With alert musical direction by Patrick Summers, who conducted the opera’s 2016 world premiere in Houston as well as its subsequent performances in Indiana, and an enchanting staging directed by Leonard Foglia, Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, the opera emphasizes the story’s central message that second chances are always possible. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the story of George Bailey, an optimist who starts his life in small-town Bedford Falls. The world deals him several harsh turns — the opera’s subplot about predatory lending is just one of the twists that make the story feel current — until George winds up contemplating suicide on a cold Christmas Eve.
Lunar New Year, 11 a.m.-4 p.m, Feb, 28, Performances, craft activities, Courthouse Square, San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway St., Redwood City, Museum free day underwritten by the Edmund and Jeannik Littlefield Foundation, www.historysmc.org or 650-299-0104, Peninsula Symphony, “Cherished Music, Cherished Maestro.” 5:30-9 p.m, Feb, 28, Celebration dinner, fundraiser glitter - sapphire blue ballet flat slipper custom shoes and tribute to Maestro Mitchell Sardou Klein, San Mateo Elks Club, 229 W, 20th Ave., San Mateo, 650-941-5291 or http://peninsulasymphony.org..
“We know audiences follow specific artists and we tried to jam pack as much as we could into one evening and one weekend to make it as easy and convenient as possible to give people a taste of these artists,” Bolingbroke says. Rather than focusing on world premieres, the Walking Distance Festival offers the opportunity for artists to stage acclaimed pieces that might otherwise disappear. Among the Bay Area companies features are inkBoat, the often revelatory butoh-inspired collective founded by Shinichi Iova-Koga in 1998, and Yannis Adoniou’s Kunst-Stoff, a troupe devoted to the collaborating with nationally known artists and composers. InkBoat presents “Exquisite Cucaracha,” a new iteration of its celebrated 2001 performance “Cockroach,” and Kunst-Stoff remounts 2005’s “Less-Sylphides,” a piece based on Michel Fokine’s classic 1909 ballet “Les Sylphides” with music by Chopin. ODC itself will reprise “Waving Not Drowning (a Guide to Elegance),” Brenda Way’s work inspired by a 19th-century French book on etiquette.
By the time she graduated from Magruder High School in Rockville, Md., in 2001, she felt as though she had missed her chance, “Prodigiousness is the only ticket,” she says, “It’s like: ‘If you don’t have it at 18, you might as well just give up, It’s done.’ “, But throughout her 20s, she would pinball around town, finding encouragement in surprising places, At Montgomery College in Rockville, she’d get a shot of inspiration when her classmate, local rapper and producer Oddisee, would play beats for her in glitter - sapphire blue ballet flat slipper custom shoes his car..
Motley Crue. With Alice Cooper. 5:30 p.m. July 23. Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View. $25-$125. Ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000. PAL Blues, ART & BBQ Festival 2014. 6-8 p.m. July 25, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. July 26: Deeva and the Blazers, Ms. Taylor P. Collins, Tebo, Golden State-Lone Star Revue with Anson Funderberg, Little Charlie Baty and Mark Hummel, Good Hands Organ with Danny Caron & Wayne DelaCruz, Aki Kumar Blues Band, Rick Estrin and the Nightcats. Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City. Free. 650-556-1650 or www.palbluesfestival.com.