Freebie of the week: It was 120 years ago on Saturday that a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco and pretty much laid waste to the city and ignited a fire that chewed its way through what remained for three days (and, yes, given fault-line conditions, another huge trembler like that could happen at any time). In the city this week, there will be an annual remembrance of what remains one of the defining moments in Bay Area history. The two-part event is free and open to the public, and no registration is required. It offers an intriguing way to acquaint yourself with San Francisco history – if you don’t mind getting up early. The quake began at 5:12 a.m.; the remembrance on Saturday will kick off at 4:30 a.m. at Lotta’s Fountain at Kearny and Market streets, a site remembered as a key meeting place during the immediate aftermath of the quake. The gathering will feature city firefighters and public safety officials and, reportedly, the return of a classic 1928 firetruck that has been a popular staple of the event. At around 5 a.m., the gathering will move to the nearby Golden Fire Hydrant on 20th and Church streets, which was said to be one of the sole sources of water during the original fire, to give the landmark its annual repainting. The event will include a wreath-laying and silent remembrance of those who lost their lives to the disaster, followed by a communal singing of “San Francisco.” For those who’d prefer a historical lesson at a more civil hour, know that the Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel will host another in its “Making History Fun Again” speaker’s series featuring historian John Martini, who will discuss the 1906 earthquake and its aftermath. The talk will take place at 6 p.m. in the hotel’s Redwood Room. The event is free but it’s advisable to register at Eventbrite.com (search for “Making History Fun Again.”)
Go, go Puerto Rico!: The 20th Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music in San Francisco, billed as “a celebratory retrospective of the last 20 years of moving forward in community, resistance and joy,” is in gear. Its second and final program this weekend at Ruth Williams Opera House, called “Enraizando/Rooting Within,” is evening-length show with Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance illustrating the journeys of young women as they enter adulthood. The production, a CubaCaribe commission, showcases work by Shefali Shah, founder of Aguacero, a 20-year-old collective of Bay Area dancers, musicians, poets and songwriters practicing, studying and performing Bomba and other Puerto Rican and Caribbean folkloric traditions. Performances are at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Opera House in San Francisco’s Bayview. Tickets, $32 for youths and seniors; $48 general, include treats to eat by Sol Food: appetizers offered pre-show and soup and tembleque (coconut pudding) at intermission. Visitcubacaribe.org.
Spanish Shakespeare: “The Comedy of Errors,” William Shakespeare’s tale about two pairs of identical twins who were separated at birth, is getting a new, bilingual treatment, presented by Marin Shakespeare Theatre. This version, directed by Karina Gutiérrez, is an adaptation by Bill Rauch and Lydia G. García based on the translation “La Comedia de los Enredos” by Alfredo Michel Modenessi, from a Play On Shakespeare commission by Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Marin Shakes’ Artistic Director Jon Tracy says, “This production is built to delight—a whirlwind of mistaken identities, surprises and pure chaotic fun. But what excites me most is the deeper invitation it offers. ‘La Comedia of Errors’ asks what it means to belong, and how we recognize ourselves in one another. In a moment when questions of home and identity feel especially present, it reminds us that everyone deserves to be seen, claimed, and welcomed.” The company’s public relations team calls the show a “joy-soaked adaptation brimming with music, physical comedy and cultural collision…. that envisions Shakespeare’s tale of mistaken identity as a telenovela, creating a fast, funny, multilingual celebration for all ages.” Performances run April 18 through May 10. Tickets are $15-$49. The theater is at 514 Fourth St. in San Rafael. Visit marinshakespeare.org.
A whole lotta sonatas: Acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell has appeared many times on the Davies Hall stage since his debut with the San Francisco Symphony as a Shenson Young Artist in 1991: as a soloist, a chamber musician and in his capacity as the music director and conductor of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He returns Sunday night with his 1713-vintage Stradivarius in the company of pianist Shai Wosner as his recital partner. They open their program with Franz Schubert’s Violin Sonata in A Major, also known as the “Grand Duo,” because of its persistent pairing of the violin and keyboard voices in equal partnership. Also in the lineup are Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor; Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata in D Major; and the Violin Sonata No. 2 by Maurice Ravel, making the evening a rather grand survey of the sonata repertoire. Performance time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $75-$350, are available at sfsymphony.org.
Shakespeare gets sung: It’s all music, magic, madness (temporary) and merriment in the kingdom of the fairies as San Francisco’s feisty little company Pocket Opera mounts its production of Benjamin Britten’s interpretation of the Bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of his funniest and most endearing plays. The first performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. It’s onstage at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Berkeley Hillside Club then winds up at 1:30 p.m. April 26 in the Gunn Theater at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Kyle Tingzon sings the role of King Oberon, with Chelsea Hollow as his queen, Tytania; well-known Bay Area baritone Kirk Eichelberg dons the donkey head as the hapless Bottom. Nicolas Garcia is stage director, and David Drummond is in charge of the music. Tickets for the three performances range from $20 to $99.50; access them at www.pocketopera.org.