Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is boldly going where the circus has never gone before in "Out of This World." The classic American circus franchise, a brand older than baseball, has reinvented itself for the digital age. Gone is the old three-ring-trope, the elephants and the tangy smell of hay and sawdust you may remember from your childhood. Instead imagine a high-tech extravaganza that's part Cirque du Soleil, part Disney on Ice, part sci-fi fantasy and all warp-speed. Crafted to tickle the millennial generation, this iteration of "the greatest show earth" moves so fast you may not even notice that there is now a plot (a child-friendly fable about evil queens and intergalactic adventure) but you can't help notice the space motif. My daughter Daphne, 5, liked the astronauts doing a hypnotic "space walk" at the top of the show best of all. She had no idea that was unusual, of course, as this was her first circus. She also loved the skaters, contortionists, trapeze artists and especially the performing pooches. Mommy, on the other hand, couldn't believe the act in which two ice skaters floated from the ice to the air, engaging in a high-risk aerial pas de deux. Of course, midair acrobatics is nothing new if you are familiar with the Cirque aesthetic but I can't imagine pulling it off with sharp blades strapped to your feet. Daphne, for her part, didn't understand why it was thrilling to watch seven motorcyclists zoom around inside a silver orb (yikes!)  but she was impressed by the ring of fire at the climax of the show and we both adored the big cats. Indeed some of the tigers seemed downright cranky, swiping their gigantic paws rather close to the trainer's face, which made the act all the more suspenseful. The pace of the circus is fast and furious so that even little ones won't get bored, although sometimes there is so much to watch that it's hard to know what to focus on. I also found myself missing some of the old-school circus feel I remember from back in the day. Of course, that's not a concern for the cotton candy-craving target demographic, particularly in the tech-obsessed Bay Area, where next-generation audiences seem primed for a circus that combines lions and tigers and apps, oh my!

The post Ringling blasts off into new era of circus with "Out of This World" appeared first on Mercury News.

"Latin History for Morons," anyone? Get your freak on when badass monologuist John Leguizamo (“Spic-O-Rama”) returns to Berkeley Rep with his latest outrageous riff on race and culture. The Emmy and Obie award winner breaks down the marginalization of Latinos in U.S. history, collapsing 3,000 years into 90 minutes. Developed at The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work, this co-production with New York's famed Public Theatre picks up where Leguizamo’s 2010 Broadway hit  "Ghetto Klown" (which was workshopped at Berkeley Rep). The solo show, which was originally titled "Latin History for Dummies," runs Friday, July 1–Sunday, August 14,  directed by Tony Taccone. 

The post John Leguizamo teaches Latin history for dummies at Berkeley Rep appeared first on Mercury News.

SAN JOSE -- I figured Joe Thornton might have something to say about Doug Wilson's comments to season-ticket holders last night.

I didn't really expect him to toss a grenade.

"I think Doug just needs to shut his mouth. I think that's the bottom line," Thornton said. "All I've got to say is I've been here every day working hard. I haven't taken a sabbatical. He just needs to stop lying, shut his mouth."

Harsh words that I'm sure you've read elsewhere before now and the reaction has been predictably large. The story filed for Saturday's print edition and available online here raises -- but admittedly doesn't answer -- the bigger question:

How fractured is this franchise?

****I've dipped into the comments section on the previous posting and see that there are issues about my role in all this. Fair enough and I can understand that.

Wilson did say several times during that session -- directing his comments at me in particular -- that the information was not to leave the room. For one thing, I don't actually work by those rules. Some 350 people in a room in this day of social media? The information could leave the room 350 different ways. Yes, I'd have to consider the consequences of reporting what I hear. I get that.

But more importantly, the question about the captaincy was not one of those times when the general manager tried to keep a lid on his answer.

Readers were also asking about the context of the comments and that's fair, too. Quotes get boiled down in every story and this one was no exception. Most of that is clarity and readability, part of that is time and deadlines. The two self-guiding principles are 1) do not alter the meaning and 2) keep everything in context.

