Bay Area arts: 11 cool shows, concerts and more to catch this weekend

From a colorful Garden of D Lights to iconic classical works and a new take on the Zodiac Killer there s a lot of cool stuff to catch this weekend Here s a partial rundown Classical picks Messiah Butterfly Panto The Bay Area s classical music area will be hitting plenty of high notes this week with a range of works to enjoy a British panto a beloved oratorio and one of the world s great operas Each brings delights for the holidays Enjoy a panto It s one of our top picks for the season the annual Peter Pan panto at the Presidio which promises a trippy journey to Neverland with live music and a cast of top Bay Area performers Now in a wonderful way to get re-acquainted with the timeless characters Peter Tinkerbell and Captain Hook you can experience them in the fun-loving British tradition Details Through Dec Presidio Theatre San Francisco - presidiotheatre org Handel with care There are a large number of Messiah s to choose from this season and we re looking forward to this one with Director Lawrence Kohl leading the Pacific Chamber Orchestra in Handel s great oratorio Four fine vocalists soprano Raven McMillon alto Sara Couden tenor Ricardo Garcia and bass Matt Boehler are the soloists Details p m Nov Bankhead Theater Livermore - livermorearts org A beautiful Butterfly It s not too late to experience the wonders of Madama Butterfly in the final performance of Opera San Jose s new production directed by Michelle Cuizon conducted by Joseph Marcheso and featuring Artist-in-Residence Emily Michiko Jensen making her role debut as the beautiful Cio-Cio San Jensen s joined by Christopher Oglesby as Pinkerton Eugene Brancoveanu is Sharpless and in her company debut Kayla Nanto is Suzuki Details p m Nov and California Theatre San Jose - OperaSJ org Georgia Rowe Correspondent Happy glowing holidays What s better than a beautiful garden full of strange cacti and succulents How about when they re decked out with lights and glowing apparatuses looking like a Christmas-tree farm imported from an alien and radioactive planet Once again it s time for the Garden of D Lights at Walnut Creek s Ruth Bancroft Garden a -acre parcel that as it so happens last year ranked as the the majority beautiful garden in the world on Tripadvisor Running on select nights until Jan the annual show offers the chance to see desert-adapted plants turned into spiny silhouettes by the force of visible-from-space holiday lights See the garden and plant collection transform into a dazzling water-wise wonderland illuminated with thousands of colorful lights sculptures and lasers writes the Bancroft staff The nursery will be open for evening shopping with hot cocoa and spiced wine available to enjoy as you wander through the lights The evening show features three entry times available rain or shine p m p m and p m Tours are self-guided so visitors can take plenty of time basking in the radiance and examining the sculptures and installations which are largely built by local artists Details Open on select nights through Jan Bancroft Road Walnut Creek adult admission is plus fees ages - is and children under get in free ruthbancroftgarden org John Metcalfe Staff McCartney s other great band If you re looking for a exclusively fab gift for the Paul McCartney fan in your family even if commented Paul McCartney fan happens to be you then we highly recommend checking out Wings This newly issued self-titled set is a superb anthology of Sir Paul s second-best-known band Wings Of module the collection includes all the big hits Band on the Run Live and Let Die Jet Let Em In etc Yet it also features a number of incredibly worthy offerings that have somehow slipped into the background over the decades Collectively these tracks showcase why Wings deserves to be ranked among the finest bands of s Wings is available in a number of different formats for McCartney fans The one we d majority of want to have of curriculum is the limited edition three-LP color vinyl set Yet Wings is also being offered as a single LP both as a single CD and a two-CD set and on Blu-ray The latter marking the first time these Wings tunes have been made available on a physical format in Dolby Atmos And of syllabus it s available to stream via multiple services Details For pricing and other information visit paulmccartney com Jim Harrington Staff Laughter is the best medicine Long Island New York-born comedian Tim Dillon was invariably a performer with a lot on his mind and an eagerness to address topical relevant subjects His Netflix comedy special Tim Dillon A Real Hero tackled such topics as fast food Texas and the entertainment industry he had a small role on Sesame Street as a lad Although he had invariably been interested in politics and cultural trends he didn t regularly and openly address national politics until the referendum Now he does A lot In his popular podcast The Tim Dillon Show and on his Netflix comedy special he dives into the balloting and its aftermath and other contemporary political matters He says he comedy tilts to the conservative side but adds that he doesn t line up consistently with either party He generated headlines when he interviewed JD Vance a week before the electoral process He s certainly not adverse to dispute Like several several comedians he drew fire for agreeing to be booked at Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia despite the country s human rights record only to get fired from the same festival for making jokes about the country s labor practices on his podcast In other words if you re looking for hard-hitting humor this weekend the kind that fits the national mood you might want to venture to San