Weekend Preview Weekend Preview (June 01, 2005)

Thursday

"Vanishing Worlds: Art and Ritual in Amazonia" will be on display through Aug. 21 at Stanford's Cantor Arts Center. Organized by the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the exhibition features 150 art objects from the ceremonies and daily life of indigenous peoples of the Amazon River basin. Tours of the exhibition will take place on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. The Center is located at Lomita Drive at Museum Way and is open Wednesday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Thursday until 8 p.m. Admission is free. For more information please call (650) 723-4177 or visit www.stanford.edu/dept/ccva.

Smuin Ballet will present it spring show this weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. The program will showcase the West Coast premiere of Eliot Feld's "Pacific Dance," a 10-dance suite for nine women en pointe set to a Hawaiian slack-key guitar. The company will also perform Michael Smuin's mambo ballet, "Frankie and Johnny" and "Chants d'Auvergne," a romp through the lives of French villagers set to early French folk songs. Show times are tonight and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $36-$50. Discounts are available for seniors, students and groups of 10 or more. For tickets call (650) 903-6000. For more information please call (415) 495-2234 or visit www.smuinballet.org.

"The World Goes 'Round" will run through June 18 at the Bus Barn Theatre, 97 Hillview Ave. in Los Altos. This revue will feature music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, including songs from "Cabaret," "Chicago," "New York New York," "Funny Lady" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman. Regular show times are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday, June 5 at 3 p.m. and Sunday June 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $28 for Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows; $22 for Sundays. For information and reservations please call (650) 941-0551 or visit www.busbarn.org.

Wallace Stegner: Throwing a Long Shadow" will run through June 12 at the Los Altos History Museum. The retrospective covers the life and influence of Stegner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, teacher, environmentalist and Peninsula treasure. Regular viewing hours are Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is located at 51 South San Antonio Road in Los Altos. For more information, please call (650) 948-9427 or visit www.losaltoshistory.org.

Stanford Art Spaces presents a "Philippine Art Exhibit" through June 23. The exhibition features works by 14 Philippine artists. The Center for Integrated Systems Art Spaces is located on the Stanford University campus. Admission is free. The center is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information please call (650) 725-3622 or visit http://cis.stanford.edu/~marigros.

"Color and Light" is currently on display at the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, 1451 Middlefield Road. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, please call (650) 329-2111 or visit www.pajmzfriends.org/membership.htm.

Friday

"The New Renaissance of Ki ho alu, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" will be discussed tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center, as part of its "Classes Without Quizzes" Arts Lecture Series. The lecture will be given by Stanford University Professor Stephen M. Sano. Sano's lecture-demonstration will explore this style of guitar playing, which was originally developed in the Hawaiian Islands during the 1830s and which is experiencing a revival worldwide. CSMA is located at 230 San Antonio Circle in Mountain View. General admission tickets are $10; student/senior tickets are $8, with ID. Tickets will be available at the door one hour prior to the event. To pre-purchase tickets and for additional information, call (650) 917-6800, ext. 335 or visit www.arts4all.org/tickets.

The Foothill New Works Festival will open tonight at 8 p.m. in the Playhouse Theater (Room 1301) at Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. Presented by the Foothill College Drama Department, the festival will feature eight student-written and student-directed short plays. Additional show times are June 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. Matinees are June 6 and 12 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, general; $12, students and seniors. To purchase tickets, access www.foothill.edu/fa or call the Foothill Box Office at (650) 949-7360.

West Bay Opera presents "The Three Penny Opera" tonight at 8 p.m. at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Composed in the '20s by Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht, the production features operatic parody, social satire and popular song, including "Mack the Knife." Additional show times are Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $46; $23 for youth under 17 or students with valid ID. For tickets or more information, please call the West Bay Opera box office at (650) 424-9999, Monday through Friday, 1-6 p.m., or visit www.wbopera.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Holt Building, 221 Lambert Ave. in Palo Alto.

