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Cultural offerings abound at SCC this week

 

Rise and shine!

This week my suggestions for Glen Ellen folks beg us to stray a bit away from our little burg. I promise you, this will be worth it.

First up is tonight's concert by Vox Populi, "Still Crazy After All These Years." And what can I say, but it's true. Yes, Vox Pop is crazy in love with the joy of singing. Both my sweetie and I are members of the choir now.

The joy of sharing familiar tunes from our youthful heyday is a kind of therapy that truly does make one feel young again. And having the opportunity to perform with the amazingly talented Plan Be band rates tops on my list. But wait, this isn't a plea for more singers. You'll have to talk with choir leader Mark Dennis if that's your aim (and believe me, if he accepted the two Crawfords into his fold, it can't be too hard).

This is simply an invitation to join us all this evening, Tuesday, Aug. 2, at the Sonoma Community Center at 7:30 p.m. The joy we singers experience transmits readily to the audience. You'll leave with heart uplifted.

More than worth the $12 admission price is hearing Julia Maffei's Vox Pop Kids whose gentle voices add a powerful impact to Lenny Cohen's "Hallelujah." Yep, it's like we've all gone to heaven, even though we're not that kind of choir.

Tonight's show is a benefit for the Sonoma Theatre Alliance and that brings me around to my second entertainment suggestion.

Kate Kennedy's moving production of Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie" opened last Thursday at the Sonoma Community Center. Kate's magical touch transports us entirely to the Wingfield family home in St. Louis, where we watch their struggles to bend to a world of failed economics, dashed dreams and adjustments. Sound a bit like our own world today? For some of us, that's the case. So why would you want to see someone else's troubles? As the Greeks taught us several millennia ago, catharsis is restorative.

What woman, young or old, hasn't suffered the ache of unrequited love? Well, for that matter, what man hasn't? It's one of the afflictions we humans experience. Same for the lure of adventure and the need for escape that most young folks feel at some time. And what mother – or father – among us doesn't feel a fierce need to protect their child? Tennessee Williams' play offers us all of this, succinctly and eloquently. Kate's direction brings it alive in a powerfully moving way.

The "Glass Menagerie" plays Aug. 4 to 7, and again the following weekend, Aug. 11 to 14. Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows begin at 7 p.m., with Sunday performances at 3 p.m.