The Bay Area is a hub of artistic expression, attracting artists, writers and musicians from around the globe to live, work and create. We highlight some of the offerings here.
โFigaro here, Figaro there, Figaro high, Figaro lowโ: Baritone Lucas Meachem sings the famed โLargo al factotumโ aria as the title character in Rossiniโs โThe Barber of Sevilleโ in a San Francisco Opera production that opens at 8 p.m. Friday and repeats 10 more times through May 15. But the REAL news is that the show is live and in person for the first time in 16 months, with enormous care taken to establish social distancing. The setting is a drive-in at the Marin Center, where a 120-foot-wide stage has been set up on the fairgrounds for live viewing from patronsโ cars, and at the nearby Lagoon Park, where a huge screen has been erected for a simulcast, with the music transmitted by FM radio. The 90-minute adaptation of Rossiniโs hugely popular comedy takes place with no intermission, with conductor Roderick Cox leading an 18-player orchestra and a cast that also includes mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Rosina (with Laura Krumm subbing for the final three performances), tenor Alek Shrader as Count Almaviva and bass-baritone Philip Skinner as Dr. Bartolo. Tickets are $250 per car for the fairgrounds and $50 for the lagoon, with cars admitted on a first come, first served basis beginning at 6:30 p.m. (No motorcycles or convertibles allowed.) The Marin Center is at 10 Avenue of the Flags in San Rafael. Get your tickets at sfopera.com or by calling (415) 864-3330.
Water, water, everywhere: Jazz singer Tiffany Austin and double bassist Marcus Shelby team up for a Close-Up, an episode of San Francisco-based Opera Paralleleโs free online recital series, at 5 p.m. Thursday. The theme this time around is โCelebrating Earth Day,โ and the 30-minute program will take the element of water as its keystone, making note of its ability to seek its own level and morph its state of being. The program includes โAll Blueโ by Miles Davis, the well-known spiritual โDown by the Riversideโ and Shelbyโs own โI Will Not Stand Stillโ from the opera โHarrietโs Spirit.โ Go to operaparallele.org and click on โClose-Upโ to access the link to the program, which will appear on the opera companyโs YouTube and Facebook platforms and be accessible for one month.
Heโs no slacker: Born in Berkeley to Hawaiian parents, Patrick Landeza has long immersed himself in the islandsโ music and, in particular, the slack key guitar. Itโs an alluring sound defined by alternate tunings and a fingerpicking style of playing. Through years of practice and performing, Landeza mastered the style โ to the point that in 2013 he captured a Na Hoku Hanohano award for his album โSlack Key Huakaโi.โ Itโs essentially Hawaiiโs highest music honor, and until that point, no mainlander had ever won it.
Landeza has always maintained, however, that he is more interested in sharing the pleasures of Hawaiian music with people than winning awards, and he is about to do that again. Heโs releasing a new album, titled โFar Away,โ which heโll celebrate with two locally performed livestreamed concerts. At 7 p.m. Saturday, he performs at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley with his trio, featuring Justin Firmeza on steel guitar and Kit Madrid on bass. You can access the show with a donation of $10 or more; thefreight.org. At 4 p.m. May 2, Landeza streams from Club Fox in Redwood City in a show that also features the duo Kลซpaoa and special guest Chris Lau. Access is free at howlive.tv/event/Patrick.
A night with Frederick Douglass: You might not imagine a solo history play as an โedge of your seatโ experience, but thatโs the way Bay Area writer, performer and educator Darryl Van Leer intends it. His production, โThe Escape of Frederick Douglass,โ focuses on some of the most harrowing moments of the civil rights legendโs life: His brutal time in slavery, his separation from his mother and grandmother, his precarious flight to freedom. The show, drawn from Douglassโ memoir, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” will be streamed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday via The Marsh, followed by a Q&A with Van Leer and venue founder and artistic director Stephanie Weisman. This is not the first time Van Leer has taken to the stage to portray a civil rights icon. Last month, he was at The Marsh streaming the show โMandela: Let Freedom Reign.โ Saturdayโs performance is free, but donations are encouraged. Go to themarsh.org/marshstream/.
Sneak previews: Perhaps itโs a corollary of the companyโs zeal for presenting world premieres, but TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has long been credited with staging one of the best new-play festivals in the business. The annual series of staged and unstaged readings and presentations returns this year as a livestreaming event, and the works being previewed seem intriguing as always.
There are not one but two plays tied to President Trumpโs controversial 2017 Muslim travel ban, Betty Shamiehโs comedy โAs Soon as Impossibleโ (May 1) and Kareem Fahmyโs family drama โA Distinct Societyโ (May 8). Also previewing are โLizard Boyโ the folk-rock musical slated to open TheatreWorksโ new season in the fall (5 p.m. Saturday), โCurrency,โ Dan Wolfโs hip-hop take on the Bardโs โMerchant of Venice,โ (2 p.m. Saturday), and โpas de deux (lost my shoe),โ Lisa Ramirezโs dance/theater piece reflecting on love, grief, addiction and family (May 15). The festival runs Friday through May 15. Passes are pay what you can (minimum is $10); go to theatreworks.org