So in the interest of transparency, I went back and transcribed the original question and Wilson's entire response. You'll see things were condensed. I'll also mention that the story did preface Wilson's quotes by saying he did praise Thornton before getting started.

Here's the source material:

WOMAN: "You talk about respect for every player, my question is with Joe Thornton and taking away the 'C' -- is all this stuff that we read in the papers about he didn't even know this was happening and he heard about it in the news. . . . If that's truly what happened, I don't know if I find that particularly respectful. I'd like to know what the real story of that is."

WILSON: "I'm glad you asked. I've told David Pollak this. There are parts of the media that are not overly concerned with getting the truth. They're worried about the first gossip, the first rumor.

"Joe Thornton, I'm a huge fan of Joe Thornton. I've known him since I was 18 in the world juniors. Joe Thornton loves this game. He's one of the greatest players that ever played. He cares about the game so much. The reason we took the 'C' off him -- and he was notified. Look, he and Todd had a meeting. I trust them both but sometimes what's said and what's heard might be whatever. There's emotions involved. The both care about it.

"Joe Thornton, and I sat him down and I said, Joe, I have such great respect for you. He carries the weight of the team on his shoulders. And he's got such a big heart that when stress comes on him, he lashes out at people and it kind of impacts them.

"Larry Robinson, one of the greatest leaders in the game and won nine cups, was never a captain. You can be a leader without a captain. But the pressure and stress, I felt, was getting to Joe, and I sat him down and said we need other players to step up and share this. Leadership group in this league is a shared thing, it's not one guy.

"This says a lot about Joe. He got it. He didn't like it, but he got it and he understood. And he said, 'You know what? That makes sense to me.' .

"He was never once asked to waive his no movement clause. Never once. I sat him down and I said, 'Joe, we're going to rebuild. We're going to go young, you know who the players are and we're going to try and do it as fast as possible. He said, 'Doug, I'm in.' We shook hands. That was the end of it."

***** Wilson's account, by the way, was not totally out of line with what Sharks associate coach Larry Robinson told a Montreal radio station last summer.

"He had a tendency to sometimes have a cutting sense of humor, and sometimes people can take that the wrong way,” Robinson said. “He sometimes had a delivery which a lot of the young kids felt intimidated by, and you certainly can't be intimidated by your captain or even your assistants."

****I know I said there'd be more from Wilson's Thursday night session. Let's just say there won't be more today and take it one day at a time. Don't want to make more promises I can't keep.

The post Thornton tosses a grenade -- plus a more complete look at what Wilson said about the 'C' to season-ticket holders appeared first on Mercury News.

Do you like to cook? Do you enjoy watching the combustible Gordon Ramsay blow his top? If so, "MasterChef" wants you.

The Fox reality series will hold an open casting call for Season 6 this Saturday (Sept. 13) in San Francisco from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Prescott Hotel, 545 Post Street.

Potential contestants must bring one prepared dish to be served to the food judges. You will be given three minutes to plate your dish at the casting call location, but there will NOT be a kitchen to cook or warm your dish up so come prepared.

Visit www.masterchefcasting.com to pre-register to secure your place in line.

The post "MasterChef" holding auditions in Bay Area appeared first on Mercury News.

Yes, there is a newsworthy development today in the NHL lockout. The league's latest offer calls for a 50-50 revenue split and, reportedly, no salary rollbacks.

That last issue has been huge with the players, so if that's an accurate representation, this is significant progress.

NHLPA rep Donald Fehr treated the new offer as a legitimate one, said his executive committee would meet at 2 p.m. PDT today and get back to the league by tomorrow.

No, I don't think this means a settlement is necessarily in sight. There are always at least a dozen issues that all tie in -- Does this call for no free agency before 35? I doubt it, but who knows.

But this does provide the first glimmer of hope that hockey will be played since the lockout begain.

Normally, I wouldn't do what I'm about to do, but here's the unedited press release the NHL just sent out. If we get something similar from Donald Fehr later, I'll add that, too.

