San Diego's Top Weekend Arts Events: Disney Princesses And Death

Speaker 1: 00:00 This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh, fairy Godmothers, evil stepsisters, and a knife. Partying with a prince. Cinderella will be all over town. This month we'll hear about three different productions of the ballet, plus a concert by Broadway star, Leah Salonga, and a new musical at the old globe. All that is next on our weekend preview and KPBS arts calendar editor, Nina Garren is here. Nina, welcome. Hello. So this month, three ballet companies will be putting on their version of Cinderella. Why is this such a popular ballet? Well, it's a classic fairy tale. Who Doesn't Love Cinderella? Um, it's a story that everybody knows. And for a ballet, there's just a lot of action in it. There's always something going on so it holds your attention. And the music is by Prokofiev. So he's so good at capturing emotion through music and it's just a story that wants to be told. Well, you mentioned the music is by Prokofiev. Let's listen to the spring ferry from Cinderella. Speaker 1: 01:22 Okay. So tell us about the different shows and what makes each of them stand out. Let's start with the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet. That one is actually all children. The oldest is 18 it's from the ballet school that's at Balboa Park. So this shows actually going to be shorter than all of them. It's also the least expensive, but they do always put on a really great show. They have great mentors there. And I think if it's your first time seeing a ballet, that's a good place to start. And that one is this weekend? Yes. As southern California ballets is also this weekend. And how will their version be different? So there's this actually a mix of professional dancers and students. It's put on by a husband and wife, Martha Lee Bolt and Toby Batley. They've been the Co artistic directors there since 2017 and they've been doing a lot of really professional and very beautiful ballets there since they've been there. Speaker 1: 02:18 So they've done new choreography to Cinderella that is actually kind of more for a modern audience and with younger audiences in mind to keep their attention. And then finally, next weekend is the California ballet version. Yeah. So they're in San Diego is professional company. This was also re-imagined by there to stick director Jared Nelson. He does a lot of really exciting things for California ballet since he's been there, and this is going to be also for a contemporary audience. This one's a little longer, it's two hours with one intermission, but here's where you'll see some of the city's best dancers. Cinderella will be performed this weekend and next throughout San Diego County over the old globe. There's a new musical being staged to tell us about life after. This is a musical about a 16 year old girl. Her name is Alice and she's coming to terms with her dad's sudden death. Speaker 1: 03:10 She kind of feels responsible in a way, and she tries to connect the events that lead to his accident and then she discovers things about him and her family dynamic that she didn't know before. Now you saw this show. What did you think? I loved it. It's hard to really love a new musical sometimes with this one is just very poetic and they're just touches in it that I haven't seen. Like there's beautiful scenery and the songs are really catchy so I really recommend it. And Life after was written by Britta Johnson. That's a young Canadian composer. She wrote the book, The music and the lyrics. Yeah, so she is a composer and her parents were pit musicians. She always was in the theater. She didn't know that. Three people are usually involved in writing musicals and she wrote this when she was 18 and she just did it herself and the show had grand a claim in Canada and now we get to see it. Wow. Let's listen to a song from life after. This is poetry performed by Sophie Hurn, the actress who plays Alice. Speaker 2: 04:16 I never can tell with words like you. I've always just, then we should say things. How we see the sun is hot, the skies, Speaker 1: 04:34 but Speaker 2: 04:36 only I know I'm out of words. Speaker 1: 04:54 Finally, Broadway star. Leah Salonga returns to San Diego. Remind us who she is. Nina. She is a Filipina singer and actress who is basically a Broadway legend. She is an official Disney legend because she was the voice of Jasmine and Aladdin and of Milan and Milan. She was in the original cast of Miss Saigon, and for that role, she was the first Asian American woman to win a Tony. She's also performed all over the world. She was in allegiance at the old globe and that show went onto Broadway. This performance, I believe is sold out, so you'll be lucky if you get a ticket. Leah Salonga performed Sunday afternoon at Jacobs Music Center. For more weekend events, be sure to check kpbs.org/arts Nina Garren KPBS arts editor will thank you for joining us. Thanks. Have a great weekend. Let's listen to Leah Salonga saying, as a Disney character, this is reflection from Milan. Speaker 2: 05:54 Okay.