San Francisco Chronicle Arts & Entertainment - Spoken Edition

Like “Angels in America” itself, this oral history of Tony Kushner’s two-part, seven-hour theatrical masterwork contains multitudes. Isaac Butler and Dan Kois use interviews with close to 250 people, conducted in 2016-17, to assemble “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America.” In addition to the playwright, actors, directors, designers, producers, scholars and Barney Frank weigh in.

No one can accuse Stacey Kent of jumping on the Nobel bandwagon.Long before British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, they’d forged a creatively charged collaboration resulting in some of her most ravishing material. Returning to the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room for two shows on Saturday, Feb.

Patrons file out of the theatre after watching the premiere of Black Panther at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, Calif. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Patrons file out of the theatre after watching the premiere of Black Panther at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, Calif. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Bivett Brackett poses for a portrait during the premiere of Black Panther at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, Calif. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018.

The Word for Word cast in “Lucia Berlin: Stories,” which may or may not adapt well to theater. The Word for Word cast in “Lucia Berlin: Stories,” which may or may not adapt well to theater. The trouble with a bungled line isn’t just the one ruined moment. It’s a breach of contract between artist and audience.

Two of my kids were over for dinner the other night and after their free meal was consumed we turned on the Winter Olympics. It seemed a good time to let them know I was very disappointed in how their lives turned out.“What did we do now?” asked my 27-year-old son as he watched a snowboarder do a ridiculous quadruple somersault while hurtling 50 feet above certain death.“It’s not what you did,” I replied. “It’s what you didn’t do.

Steven Pinker’s new book is a meticulous defense of science and objective analysis, a rebuttal to the tribalism, knee-jerk partisanship and disinformation that taints our politics. “Enlightenment Now” not only tackles widely held misconceptions about major issues, but also quantifies the many ways in which cool-headed inquiry has improved the lives of billions.

Crista Luedtke opened El Barrio, a cocktail bar in Guerneville, in 2014 because she needed overflow space. Her nearby restaurant, the farm-to-table Boon Eat + Drink, was regularly generating an hour-long wait list, and customers had few options for biding their time.The bars on Guerneville’s Main Street, like McT’s Bullpen and the Rainbow Cattle Co. (check it out at www.queersteer.com), leaned heavily divey.

Move over, mimosas. This week we’ll be washing down our eggs Benedict with a brewski. San Francisco Beer Week , which runs Friday, Feb. 9, through Feb. 18, is back, and with hundreds of events on tap there’s no end to the suds-fueled festivities. If there’s anything we love more than beer here in the Bay Area, it’s brunch, so naturally, Beer Week has got our day-drinking needs covered.

Mrs. Alice Todd, center, mother of Thelma Todd, is pictured between Roland West, close friend of the dead actress, and Mrs. May Whitehead, personal maid of the screen star, as they enter church at Forest Lawn ... more Mrs. Alice Todd, center, mother of Thelma Todd, is pictured between Roland West, close friend of the dead actress, and Mrs. May Whitehead, personal maid of the screen star, as they enter church at Forest Lawn Memorial Park to attend funeral services in 1935.

Need combo cap: Above: Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his pet pig Hognob (Nick Park) lead the rabbit hunt in “Early Man.” Right: Eddie Redmayne, left, Maisie Williams and director Nick Park pose with dolls of the ... more Need combo cap: Above: Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his pet pig Hognob (Nick Park) lead the rabbit hunt in “Early Man.” Right: Eddie Redmayne, left, Maisie Williams and director Nick Park pose with dolls of the characters they voice.

My cell phone rang. I could see from the caller ID that it was my 27-year-old son.“I’VE GOT THE WARRIORS GAME ON TAPE!” I screamed into the phone before he could say anything. “DON’T TELL ME WHO WON!”“First of all,” he replied in a soothing tone, “you need to relax. Secondly, no one in the 21st century says they have the game on tape. It’s on a DVR. You’re dating yourself.”“Whatever.

If there were ever a day to explore the moods of San Franciscans, it was Sunday. The nearly cloudless skies provided the perfect backdrop for a balloon-filled, pop-up interactive art installation that explored human emotions — and then put them on display in a small public art space alongside the Asian Art Museum.If you’d have walked by Civic Center Plaza on Sunday, you might have thought a very popular child was throwing a very chic birthday party.

Like generations of bandleaders before him, Myles Boisen knew just whom to call when he needed a pedal steel player who could come in without rehearsals and nail every solo.Last September, Boisen’s band Crying Time put together a birthday tribute for the late country music legend George Jones at the Ivy Room in Albany, featuring a stellar roster of Bay Area vocalists.

Let go of expectations. I say that a lot when it comes to raising “spirited” sons. On the night I take the family out to Le P’tit Laurent, I shouldn’t expect that the boys will actually use forks rather than their hands to lift escargots.Letting go starts with me not assuming that what made me happy will make my children happy.

Even as far back as when I was pregnant with Gege and Didi, people warned that I’d have to choose. If my twin sons ended up going to different colleges, and if their graduation ceremonies fell upon the same day, I was told, I’d have to decide which one to go to — and that which one I chose would amount to declaring which one I loved the most.As if I didn’t have enough on my mind at the time! Sibling rivalries run deep and archetypal.