Walnut Creek: Looking for something special for Mother\u2019s Day? Vocalist Laurie Roldan has just the ticket. The popular performer debuts her new cabaret show May 10 at 2 p.m. at Walnut Creek\u2019s Lesher Center on 1601 Civic Drive.<\/p>\n
Roldan, who has been delighting audiences on both coasts, brings \u201cThe Music of Karen Carpenter and Friends\u201d to the Lesher\u2019s midsize theater for this special concert.<\/p>\n
![\"Laurie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BRN-L-CC-COL-0501-2.jpg\")
Laurie Roldan brings her new cabaret show to Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for a special Mother’s Day concert on May 10. (Photo courtesy of Laurie Roldan)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is still to lift people up with Karen Carpenter\u2019s beautiful music, but this show will also include medleys and duets that Karen sang with other celebrities such as Perry Como, Andy Williams and Ella Fitzgerald,\u201d said Roldan. \u201cThen I started thinking what it would be like if she had lived longer and had the chance to sing with artists like Linda Ronstadt, Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that end, Roldan\u2019s husband Dan will join her on stage for a medley of Perry Como songs while Natalie Amaya and Roldan will perform several Ronstadt tunes. Other featured vocalists include Deborah Del Mastro singing \u201cMy Funny Valentine\u201d and \u201cAs Time Goes By\u201d and Michele Ianiro joining Roldan for several Dionne Warwick numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarpenter and Dionne Warwick were good friends, so I wanted to incorporate her music into the show as well,\u201d Roldan added. \u201cThis will still be a Karen Carpenter show, including some of her songs that weren\u2019t in my previous shows, but there will be a lot more variety with these other singers included. I\u2019ll also be incorporating some trivia about Karen and the other singers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roldan, whose mother will be attending the May 10 show, also has a present for moms \u2014 a 10% discount.<\/p>\n
For tickets to a special Mother\u2019s Day show, call 925-943-7469 or go to lesherartscenter.org<\/a>. Use the code \u201cMoms10\u201d for a 10% discount.<\/p>\n Martinez: George Leslie Kimball\u2019s \u201cFour Old Broads\u201d brings its salty sense of humor to the Campbell Theater on 636 Ward St. in Martinez, beginning Friday through May 17.<\/p>\n Produced by Onstage Repertory Theatre and directed by John Alred, the comedy features four sassy senior ladies who need a break from bingo and macram\u00e9. They decide to take a Caribbean cruise, but a nasty nurse does her best to foil their plans. Add in a senior citizen beauty pageant, an old Elvis impersonator and a bizarre thigh exerciser and you have a silly and entertaining night of theater.<\/p>\n The cast features Gwendolyn Sampson, Rusty De Lucia, Linda Sciacque, Babette Bilger, Derek Zemrak, Paige Whitney and Windy Keefe.<\/p>\n For tickets, call 925-350-9770 or go to campbelltheater.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Berkeley: Shotgun Players takes on climate change with Bess Wohl\u2019s comedy \u201cContinuity\u201d May 23 through June 27 at the Ashby Stage on 1901 Ashby Ave.<\/p>\n The satire doesn\u2019t just address climate change, it also shows how a Hollywood crew intends to solve it. More power to them!<\/p>\n For tickets, go to shotgunplayers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lafayette: What does freedom sound like? The East Bay\u2019s Cantare choir explores that question in their May 16 concert \u201cUntil All of Us Are Free.\u201d<\/p>\n The intergenerational choral organization hopes to inspire, uplift and connect communities with its music. From the soaring voices of its Adult Chorale to the vibrant energy of its Aurora Choir of high school singers, Cantare highlights themes of hope, perseverance and social connection.<\/p>\n The May 16 concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church on 49 Knox Drive in Lafayette. For tickets, call 510-836-0789 or go to cantareconvivo.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com<\/a>, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com\/author\/sally-hogarty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you have a chance to see the play \u201cHamnet,\u201d running through May 24 at ACT\u2019s Toni Rembe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2245,123582,2232,123583,2248,2241,1472,123579,2246,2242,967,17017,123584,123577,2236,123580,2240,123578,2244,123581,2239,123576,101,103,102,2247,104,106,105,32220,2243,1058,81723],"class_list":["post-289011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-acting","tag-ashby-stage","tag-campbell-theater","tag-cantare-choir","tag-choreography","tag-comedy","tag-dance","tag-deborah-del-mastro","tag-directing","tag-drama","tag-entertainment","tag-hamnet","tag-lafayette-orinda-presbyterian-church","tag-laurie-roldan","tag-lesher-center","tag-michele-ianiro","tag-musicals","tag-natalie-amaya","tag-on-stage","tag-onstage-repertory-theatre","tag-performing-arts","tag-royal-shakespeare-company","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-screenwriting","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-shotgun-players","tag-singing","tag-theater","tag-toni-rembe-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cantare's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BRN-L-CC-COL-0501-3.jpg\")
Cantare’s Aurora Choir of high school singers joins Cantare’s adult choir for its season finale “Until All of Us are Free” on May 16 at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church. (Photo courtesy of Spencer Smith)\u00a0<\/p>\n