"Les Miserables" will be presented today at 1 p.m. at Menlo Middle School Commons Theater, 50 Valparaiso Ave. in Atherton. The production is a school edition by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Additional show times are Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets are $7 adults; $5 students.

"The Psychic Life of Savages" will run through June 5 at the Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear Avenue, Unit K in Mountain View. Written by Amy Freed, the play draws on the biographies and writings of four celebrated poets from the 1950s and 1960s: Americans Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, and British writer Ted Hughes. Show times are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10-$20. For more information call (650) 254-1148 or visit www.thepear.org.

Stevenson House presents a "Resident Art Show" through June 17. The show will feature "painterly monoprints" created by the senior students of Vlasta Diamant. Stevenson House is located at 455 E. Charleston Road in Palo Alto. For more information please call (650) 494-1944 or visit www.stevensonhouse.org.

Saturday

Between Waters Gallery and Design will feature the works of Jack Durnford, Rose Offner, Char Pribuss and Beverly Travlos through August. A reception for the artists will take place today form 2 to 5 p.m. There will also be a special exhibition and sale of children's art by paintbrush Diplomacy. The gallery is located at 75 Arbor Road, Suites K & J in Menlo Park. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call (650) 323-6362 or visit www.betweenwatersgallery.com.

The Aurora Singers will perform tonight at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, 505 E. Charleston Road in Palo Alto. The 60-voice choir will present "Music With Spirit," a concert of spirituals, songs of peace and show tunes. Suggested donation is $9 general; $7 seniors and students. For more information please call (650) 321-4262 or e-mail janetsg@aol.com.

The National Association of Composers USA, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter will present a concert tonight at the Lucie Stern Ballroom, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Featured composers will be Adrienne Chum, winner of this year's Student Composer's Competition, and Denes Agay of Los Altos, known for his "Joy of Piano" series. Tickets are $15 general admission; $10 students and seniors and will be available at the door. For more information please call (408) 269-2301.

The Mid-Peninsula Shakespeare Festival will open tonight ay 8 p.m. with Moliere's "That Rascal Scapin." The performance will take place at Mid-Peninsula High School, 1340 Willow Road in Menlo Park. Additional show times are June 5, June 12 and June 24 at 8 p.m. Admission is free. For more information please call (650) 322-3261.

Smith Andersen Editions will feature prints and paintings by Kara Maria through June 30. The gallery is located at 440 Pepper Ave. in Palo Alto. Admission is free. For more information please call (650) 327-7762.

Sunday

El Camino Youth Symphony will present its season finale tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Spangenberg Theater, 780 Arastradero Road in Palo Alto. The program will feature Verdi's "La Fortza Del Destino," Prokofiev's "Classical Symphony," Ravel's "La Valse" and solo performances by ECYS concerto competition winners Carly Tieu for Lalo's "Symphony Espagnole, mvt. I" and Alex Kuo for Shostakovich's "Cello Concerto No. 1 mvt. I" for viola. Percussion director Christopher Florio will conduct the ECYS Percussion Ensemble in a performance of Mark Ford's "Head Talk." Tickets are $10-/$5. For more information call (650) 327-2611 or visit www.ecys.org.

Jemma Mammina will perform today at 2 and 4 p.m. at the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center. The free concerts are part of CSMA's Applied Materials Concerts4Kids Series, geared for pre-school and young children. Jazz singer Mammina will teach the kids to "scat" using call-and-response techniques. CSMA is located at 230 San Antonio Circle in Mountain View. Limited, open seating will be available at the door for both concerts on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available one hour prior to the concerts. For additional information please call (650) 917-6800, ext. 335 or visit www.arts4all.org/tickets.

Theater
A profile of former Palo Alto resident Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel, who recently won an Obie (Off-Broadway) award for "Hell Meets Henry Halfway."

Opera
A review of West Bay's new production, "The Threepenny Opera."

Movies
Reviews of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," "Cinderella Man" and "Lords of Dogtown."

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