BETTMAN: Good afternoon, everyone. Bill Daly and I just spent the last hour with Don and Steve Fehr, and I would like to briefly report to you on what was discussed. As I think all of you know we have been extremely
disappointed, and that's an understatement, that we've been unable to get
these negotiations on the essential elements moving forward. So, today, we began by discussing with Don and Steve that if we were to drop the puck on November 2nd for the start of the regular season, we could preserve an 82-game schedule for the regular season and play full playoffs as we normally do and be done before the end of June.

We very much want to preserve a full 82-game season, and in that light, we made a proposal, an offer, really that is our best shot at
preserving an 82-game regular season and playoffs, and this offer that we
made obviously was contingent upon having an 82-game regular season.

A lot of you know we don't negotiate publicly, and I'm not going to
break that habit because I don't think it's constructive. The fact of the
matter is, we offered a 50-50 share of HRR, hockey related revenues, and we believe we addressed the concern that players have about what happens to their salaries as a result in this year of reducing the percentage from 57 to 50%.

Beyond that, I don't want to get into the substance other than to say
we believe that this was a fair offer for a long-term deal, and it's one
that we hope gets a positive reaction so that we can drop the puck on
November 2nd -- which backing up, entails at least a one-week training
camp. So we have about nine or ten days to get this all put to bed,
signed, sealed and delivered, in order for this offer to be effective and
for us to move forward.

We hope that this effort that we've undertaken today would be
successful because we know how difficult this all has been for everybody
associated with the game, particularly our fans.

Q: How confident are you that this is going to go forward?

BETTMAN: Well, we certainly hope it will. We've given it our best shot.

Q: What was the reaction?

BETTMAN: The reaction was that they obviously need to study it, and so we told them that we're available to them. But they're going to need some time to review it, and I respect that portion of the process. Obviously, they've got to understand the offer and get comfortable with it.

Q: Was it just the core economic issues in terms of the offer?

BETTMAN: We had a number of significant elements that we believe can and
should serve as the basis of a deal to get us playing hockey.

Q: Why do this today?

BETTMAN: Because if we want to have an 82-game regular season, if we want to preserve an 82-game regular season and you back up the timetable in terms of the schedule, we needed to do it.

By the way, in terms of the schedule, so everybody understands, the
compression that would be involved is one additional game every five weeks. Beyond that, we don't think it would be good for the players or for the game. But if you look at what our ability would be to schedule 82 games and you work back from November 2nd, if we didn't do it now, if we didn't put an effort on the table that we thought was fair and could get us playing hockey, if we didn't do it now, then it probably wasn't going to happen for a while. Because, again, it's done in the spirit of getting a full season in.

Q: Is it 50-50 across the board?

BETTMAN: It's 50-50 across board.

Q: How long of a contract will this be?

BETTMAN: I'm not going to get into the specifics. We proposed a long-term
contract. We think that's in everybody's interest. We think that's what
our fans want.

Q: Can you explain how you address the roll back or the escrow?

BETTMAN: There is no roll back, and I'm not going to get into the specifics. It would not be constructive at this point in time. The union has some work to do, and we respect the process. I probably have gone further than I usually have in terms of discussing what we've proposed than at any other time. But I'm not comfortable going any further. I'm more concerned about the process right now and getting us back on the ice.

Q: How worried are you they might say no and more of the season will be
lost?

BETTMAN:I don't even want to go there.

Q: Is the league amenable to playing an abbreviated schedule?

BETTMAN: We're focused on getting the puck dropped on November 2nd and playing a full 82-game regular season and full playoffs. That's what this offer is all about.

The post Lockout breakthrough? NHL offers players 50-50 revenue split, reporteldy without rolling back current salaries appeared first on Mercury News.

Yes, there is a newsworthy development today in the NHL lockout. The league's latest offer calls for a 50-50 revenue split and, reportedly, no salary rollbacks.

That last issue has been huge with the players, so if that's an accurate representation, this is significant progress.

NHLPA rep Donald Fehr treated the new offer as a legitimate one, said his executive committee would meet at 2 p.m. PDT today and get back to the league by tomorrow.

No, I don't think this means a settlement is necessarily in sight. There are always at least a dozen issues that all tie in -- Does this call for no free agency before 35? I doubt it, but who knows.

