From a colorful \u201cGarden of D\u2019Lights\u201d to iconic classical works and a new take on the Zodiac Killer, there\u2019s a lot of cool stuff to catch this weekend.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a partial rundown.<\/p>\n
Classical picks: Messiah, \u2018Butterfly,\u2019 Panto<\/p>\n
The Bay Area\u2019s classical music community will be hitting plenty of high notes this week, with a range of works to enjoy: a British panto, a beloved oratorio, and one of the world\u2019s great operas. Each brings delights for the holidays.<\/p>\n
Enjoy a panto:\u00a0It\u2019s one of our top picks for the season \u2014 the annual \u201cPeter Pan\u201d panto at the Presidio, which promises a trippy journey to Neverland with live music and a cast of top Bay Area performers. Now, in a wonderful way to get re-acquainted with the timeless characters \u2014 Peter, Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook \u2014 you can experience them in the fun-loving British tradition.<\/p>\n
Details: Through Dec. 28; Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $16.50-$66; presidiotheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHandel\u201d with care: There are many \u201cMessiah\u2019s \u201cto choose from this season, and we\u2019re looking forward to this one, with Director Lawrence Kohl leading the Pacific Chamber Orchestra in Handel\u2019s great oratorio. Four fine vocalists \u2014 soprano Raven McMillon, alto Sara Couden, tenor Ricardo Garcia, and bass Matt Boehler \u2014 are the soloists.<\/p>\n Details: 3 p.m. Nov. 30; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $25-$85; livermorearts.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n A beautiful \u201cButterfly\u201d:\u00a0It\u2019s not too late to experience the wonders of \u201cMadama Butterfly\u201d in the final performance of Opera San Jose\u2019s new production; directed by Michelle Cuizon, conducted by Joseph Marcheso, and featuring Artist-in-Residence Emily Michiko Jensen, making her role debut as the beautiful Cio-Cio San. Jensen\u2019s joined by Christopher Oglesby as Pinkerton, Eugene Brancoveanu is Sharpless, and, in her company debut, Kayla Nanto is Suzuki.<\/p>\n Details: 2 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30; California Theatre, San Jose: $61.50-$221.50; OperaSJ.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Georgia Rowe, Correspondent<\/p>\n Happy glowing holidays<\/p>\n What\u2019s better than a beautiful garden full of strange cacti and succulents?<\/p>\n How about when they\u2019re decked out with lights and glowing apparatuses, looking like a Christmas-tree farm imported from an alien and radioactive planet?<\/p>\n Once again it\u2019s time for the Garden of D\u2019Lights at Walnut Creek\u2019s Ruth Bancroft Garden, a 3\u00bd-acre parcel that \u2013 as it so happens \u2013 last year ranked as the most beautiful garden in the world on Tripadvisor. Running on select nights until Jan. 11, the annual show offers the chance to see desert-adapted plants turned into spiny silhouettes by the force of visible-from-space holiday lights.<\/p>\n \u201cSee the garden and plant collection transform into a dazzling, water-wise wonderland illuminated with thousands of colorful lights, sculptures and lasers,\u201d writes the Bancroft staff. \u201cThe nursery will be open for evening shopping, with hot cocoa and spiced wine available to enjoy as you wander through the lights.\u201d<\/p>\n The evening show features three entry times, available rain or shine: 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tours are self-guided, so visitors can take plenty of time basking in the radiance and examining the sculptures and installations, which are largely built by local artists.<\/p>\n Details: Open on select nights through Jan. 11; 1552 Bancroft Road, Walnut Creek; adult admission is $29 plus fees, ages 5-17 is $16 and children under 4 get in free; ruthbancroftgarden.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 John Metcalfe, Staff<\/p>\n McCartney\u2019s other great band<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a simply fab gift for the Paul McCartney fan in your family \u2014 even if said Paul McCartney fan happens to be you \u2014 then we highly recommend checking out \u201cWings.\u201d<\/p>\n This newly released self-titled set is a superb anthology of Sir Paul\u2019s second-best-known band \u2014 Wings.