Jose Improv where Dillon is set to perform and p m Nov and p m Nov and p m Nov Details Tickets are - improv com sanjose Randy McMullen Staff Zodiac Killer development gets a quirky look Director producer Charlie Shackleton ran into a massive roadblock while seeking to gain the rights to adapt late CHP officer Lyndon Lafferty s book The Zodiac Killer Cover-Up The Silenced Badge into a documentary He needed to switch gears when Lafferty s family pulled their aid from the project The consequence is The Zodiac Killer Project an experimental film that in part examines elements of Lafferty s inspection as it explores and questions the nature of true-crime documentaries and podcasts Lafferty s probe pinned the rash of killings that terrorized the Bay Area in the s on a particular person Shackleton s edgy often pointed documentary visits the streets of Vallejo and other key locales in the book for a trance-like experience that might in the end find you questioning your own true-crime watching diet Shackleton also ventures into details and hypotheticals as he relates how he would have framed his original investigative documentary had he been able to make it The film premiered at Sundance this year and is now coming to select theaters Details Not rated hour minutes opens Nov at the Roxie theater in San Francisco Randy Myers correspondent Your freebie of the week The city of San Jose apparently believes that the key to celebrating the holidays is to make sure each and every centimeter of downtown is bathed in jubilant sights and sounds And it is hard to argue with the philosophy And even if you did we doubt anyone would pay attention The city seems committed to its annual explosion of well-lighted holiday merriment This year in fact things are getting even brighter The centerpiece to all this bliss is the annual free Christmas in the Park which has served up a downtown holiday celebration for a few years and returns to Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose at p m Nov The walk-through attraction features a few musical and animated exhibits live entertainment a centerpiece -foot-tall Population Giving Tree holiday food and drink and more The attraction runs through Jan more information is at christmasinthepark com More San Jose holiday fun of the ticketed variety is available at the annual Blinky s Drive-Thru Light Show a dazzling attraction offered at the nearby Santa Clara County Fairgrounds admission runs - per car more information is at christmasinthepark com And this year brings the brand new San Jose Holiday Lights show a five-acre display at Discovery Meadow Park next door to the Children s Discovery Museum The ticketed event offers illuminated sculptures a Christmas scene a Mexican desert landscape and a garden full of such fanciful attractions as a giant caterpillar and giant candies The event part of the city s Doca Festival runs through Jan tickets are - go to docafestival com Bay City News Utility The E Train comes home Her full name is Sheila Cecilia Escovedo but everyone knows her as Sheila E the extraordinarily talented musician singer songwriter actor and all-around musical dynamo She grew up in Oakland with a musical legend percussionist and bandleader Pete Escovedo as her father and a family chock full of musical stars But Sheila has more than established her fame and reputation on her own terms though she frequently performs with her father And she impressed fellow musicians from the very start kicking off her career with keyboard wizard George Duke s band Her first solo recording The Glamorous Life brought her mainstream success in the mid- s and she has gone on to be a revered singer-songwriter-musician nicknamed The Queen of Percussion with a musical resume that covers jazz funk R B Latin and pop Her latest album is Hella FonkE which includes the single Oakland N Da House and features guest appearances from Too hort and Trombone Shorty Sheila E will spotlight the recording when she returns to her East Bay stamping grounds with a three-night six-show stand Nov - at Yoshi s in Oakland backed by her band the E-Train Details Tickets are - Go to yoshis com Bay City News Function Orchestra is In the pink Motor along with Barbie in her open-air Barbiemobile as she travels from her perfectly pastel fantasy land to the real world outside where a variety of shocking discoveries await her The San Francisco Symphony conducted by Sarah Hicks will be your musical guide playing the live number that Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt wrote for director Greta Gerwig s multiple Oscar-nominated film It won one for best original song for Billie Eilish s What Was I Made For The movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling plays out on a giant screen over the musicians heads Details There are two screenings this weekend one at p m Nov and the other at p m Nov tickets are - sfsymphony Bay City News Institution Rockin out in Hayward If the hard-driving blues with a psychedelic twist is your bag hurry to The Bistro in Hayward on Nov night to hear Bluesadelix play its brand of it from to p m The East Bay venue which bills itself as a beer drinking pub with a music concern has no cover charge for the bands presented on a near nightly basis Appetizers are available along with a variety of brews on tap Formed in Bluesadelix is made up of five seasoned veterans of the rock blues and folk music worlds with songwriters Papa Robert Hill and Mark Ungar providing the majority of the numbers while Deirdre McCarthy Scott Irwin and Kristoph Klover play along Details The Bistro is located at B St in Hayward phone number - - they do not take reservations More information is at www bluesadelix com Bay City News Organization