But this does provide the first glimmer of hope that hockey will be played since the lockout begain.

Normally, I wouldn't do what I'm about to do, but here's the unedited press release the NHL just sent out. If we get something similar from Donald Fehr later, I'll add that, too.

BETTMAN: Good afternoon, everyone. Bill Daly and I just spent the last hour with Don and Steve Fehr, and I would like to briefly report to you on what was discussed. As I think all of you know we have been extremely
disappointed, and that's an understatement, that we've been unable to get
these negotiations on the essential elements moving forward. So, today, we began by discussing with Don and Steve that if we were to drop the puck on November 2nd for the start of the regular season, we could preserve an 82-game schedule for the regular season and play full playoffs as we normally do and be done before the end of June.

We very much want to preserve a full 82-game season, and in that light, we made a proposal, an offer, really that is our best shot at
preserving an 82-game regular season and playoffs, and this offer that we
made obviously was contingent upon having an 82-game regular season.

A lot of you know we don't negotiate publicly, and I'm not going to
break that habit because I don't think it's constructive. The fact of the
matter is, we offered a 50-50 share of HRR, hockey related revenues, and we believe we addressed the concern that players have about what happens to their salaries as a result in this year of reducing the percentage from 57 to 50%.

Beyond that, I don't want to get into the substance other than to say
we believe that this was a fair offer for a long-term deal, and it's one
that we hope gets a positive reaction so that we can drop the puck on
November 2nd -- which backing up, entails at least a one-week training
camp. So we have about nine or ten days to get this all put to bed,
signed, sealed and delivered, in order for this offer to be effective and
for us to move forward.

We hope that this effort that we've undertaken today would be
successful because we know how difficult this all has been for everybody
associated with the game, particularly our fans.

Q: How confident are you that this is going to go forward?

BETTMAN: Well, we certainly hope it will. We've given it our best shot.

Q: What was the reaction?

BETTMAN: The reaction was that they obviously need to study it, and so we told them that we're available to them. But they're going to need some time to review it, and I respect that portion of the process. Obviously, they've got to understand the offer and get comfortable with it.

Q: Was it just the core economic issues in terms of the offer?

BETTMAN: We had a number of significant elements that we believe can and
should serve as the basis of a deal to get us playing hockey.

Q: Why do this today?

BETTMAN: Because if we want to have an 82-game regular season, if we want to preserve an 82-game regular season and you back up the timetable in terms of the schedule, we needed to do it.

By the way, in terms of the schedule, so everybody understands, the
compression that would be involved is one additional game every five weeks. Beyond that, we don't think it would be good for the players or for the game. But if you look at what our ability would be to schedule 82 games and you work back from November 2nd, if we didn't do it now, if we didn't put an effort on the table that we thought was fair and could get us playing hockey, if we didn't do it now, then it probably wasn't going to happen for a while. Because, again, it's done in the spirit of getting a full season in.

Q: Is it 50-50 across the board?

BETTMAN: It's 50-50 across board.

Q: How long of a contract will this be?

BETTMAN: I'm not going to get into the specifics. We proposed a long-term
contract. We think that's in everybody's interest. We think that's what
our fans want.

Q: Can you explain how you address the roll back or the escrow?

BETTMAN: There is no roll back, and I'm not going to get into the specifics. It would not be constructive at this point in time. The union has some work to do, and we respect the process. I probably have gone further than I usually have in terms of discussing what we've proposed than at any other time. But I'm not comfortable going any further. I'm more concerned about the process right now and getting us back on the ice.

Q: How worried are you they might say no and more of the season will be
lost?

BETTMAN:I don't even want to go there.

Q: Is the league amenable to playing an abbreviated schedule?

BETTMAN: We're focused on getting the puck dropped on November 2nd and playing a full 82-game regular season and full playoffs. That's what this offer is all about.

The post Lockout breakthrough? NHL offers players 50-50 revenue split and says no salaries rolled back appeared first on Mercury News.

