Mary Poppins Returns – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Dec 22, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

When the original Mary Poppinsfilm came out in 1964, it was a refreshing and light-hearted story that audiences ate up with a spoonful of sugar. The playful nanny and her chimney sweeper sidekick, provided the perfect distraction from the chaos and violence that was ripping through the outside world at the time,

Dear Evan Hansen – You’re Not Alone

By Ana Pines on Dec 8, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Theatre & Musicals

You may cry some tears as the show deals with tough topics like suicide, depression, anxiety, and divorce. Multiple characters explore the feeling of not belonging regardless of their situation and the everyday persona they present to the world. A great show for parents to watch with their teenagers, if you can get them to be seen in public with you.

Cirque Du Soleil’s Volta – Finding Freedom in You

By Ana Pines on Nov 16, 2018 in Arts, Arts & Culture, Dance, Features

Cirque Du Soleil’s Volta is the 18th show presented under the Big Top at AT&T park in San Francisco. This rendition has a more urban feel than previous shows due to its inclusion of stunts with BMX bikes and a game of double dutch. These are things that some of us have seen in our own neighborhoods and are always impressive. It triggered many in the audience to rise in applause.

Men on Boats at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater

By Ana Pines on Nov 9, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

“Men on Boats” tells the story of the 1869 expedition by one-armed ex-soldier John Wesley Powell. The playwright, Jaclyn Backhaus, was inspired by Powell’s published journals. The historic expedition to explore the lower reaches of the Colorado River, via the gorges of the Grand Canyon was the first sanctioned by the U.S. government, one of many tongue in cheek facts pointed out throughout the play.

By Melissa Sanchez on Nov 3, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The biopic film Bohemian Rhapsody directed by Brian Singer, tells the story of not only Mercury, but of the band. How they came into existence and how they were catapulted into fame with their iconic hit songs.

Mid90s – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 27, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The film Mid90s accurately captured the adolescent sentiment that many people grow up with, the feeling that parents don’t understand our feelings, and the undeniable urge to seek out fun and excitement on our own terms, like I did when I was a teenager. I must have been 17 or 18 when I gave my 13-year-old cousin my World IndustriesWet Willy skateboard because to be totally honest, I sucked at skateboarding.

Beautiful Boy – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 19, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

What does the face of drug addiction look like in the United States? Are they young and white, living in an affluent neighborhood, or a person of color living in the projects? The truth is that drug addiction has no barriers; it can affect anyone who is susceptible to the lures of euphoria and escape.

Sweat at A.C.T.’s Geary Theatre

By K Quintanilla on Oct 6, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

Sweat is a poignant story about a group of steel factory workers living in Reading, Pennsylvania, whose lives are transformed in the midst of a recession. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, the play reveals the chaotic results that stem from insecurities among a group of once tight-knit co-workers, bringing to light their distrust, entitlement issues, prejudices, and their struggle to retain and define the American Dream.

The Sisters Brothers – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 1, 2018 in Features, Film

The Sisters Brothers gives us a western film with a masculine heart. It includes many western movie tropes such as, gunslinging, whiskey drinking, and saloon entrance making men, but what sets this movie apart from others is that it shows us that there is more to these men, than just their wild ways.

Book Club – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on May 18, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The time has finally come where Hollywood is embracing and making movies that older actresses can star in and that audiences want to see on screen. In Bill Holderman’s new film, Book Club, the story centers on four lifelong friends in their 60’s, who decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey for their monthly book club selection and how the book ends up changing their lives.

‘Head Over Heels’ Has Got the Beat!

By Ana Pines on Apr 20, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Music, Theatre & Musicals

Bay Area the Go-Go’s fans won’t want to miss the new musical ‘Head Over Heels’ playing until May 6 at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre. The show comes to the Bay stage with an impressive team including Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening) as director.

Cirque Du Soleil Brings Its First Ice Show, CRYSTAL, to San Jose’s SAP Center

By Ana Pines on Mar 29, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Dance, Features, Humor, Music

CRYSTAL—Cirque du Soleil’s 42nd production and first-ever experience on ice—has arrived in San Jose’s SAP Center until April 1, 2018. In typical Cirque fashion, the show is innovative, visually stunning, funny, and full of imaginative scenarios that only a Cirque show can take you through.

Vietgone at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater – A Story of Love and Loss

By Ana Pines on Mar 22, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

The American Conservatory Theater is presenting Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone,” at the Strand Theater until April 22. The story revolves around how two Vietnamese refugees fall in love, one is a fighter pilot, Quang (James Seol) and the other a U.S. Embassy worker, Tong (Jenelle Chu).

WalkOut at SDLFF

By Melissa Sanchez on Mar 19, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Festivals, Film

Walkout first premiered in 2006 on HBO and is directed by Edward James Olmos, considering the current struggles the world is facing today and in commemoration of the landmark event, it was added as part of the films shown for the 25th anniversary of the San Diego Latin Film Festival.

Bamboozled – Kicks off Central Works 2018 Season

By Ana Pines on Mar 12, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

Central Works opening production of its 2018 season, Bamboozled by award-winning playwright Patricia Milton, has been extended through March 25th (originally scheduled to close March 18). Milton is a Resident Playwright for Central Works and a long-term member of the Central Works Writers Workshop. Bamboozled is Central Works 58th world premiere.

SDLFF Kicks Off 25 Years

By Melissa Sanchez on Feb 25, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Community, Features, Film

The annual Media Arts Center San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) kicked off this year’s event with their opening media party on February 22nd. Rich in culture and history, the SDLFF has been delighting and engaging fans for 25 years, and the media party did not disappoint. Hosted at One Bunk in Barrio Logan, the festivities featured legendary actors such as Pepe Serna, tequila infused cocktails, delicious food from Cocina 35, live music, and silk-screeners making festival shirts on site.

Ragtime – The Berkeley Playhouse

By Ana Pines on Feb 21, 2018 in Arts, Arts & Culture, Community, Dance, Features, Theatre & Musicals

The Berkeley Playhouse has brought one of the most acclaimed American musicals of the last twenty years to their stage, Ragtime, based on the celebrated novel by E. L. Doctorow. The story includes a multitude of perspectives all looking for the same thing, the American dream. America is changing at the turn of the 20th century and many are fearful of their privilege being diminished.

Just Between Us – Book Review

By Ana Pines on Feb 4, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Books & Poetry, Features

Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake tells the story of four friends, Alison Riordan, Julie Phelps, Sarah Walker, and Heather Lysenko. They live in the town of Sewickley in Pittsburg, Pa. and seem to have stable lives where their basic needs are more than just met. They have nice houses, cars, good schools, and friendship.