@caption:Richard Nickol is the Duke of Mantua and Heather Torrijos sings the role of Maddalena in "Rigoletto," opening this weekend courtesy of West Bay Opera.
The corrupt Duke of Mantua seduces Gilda, the beloved daughter of his court jester, Rigoletto. In revenge, Rigoletto hires an assassin to kill the Duke, but--in typical operatic form--it is his daughter Gilda who sacrifices herself and is murdered instead. The West Bay Opera opens Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" tonight, Feb. 16, at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The opera will run over two weekends, through Feb. 25, with a just-added, 8:15 p.m. performance on Thursday, Feb. 22. Curtain times are 8:15 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $29, with a youth ticket prices available for Sunday matinees only. For more information, call 424-9999.
@caption:Carolyn Hester will be promoting her latest release, "The Tradition Album" during a concert this Saturday at St. Michael's Alley.
You can pretend you're in some hip Greenwich Village coffeehouse on Saturday, Feb. 17, when folk music singer/songwriter Carolyn Hester makes her annual appearance at St. Michael's Alley, the coolest and closest thing Palo Alto has to a Greenwich Village coffeehouse. Just back from a European tour, the Texas-based folkie, will be bringing along her whole family to serve as back-up band. Husband David will play keyboards, and daughters Karla and Amy will play guitar and bass. The music is scheduled to start at about 8 p.m. The concert is free, but, as always, donations are certainly appreciated. St. Mike's is located at 806 Emerson St. in downtown Palo Alto. For more information, call 326-2530.
@caption:Victoria Abril stars in "French Twist."
The Palo Alto/Menlo Park Landmark Theatre group, the folks who bring us all those funky foreign films and hip art flicks, have added a new theater to their little universe of art houses. It's not in Palo Alto or Menlo Park, but, hey, Belmont could be worth the drive for a film that's otherwise not playing anywhere closer than San Francisco. The Belmont Art, 100 El Camino Real, is opening the Peninsula premiere of the French sex farce, "French Twist," today, Feb. 16. The comedy--submitted by France for the Best Foreign Film category in the Academy Awards--stars Victoria Abril ("Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!") as a neglected housewife in the south of France. She finally gets some attention from her philandering husband when she begins a relationship with a lesbian. Show times are nightly at 7:30 and 9:45 p.m., with Saturday, Sunday and Monday screenings also at noon, 2:30 & 5 p.m. Also playing at the Belmont Art are "Restoration," "Babe, the Gallant Pig" and "Braveheart." For more information, call the theater at 591-5368.
Here's a perfect way to persuade your youngsters of the beauty of classical music: Stanford University's Music Guild is presenting a Pied Piper Concert for Children at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 25 in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. The annual fundraising concert will feature Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." The Stanford Ballet and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra will personify the characters in the classic piece, while Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice narrates the tale. Also on the program is "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $6 for children. Tickets are available at the Tresidder Ticket Office at 723-4317.
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