The Negro spiritual is a core component of black cultural history and it has been at the core of Jacqueline Hairston’s lifelong journey of musical study, teaching and expression. A concert on Sunday featuring Hairston’s arrangements of traditional spirituals will be the closing production of AfroSolo 18, an annual celebration of black performance and creativity curated by Thomas Robert Simpson.The event is a prelude and a fundraiser to help finance a road trip for the East Bay-based Hairston and her 50-member chorus to appear at Carnegie Hall in February.
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Just days before she performs two concerts at the Venetian Room at the Fairmont, Lea Salonga was in Sao Paolo, joining Connie Chung, Vivica Fox and a panel of international celebrities gathered by Donald Trump to judge the 60th annual Miss Universe Pageant.It’s just another bit of globetrotting for the Tony Award-winning star who balances career commitments like her recent appearance in The City at an AIDS benefit concert in August with ongoing performances and recording dates in her native Philippines.
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In the enlightened Bay Area, it is almost reflexive to scoff when Rohina Malik says that wearing a hajib — the Muslim woman’s headscarf — is perceived as symbol of celebration for the terror attacks of 9/11 in some parts of American society.
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The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival brings the last leg of its 29th season to the Parade Ground Lawn of the Presidio this month with a solidly entertaining production of “Cymbeline.”One of the Bard’s less-often-produced titles, it is listed as a tragedy, though it is really more of a romance. No one dies except the villains and it has a generally happy ending with lovers and families reunited.
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Despite shifting from gang member to telemarketer to comedian and actor, D.L. Hughley, who opens a five-show run on Friday at Cobb’s, does not see himself as a role model. “No,” says the Los Angeles native and father of three, “but I do see myself as a person who lives out in the open. I have the kind of relationship with my children where they’ll know instantly whether I did something I’m accused of or didn’t.”Of his two-decade career, probably the most unusual résumé entry so far is a recent stint as host of “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News” on CNN.
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Patrick Cassidy, who appears in the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation’s 17th annual “Help Is On the Way” benefit concert Sunday, is arriving in San Francisco fresh from a Boston production of “The Sound of Music.”
The son of Shirley Jones, who is joining him here for the concert, and the late Jack Cassidy says the show brought him full-circle theatrically.
“I was turning 16 and my mother told me if I wanted a car I was going to have to purchase half of it.”
At the time he wasn’t exactly scooping up big bucks at his Baskin-Robbins counter job.
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It’s only coincidence that playwright-director-actor Gene Abravaya’s soap opera-themed “The Final Scene” coincides with the much-publicized cancellation of daytime TV staples “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.” Really. The comedy — developed in Santa Rosa and now at Thick House — about the last day of filming for a long-reigning soap star crackles with an air of authenticity thanks to Abravaya’s experience working in daytime drama. It also careens deftly into farce, with perhaps just a dollop too much of the genre’s ever-present melodrama served up at the end.
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If you’re a certain age, you might have played with a Barbie or G.I. Joe when you were young. When Brian Henson was 7, he was playing with Kermit the Frog and Cookie Monster puppets ... and a camera was recording him for early episodes of “Sesame Street” directed by his father, Jim.The younger Henson grew up with the family business and today serves as chairman of The Jim Henson Company, overseeing stage, film, television, video and game projects, plus a host of merchandising for the Muppets and other Henson characters.
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The only real link between the 1969 jazz-fusion song by Frank Zappa and the Wily West Productions show now at StageWerx — both called “Peaches en Regalia” — is that the former is the favorite song of the playwright of the latter.Recently produced in Oroville as a one-act, local author Steve Lyons has expanded his show to two acts, which made it perfect for Wily West’s mission to only produce plays by Bay Area writers.
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“I see what you mean,” says Belo Cipriani — but actually, he doesn’t. The expression is one of many reflexive but inaccurate idioms that persist as part of his daily conversations, even though he lost his sight as the victim of a violent crime in 2007. That experience moved him from writing personally to writing professionally and creating “Blind: A Memoir.” He is one of seven writers with disabilities gathering at the San Francisco Public Library today to read from their works and mark the 21st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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It shouldn’t be surprising that creative people successful in one discipline might have other, seemingly unrelated talents up their sleeve. Tony Bennett paints, Christopher Walken tap dances and Steve Martin plucks a wicked banjo. So, visit Bimbo’s 365 Club on Saturday to sample the collaboration of British singer-songwriter Julia Fordham and noted tunesmith Paul Reiser.
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Most actors start their “weekend” after the final bows of a Sunday matinee and don’t plan to step on a stage again until Tuesday night. This Sunday, Tony-winner Faith Prince and the touring company of “Billy Elliot” will play their ninth performance of the week — albeit in a variety cabaret of their own design — to benefit the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation.
REAF has staged these “One Night Only” cabarets with more than 33 shows visiting San Francisco, in addition to producing several annual gala events. It has disbursed more than $2.5 million to local AIDS-services providers.
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Had Stephen Foster’s 1854 lyric “I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair” been as literally applied as originally intended by producer Sidney Sheldon, blond Barbara Eden might never have landed the role that secured her spot in television history.Producer Marc Huestis brings the “I Dream of Jeannie” star to the Castro Theatre on Sunday to share stories of her life and career, which she has chronicled in her recent memoir “Jeannie Out of the Bottle.”
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The last Sunday of June every year brings the San Francisco Pride Parade. The event is one of the largest in California, drawing an estimated 1 million spectators. It also draws a wide range of celebrities and other public figures who are members or friends of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community.
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Jazz fans can have a rare opportunity to enjoy the stylings of vocalist Kitty Margolis at Yoshi’s on Friday night. The fact that Margolis lives in The City but has not performed here in several years is an irony she’s noted.“You know how your trajectory of life takes you in different directions?” she says. “I’ve been touring and I’ve also been involved in a series of creativity workshops with my husband here and in Europe.” She’s also just become a national trustee for the Grammys.
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