\u00a0Of course, the collection includes all the big hits \u2014 \u201cBand on the Run, \u201cLive and Let Die,\u201d \u201cJet,\u201d \u201cLet \u2018Em In,\u201d etc. Yet, it also features a number of incredibly worthy offerings that have somehow slipped into the background over the decades. Collectively, these tracks showcase why Wings deserves to be ranked among the finest bands of \u201970s.<\/p>\n \u201cWings\u201d is available in a number of different formats for McCartney fans. The one we\u2019d most want to have, of course, is the limited edition three-LP color vinyl set. Yet, \u201cWings\u201d is also being offered as a single LP; both as a single CD and a two-CD set; and on Blu-ray. The latter marking the first time these Wings tunes have been made available on a physical format in Dolby Atmos.<\/p>\n And, of course, it\u2019s available to stream via multiple services.<\/p>\n Details: For pricing and other information, visit paulmccartney.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jim Harrington, Staff<\/p>\n Laughter is the best medicine<\/p>\n Long Island, New York-born comedian Tim Dillon was always a performer with a lot on his mind and an eagerness to address topical, relevant subjects. His 2022 Netflix comedy special \u201cTim Dillon: A Real Hero,\u201d tackled such topics as fast food, Texas and the entertainment industry (he had a small role on \u201cSesame Street\u201d as a lad). Although he had always been interested in politics and cultural trends he didn\u2019t regularly and openly address national politics until the 2024 election.<\/p>\n Now, he does. A lot. In his popular podcast, \u201cThe Tim Dillon Show,\u201d and on his 2024 Netflix comedy special, he dives into the election and its aftermath and other contemporary political matters. He says he comedy tilts to the conservative side but adds that he doesn\u2019t line up consistently with either party. He generated headlines when he interviewed JD Vance a week before the 2024 election. He\u2019s certainly not adverse to controversy. Like several several comedians, he drew fire for agreeing to be booked at Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia \u2014 despite the country\u2019s human rights record \u2014 only to get fired from the same festival for making jokes about the country\u2019s labor practices on his podcast.<\/p>\n In other words, if you\u2019re looking for hard-hitting humor this weekend \u2014 the kind that fits the national mood \u2014 you might want to venture to San Jose Improv, where Dillon is set to perform 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Nov. 28, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Nov. 29 and 6 p.m. Nov. 30.<\/p>\n Details: Tickets are $43.19-$113.80; improv.com\/sanjose<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Randy McMullen, Staff<\/p>\n Zodiac Killer case gets a quirky look<\/p>\n Director\/producer Charlie Shackleton ran into a massive roadblock while seeking to gain the rights to adapt late CHP officer Lyndon Lafferty\u2019s book \u201cThe Zodiac Killer Cover-Up: The Silenced Badge\u201d into a documentary. He needed to switch gears when Lafferty\u2019s family pulled their support from the project.<\/p>\n The result is \u201cThe Zodiac Killer Project,\u201d an experimental film that in part examines elements of Lafferty\u2019s investigation as it explores and questions the nature of true-crime documentaries and podcasts. Lafferty\u2019s probe pinned the rash of killings that terrorized the Bay Area in the \u201870s on a particular person. Shackleton\u2019s edgy, often pointed documentary visits the streets of Vallejo and other key locales in the book for a trance-like experience that might, in the end, find you questioning your own true-crime watching diet.<\/p>\n Shackleton also ventures into details and hypotheticals as he relates how he would have framed his original investigative documentary had he been able to make it. The film premiered at Sundance this year and is now coming to select theaters.<\/p>\n Details: Not rated; 1 hour, 31 minutes; opens Nov. 28 at the Roxie theater<\/a> in San Francisco.