Arts And Entertainment

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 -more-

The end of summer ushers in the busiest theater season after Labor Day—and this year, summer was unusually busy, so the first fall openings will overlap with the last performances of the summer season. -more-

The Bay Area has more classical musicians and venues than a glam rock singer has sequins. And the East Bay’s musical glitterati have always displayed an interest in more than Mozart and Beethoven, as some of the nation’s best musicians compose, improvise and flash their considerable talents into the dark and cozy audience of tradition. You can find everything here from the most radical to the most sedate, but what’s best of all is the combination that breeds the original and the spellbinding. -more-

“Our ‘Under Construction’ new music series is really about composer development more than music development,” says James Kleinmann, Berkeley Symphony’s executive director. “We’ve spent over 15 years developing an orchestra that’s very proficient at taking on challenging work with short preparation. We give the composers’ works ‘cold readings,’ with the pieces extensively marked up before a, say, 25-minute performance. We give it our darnedest, with the audience hearing the pieces played and corrected, and, in spite of any trepidations, even a ‘gnarly’ score, something beautiful and unique to the composers’ voice and style comes through. And over time, the composers can get a sense of how a real orchestra works, and push through the boundaries, let their personalities shine through; test out, develop their craft—and hopefully fall in love with creating symphonic work.” -more-

The Zolas, Dan and Dale, present another “variety show” of spoken word with music, singing and performace, “The Great Night of Soul Poetry,” running a gamut of poets from Hafiz to Neruda, Roethke to Ferlinghetti, performed by a dozen or more presenters, singers, dancers/body musicians (Keith Terry) and players (Sheldon Brown, Gary Haggerty, Arshad Sayeed and Claude Palmer on instruments from East and West). 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at Freight and Salvage. $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org. -more-

Belasco Theatre Company’s The Wiz, with many of the cast members from the 2000 production, directed by founder Edward Belasco (coming out of retirement) and produced by Dr. Samuel Lewis, goes into its final performances 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night at the Malonga Casquelourd Arts Center (formerly Alice Arts), 1428 Alice St., downtown Oakland. Tickets: (925) 980-0778. www.belasco.org (Last week’s review of this exemplary community theater show for families confused it in headline and contact info with a shorter-run Berkeley production—ah, late summer staff vacations!) -more-