Cracked open a pile of mail today to find this bit of glossy DVD nirvana: Supernatural Season 6!!! I know I am a self-respecting theater critic but I must admit that I took a moment to nurture my inner pop culture addict with a geeky little happy dance. Brushing aside pesky details like the fact that this once pulse-pounding show now regularly sucks a little and the fact that the whole touched-by-an-angel plot is about as gripping as an actuarial table and the little matter of them practically dropping the classic rock score that made the show pop in the first place....breathe...in times like this...we take what we can get. And in the eye candy department (is Jensen Ackles just getting cuter or is it me??) Supernatural just can't be beat. Although we still can't help hoping that the show will return to a little of its past glory *the woman in white, the bloody mary thing, heck even the ghost ship episode was better than this tired evangelic holy war stuff* before the show wraps and we go into mourning official. First Buffy, now this. How much can a girl take?

The post Supernatural Season 6 appeared first on Mercury News.

Just getting into my tour of New York theater. First stop was "KIN," Bathsheba Doran's fine new ensemble work, a comedy-drama at Playwrights Horizons. Doran builds her piece around the character of a young Columbia University adjunct professor named Anna (Kristen Bush), who has just published a book of academic arcana titled "Keats's Punctuation." Her career is on the rise, but her relationships are as bumpy as anyone's, and through the revolving doors of her life, we, the audience, go meeting her Irish personal trainer boyfriend (Patch Darragh), her hippie narcissist best friend (Laura Heisler), her rigid military man father (Cotter Smith), and so on.

Most of the scenes are "duets" and, as the evening advances, the relationships keep growing and criss-crossing, skillfully exploring the gray areas between friends and family members, opportunities missed and met. Directed by Sam Gold, "KIN" throws life at us: a big stew of love, annoyance, boredom, striving, risk-taking, hurt, humor and connection, mostly connection.

And there are surprises. That stone-hard military may turns out to be the one who tries the hardest, loves the hardest, takes the most risks and keeps on changing. (Early in the play, his lover, Kay, gives him some essential life advice: "For God's sake, man, give chase!" And he does). Cotter Smith commands the stage, goes to the core of this decent and genuine man.

I really fell for Helena, too: She is your most annoying and endearing friend, someone who announces, "I decided to take a catnap and it turned into a sleep-o-rama." She is self-involved, but not so much as we initially are led to think; she reads "Keats's Punctuation" three times, sees universality and beauty in its explications of periods and ellipses. And we slowly realize that Helena is an emotional fuel line for those around her. Heisler is wide-open to the part; she is funny, hurt, trying, generous. We believe all her contradictions.

This is strongly wrought ensemble writing. Is it deep? I'm not sure. Doran works in television, too, and there's something HBO-ish about her rollout and interweaving of characters. Bringing the nine characters of "KIN" to fulfillment would require more episodes: you know, a full "season" of "KIN." Still, this brief introduction gives us plenty to chomp on.

Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater, 416 W. 42nd St. 212-279-4200. ticketcentral.com.

The post Theater in New York: "KIN" appeared first on Mercury News.

"A Round-Heeled Woman," the Z Space world premiere starring Sharon Gless of "Cagney and Lacey," has postponed its opening one week from Saturday Jan. 16 to Saturday Jan. 23. Producer sight illnesses in the cast, which forced them to scrub some crucial rehearsal time, as the culprit.  Based on Jane Juska's tales of her late life search for true lust, the production is now slated to run through Feb. 7 at Theater Artaud but it might be extended to make up for performances lost.

The post Round-Heeled opening postponed appeared first on Mercury News.

It' s the story of a lovely lady, indeed. All of the beloved TV personalites of my childhood seem to be holding court in the Bay Area these days. Florence Henderson, the uber mom from "The Brady Bunch," just regaled fans with her pipes in "All the Lives of Me ... A Musical Journey" at the Rrazz Room. Now, Tyne Daly, she of  "Cagney and Lacey" fame, is about to hold court there Jan. 12-16 in her cabaret show "'Songs." Oh, and did we mention that Daly's brassy female cop cohort, aka Sharon Gless is starring in the upcoming "A Round Heeled Woman" at Z Space in SF? It's a convergance of TV divas that no self-respecting pop culture vulture should miss.

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