#thesofia

Stand Up Bitches February 10

@thesofiasac Sat - 7:30pm

Ticket Link:

https://bstreettheatre.org/other/greg-proops/

#gregproops

Concert Date: June 20, 2018 Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, Sacramento

Bare stage with just a singer and a guitar.  Shawn Colvin leaves the frills for other performers.  She relies on her song-writing skills and her gift for singing…plus she’s damned funny.

I went to the show hoping she would sing “Wichita Skyline” from her “A Few Small Repairs” album and thankfully, she did.  Something about it is hypnotic and transports me to somewhere with big sky.  Her hits “Polaroids” and “Sunny Came Home” were there too.  And she treated us to one number on piano near the end of her set.

I will mention a brief complaint.  This is the second time I’ve seen her live and both times she performed solo acoustic.  Part of me would like to hear her with a full band.  Maybe, someday.

Performance Date: June 16, 2018 Genius of Balanchine Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, Sacramento

Above:  Christopher Nachtrab

We’d been to the company’s performance of “Carmina Burana” a few months ago and after not seeing them perform for quite some time, I fell in love all over again.  With this collection of Balanchine works, they didn’t disappoint.  

One small caveat:  Our seats were in the front row, not recommended for a dance show.  While I could see all of their foot work, I could also see any flaws in costumes, or a lost hair clip, and even a snot in one dancer’s nose.  For several moments throughout the performance, I was distracted by dancer butts too!

That said, the performance was marvelous.  There wasn’t a dud in the bunch.

Donizetti Variations – Music by Donizetti Rubies (Pas de Deux) – Music by Stravinsky La Sonnambula (Sleepwalker  & Poet duet) – Music by Bellini Agon (excerpts) – Music by Stravinsky Tarantella – Music by Gottschalk Theme and Variations (Pas de Deux & Finale) – Music by Tschaikovsky

After the performance, they announced a short Q&A with the dancers.  I’m not a fan of these things, but sitting in the front row we were trapped and couldn’t leave.  It would have been just too obvious and appeared rude.  So we stayed.  Nothing to write home about.  Christopher Nachtrab, a lead dancer, acted as moderator.  But I got a quick picture of my favorite dancer, Stefan Calka (below)!