Freebie of the week: The Orinda Theatre, which opened in 1941, has many charms, inside and out. The landmark, a mix of art deco and moderne architecture styles, has weathered financial challenges but remains the physical and spiritual center of Orinda’s charming downtown. Inside there are three theaters, including the 750-seat grand theater with its circular ceiling and distinctive design. The theater’s programs are eclectic: a mix of first- and second-run movies and a wide range of events that run the gamut from classics to cult favorites to releases that fall somewhere in between. The third Thursday of each month brings a free screening. This week, it’s the classic “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel about an aging crime lord’s final days and his family’s fitful transfer of power. The film won an Oscar for best picture as well as best actor for Marlon Brando (even though many couldn’t understand what he was saying)! And it turned Al Pacino into a star. While it’s easy to access “The Godfather” at home these days, seeing it in the Orinda’s stately grand theater with its huge screen is so much better. The screening starts at 6:30 p.m. The theater, which also hosts live concerts and other performances, has a wide selection of snacks and drinks, and the surrounding downtown and attached mini mall offer a nice selection of shops and restaurants. More information is at www.orindamovies.com.
Have a pun time: The annual SF Sketchfest, which opens this week, is back for its 24th year with another mind-blowingly humongous lineup that raises the obvious question: Who the heck could pull this off? The answer is: Bay Area comics David Owen, Cole Stratton and Janet Varney. It has worked in a colossal way. For nearly three weeks, from Jan. 15 to Feb. 1, Sketchfest delivers a staggering amount of comedy: some 200 shows featuring more than 500 performers at dozens of San Francisco locales. Events range from sketch and improv to Q&As to standup, to film and much, much more. There’s simply no way to summarize it all here. There’s even room for puns. The low form of humor stands tall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with the return of the annual Bay Area Pun-Off, co-presented by Sketchfest and Worldwide Puns, which describes itself as “the incorrigible idiots responsible for a decade of sold-out, critically acclaimed shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.” This is the third time Bay Area Pun-Off has made an appearance at SF Sketchfest. After all, it was founded by Bay Area comedians Jonah Spear and Brady Gill. The concept seems simple: Take a stab at delivering your best pun or simply watch others try it. The event takes place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco. Tickets are $30-$55. If puns are not your thing, just peruse the Sketchfest lineup at sfsketchfest.com. There’s plenty to pique the interest of anyone seeking a laugh.
Remembering 2 legends: The In the Name of Love concert, now in its 22nd year, was created to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., now more golden than ever in an era that seems to be dominated by crass cruelty. This year’s show on Saturday invokes another musical legend as well, one rooted in East Bay history. The concert will spotlight the era-defining songs of Sly and the Family Stone, the band that roared out of Vallejo in the late 1960s and changed the sound of popular music forever with its exciting and incendiary blend of soul, blues, pop, jazz and R&B in songs like “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” Once again arranged by musical director Kev Choice – who also leads the house band for the concert – In the Name of Love features local singers and musicians including Martin Luther McCoy, Silk E, Ashling “Biscuit” Cole, August Lee Stevens and B. Deveaux. It’s a collection of awfully talented performers sharing tunes from one of popular music’s most awesome songwriters in an event benefiting organizer Living Jazz, which helps expose school kids to great music. That’s a win-win-win. The show is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Tickets are $20-$90 at www.livingjazz.org.
A harmonic convergence: In what could be dubbed a gathering of future star players of the nation’s orchestras, the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival takes place on the Davies Hall stage in San Francisco at 3 p.m. Sunday. With KPIX anchor emerita Wendy Tokuda hosting the event, five of the region’s youth ensembles—the Marin Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra and the California Youth Symphony —will each strut their musical stuff separately, with the concert concluding with a performance by the Festival Orchestra, (made up of players from each of the participating ensembles) conducted by the Berkeley-based YPSO Music Director David Ramadanoff. On the program are Verdi’s Overture to the opera “Nabucco,” a selection from Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra,” the Allegro giocoso movement from Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Brahms’ “Academic Festival” Overture and his Hungarian Dance No. 5, the Allegro con brio from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and the Andante-Allegro from Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Tickets for the concert, a benefit for charitable organizations that support the homeless and underserved youth, are $25-$70, but half price for patrons 17 and under. Get them at sfsymphony.org.
Windy City players blow into town: Cal Performances at UC Berkeley plays host Saturday night in Zellerbach Hall to a visit from one of the nation’s most prestigious symphony orchestras. With the recently appointed Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti conducting, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Maria Manetti Shrem Great Artist performance includes Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, the Suite from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “The Fairy’s Kiss”; and that sinuous sensation from Maurice Ravel, “Bolero.” Muti, 84, who served as the orchestra’s music director for 13 years until his appointment concluded in 2023, made 12 recordings on the orchestra’s label, winning Grammys for four. Concert time is 8 p.m. Tickets, $60-$225, are available at calperformances.org.