CultureVulture

Screenwriter Ryan O’Connell was a social media star before ‘influencer’ became a thing. His wry  texts attracting followers by the thousands. Meanwhile he was also writing scripts and was urged by a friend to shop them around to producers. He had one about a gay boy being called queer and ugly in school because of his spastic body due to his Cerebral Palsy (CP) which in ...

Flamenco may have begun in the Roma migration from Rajasthan (in northwest India) to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries, but the art form, which became commercial with the introduction of “tablaos” (bars with flamenco dancing) in the 19th and 20th century in Spain, and a “cultural treasure” with its 2010 designation by UNESCO as “A Masterpiece of the Or...

In 1927 Napa Valley, a smitten man woos a young woman he knows only through letters and postcards. She agrees to marriage not realizing that the face in the photo sent by her suitor is that of a different man. Can the two get past deception, achieve forgiveness and embrace love? The answer lies in the musical “The Most Happy Fella,” at North Coast Repertory Theater.

 Classical Guitarist Sean Shibe writes in the liner notes of his album ‘Vesper’ that he sought “ to explore the potential of the guitar. And especially playing repertoire on one crafted  in 2021- his Sylvette, which is made with spruce and cypress wood, slender bodied and strung to be very responsive to the player’s touch  It was modeled after the proto-modern ...

Serendipity befalls two unhappy people in Ritesh Batra’s charming musical version of his 2013 lauded film, “The Lunchbox,” in Berkeley Rep’s gorgeous world premiere production. This utterly engaging, heartfelt play captures the loneliness that only a big city like Bombay (now Mumbai) can create. But maybe there is a chance of happiness for the miserably married young Ila and ...