fool. “I earned all my years,” she says, “and I have a lot I can say to you.”She’s going to do just that Sunday afternoon at the Marin Center, sharing stories, singing a few songs and dipping into her renowned set of celebrity impressions.“I don’t really care about birthdays,” Reynolds says. “I care about whether you are having a good time and doing something with your life. I’ve really had quite an exciting time of it, from rags to riches.” Read More

In the world of redheads, Miss Coco Peru — who performs two shows today at the Victoria Theatre — manages to blend an air of impossibly good breeding, a la Bree Van De Kamp Hodge (Marcia Cross of “Desperate Housewives”), with the scrappy snarkiness of Kathy Griffin. Clinton Leupp, the actor inside the always impeccable, titian-toned Marlo Thomas flip and restrained cocktail chic, has turned the act into a science that has earned kudos from both Cross and Griffin. Read More

The tenuous relationship between two brothers, one mentally challenged, and the vagrant who enters their lives is the setting for Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker,” which opens next week at the Curran Theatre with award-winning Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce.It’s been a long time since Pryce has visited San Francisco. “I was there very briefly in the mid-’70s,” he says. “I finished the play ‘Comedians’ in New York and went out to L.A. with it. My wife and I drove all the way through Big Sur to San Francisco and back.” Read More