Arts And Entertainment

THURSDAY, APRIL 2 -more-

Under a street sign reading “Abbey Road,” the stage is lined with hanging ukeleles, as proprietor Mike Da Silva of the Da Silva Ukelele Co.—and host to an unusual series of performances on Eighth Street—introduces Michael Brown, performing his solo show, Memories and Dreams of the Twentieth Century: Storeis and a Couple of Songs, which runs again this Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4. -more-

Kenya, 1912. The young Jewish woman from Russia stands with a suitcase, concerned about the man staring at her, trying to talk to her—until he shows a picture he has of her. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it’s you!” she exclaims. “I believe I have the wrong party,” he replies, a Talmudic scholar wondering if this could be his promised bride ... -more-

Donald Pippin started performing with chamber and Renaissance music and one-act operas in 1954, first staging Pocket Opera at North Beach’s Old Spaghetti Factory, in the back—or “flamenco”—room, in 1960. In 1968, he introduced his own translations of operas, now numbering something close to the scriptural three score and ten, four volumes of which are now available from Pocket Opera Press (As the Lights Go Up: Tales from the Opera), along with his oral history of the intrepid little company, A Pocketful of Wry, sponsored by the Bancroft Library, as well as sales (and rentals) of various individual libretti. -more-

Masquers Playhouse, in Point Richmond, has its own pleasing community-theater style, which they’re bringing to the unusual off-Broadway musical of 2002, The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Songs for a New World, 13). The show is about the marriage of a novelist and an aspiring actress—from his point of view, from first meeting to break-up; from hers, backwards, from the end to the beginning. The score’s been called “one of the brightest of the 21st century.” Director Daren A. C. Carollo says it’s perfect for the Masquers, “with one of the most intimate venues in the Bay Area—and this is an intimate musical.” Musical direction by Pat King. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through through May 3; 2:30 p.m. this Sunday. 105 Park Place, across from Hotel Mac. $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org. -more-