San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: Broadway Stars, A Pop Princess And Pride

Speaker 1: 00:00 There's a lot going on this weekend, particularly if you're a fan of Broadway. Ms Saigon brings its epic tale to town plus seniors, Cynthia Erivo and Hugh Jackman performed solo concerts. We'll also talk about the reigning teen Queen of pop and give you details about pride weekend KPBS arts editor, Nina Garren is here with all the details. Nina, welcome. Hello. We have a lot going on this weekend, so let's start with Miss Saigon. Tell us about this show. This is a show based on the opera Madame Butterfly, but the story now moves to 1970 Saigon during the Vietnam War. It's a romance between Kim and Chris. Kim is a Vietnamese bar girl and curses a marine and Chris leaves to go back to the u s and Kim has this child and waits for him to come back. I think what everyone remembers about Miss Saigon is that there is a helicopter on stage, right? Speaker 1: 00:52 Yeah. It's a very emotional rebutting scene. It's when the Americans had to immediately leave because the Viet Cong was approaching. And so this helicopter comes on and it's quite a show stopper. So if you're planning to go, how much did you know about the Vietnam war? I'm going to be honest. I went and I didn't do any research and I was a little confused, so I'm going to say if you go, I would just do a simple search about what happened after the war and also what happened to the children who were left behind by the soldiers. And you'll enjoy the show a lot more. Miss Saigon plays through Sunday at the San Diego Civic Theater. And speaking of Broadway, we have two Tony winning performers in town this weekend. Let's start with Cynthia or revo. Reminds us who she is. She's a British singer and actor and she's best known for starring as Seeley in the 2015 revival of the color purple. And she won a Tony for that in 2016 Speaker 2: 01:49 hey [inaudible] [inaudible] Speaker 1: 02:20 I got an incredibly powerful voice. She really does. I'm, she'll be performing a concert called legendary women's voices. What can we expect? She'll be performing songs by people like Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, and she'll be accompanied by the San Diego Symphony. So it's just going to be a great night of music by powerful women. Cynthia Erivo performance with the San Diego symphony tonight at Bayside Summer Nights, and later in the week we also have Hugh Jackman. You're telling us wolverine is going to show a, is going to sing some showtunes. Huh? Wolverine loves Broadway. If you know anything about him, he is a man. His next project is actually on Broadway in the music man. And so he's on a worldwide tour right now called the man, the music, the show Speaker 2: 03:11 [inaudible] the muscle. We call these renegades [inaudible] [inaudible] Speaker 1: 03:38 such talent. So what can people expect at this show? So he's going to perform a lot of songs from this movie, the greatest showman. He's also going to sing songs from Les Mis and a show called boy from Oz. There's going to be glitzy dance numbers are going to be costume changes and a big live orchestra. See, that's what I miss the days of being a triple threat. Yeah, everybody's strived to be a triple threat and put on just a good show. Exactly. All right. Hugh Jackman performs Tuesday at the Chonga arena, San Diego. This is also a pride weekend and there will be a lot going on throughout Hillcrest. Can you give us some highlights? Friday night is the block party, which is free and it's after the spirit of stonewall rally and there's going to be food dancing, light shows, all that. And then Saturday at 10 is the parade that goes down university in Sixth Avenue and that leads to the pride festival happening at Balboa Park that has music booth, fashion, food, everything. Speaker 1: 04:37 And the pride festival will happens over two days and it has some pretty popular performers. Yes. Sunday's headliner is Melissa Etheridge and Saturday features rapper and activist Mickey Blanco and also stars from Ru Paul's drag race. It's going to be a really fun day, right? Pride happens this weekend at Balboa Park and venues throughout Hillcrest. And we can't go without mentioning that Billie Eilish is in town, which you say is the hardest ticket to get this summer. A who is she? Um, she is a 17 year old artist and she is basically redefining the idea of a pop star. Her music is very catchy, but she has an edge. She's like kind of dangerous. And she's also rare because young teens love her, but also really snobby music critics. So why do you think she's resonating with so many people right now? She's just really not afraid to be who she is. Her style is so out there. She wears really, really baggy clothes, kind of like sweats that are colorful. Um, she always has like her makeup running or blood on her nose and these are actually conscious choices against objectifying her body. All right, let's listen to Billie Eilish. This is bad guy. So you just came here enough always. Speaker 3: 06:00 I'm not bad side. Make him sad. Thank you girlfriend. I said, Holy Shit. That guy. I'm guy. Duh. Speaker 1: 06:17 All right. That is very pop. Pop with an edge. It is. All right. You can find more arts events at kpbs.org/arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Nina Garren. Nina, thanks. Thanks. Have a great weekend.