<\/p>\n \u2013 Randy Myers, correspondent<\/p>\n Your freebie of the week<\/p>\n The city of San Jose apparently believes that the key to celebrating the holidays is to make sure each and every centimeter of downtown is bathed in jubilant sights and sounds. And it is hard to argue with the philosophy. And even if you did, we doubt anyone would pay attention. The city seems committed to its annual explosion of well-lighted holiday merriment. This year, in fact, things are getting even brighter. The centerpiece to all this bliss is the annual free Christmas in the Park, which has served up a downtown holiday celebration for some 45 years and returns to Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose at 6 p.m. Nov. 28. The walk-through attraction features some 40 musical and animated exhibits, live entertainment, a centerpiece 60-foot-tall Community Giving Tree, holiday food and drink, and more. The attraction runs through Jan. 1; more information is at christmasinthepark.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n More San Jose holiday fun \u2013 of the ticketed variety \u2013 is available at the annual Blinky\u2019s Drive-Thru Light Show, a dazzling attraction offered at the nearby Santa Clara County Fairgrounds (admission runs $25-$40 per car; more information is at christmasinthepark.com<\/a>). And this year brings the brand new San Jose Holiday Lights show, a five-acre display at Discovery Meadow Park, next door to the Children\u2019s Discovery Museum. The ticketed event offers illuminated sculptures, a Christmas scene, a Mexican desert landscape and a garden full of such fanciful attractions as a giant caterpillar and giant candies. The event, part of the city\u2019s Doca Festival, runs through Jan. 4; tickets are $19-$45; go to docafestival.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Service<\/p>\n The E Train comes home<\/p>\n Her full name is Sheila Cecilia Escovedo but everyone knows her as Sheila E., the extraordinarily talented musician, singer, songwriter, actor and all-around musical dynamo. She grew up in Oakland with a musical legend \u2013 percussionist and bandleader Pete Escovedo \u2013 as her father and a family chock full of musical stars. But Sheila has more than established her fame and reputation on her own terms (though she frequently performs with her father). And she impressed fellow musicians from the very start, kicking off her career with keyboard wizard George Duke\u2019s band. Her first solo recording, \u201cThe Glamorous Life\u201d brought her mainstream success in the mid-1980s and she has gone on to be a revered singer-songwriter-musician, nicknamed The Queen of Percussion, with a musical resume that covers jazz, funk, R&B, Latin and pop. Her latest album is \u201cHella FonkE,\u201d which includes the single \u201cOakland N Da House\u201d and features guest appearances from Too $hort and Trombone Shorty. Sheila E. will spotlight the recording when she returns to her East Bay stamping grounds with a three-night, six-show stand, Nov. 28-30, at Yoshi\u2019s in Oakland, backed by her band, the E-Train.<\/p>\n Details: Tickets are $69-$129. Go to yoshis.com.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Service<\/p>\n Orchestra is In the pink<\/p>\n Motor along with Barbie in her open-air Barbiemobile as she travels from her perfectly pastel fantasy land to the real world outside \u2014 where a variety of shocking discoveries await her. The San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Sarah Hicks, will be your musical guide, playing the live score that Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt wrote for director Greta Gerwig\u2019s multiple Oscar-nominated film. (It won one, for best original song, for Billie Eilish\u2019s \u201cWhat Was I Made For?\u201d) The 2023 movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling plays out on a giant screen over the musicians\u2019 heads. <\/p>\n Details: There are two screenings this weekend, one at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 and the other at 2 p.m. Nov. 29; tickets are $29.50-$149; sfsymphony.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Service<\/p>\n Rockin\u2019 out in Hayward<\/p>\n If the hard-driving blues with a psychedelic twist is your bag, hurry to The Bistro in Hayward on Nov. 29 night to hear Bluesadelix play its brand of it from 8 to 11 p.m. The East Bay venue, which bills itself as \u201ca beer drinking pub with a music problem,\u201d has no cover charge for the bands\u00a0 presented on a near nightly basis. Appetizers are available along with a variety of brews on tap. Formed in 2019, Bluesadelix is made up of five seasoned veterans of the rock, blues and folk music worlds, with songwriters \u201cPapa\u201d Robert Hill and Mark Ungar providing most of the numbers, while Deirdre McCarthy, Scott Irwin and Kristoph\u00a0 Klover play along. <\/p>\n