San Diego Weekend Guide: Aug. 18-20 – Rising & Revivals

Book and theater lovers have options galore this San Diego weekend, and a local college grad who took the jazz world by storm drops in for a show.

Two classic musicals are getting the revival treatment at local theaters. Both shows will be performed all weekend:

• No crying! The Cygnet Theatre’s production of the much heralded Evita, about the iconic former Argentine First Lady Eva Perón, has been extended at the Old Town venue through Oct. 1. Tickets start at $42.
• Moonlight Stage in Vista continues its 42nd season, naturally, with 42nd Street, a celebration of the Great White Way through the eyes of an aspiring chorus girl. Shows continue through Sept. 2. Tickets range from $14 to $58.

Gregory Porter, who once played football at San Diego State, takes the stage at UC San Diego’s Epstein Family Amphitheater at 8 p.m. Friday. The one-time Aztec has gone far, winning his first Grammy in 2014. He will perform songs from his 2020 Blue Note album, All Rise, and his 2021 favorites collection, Still Rising. Tickets start at $30.

For families with little (or bigger) softball lovers, San Diego Mesa College’s softball team hosts a clinic for girls ages 6-16 at 10 a.m. Saturday. The clinic will be run by coaches and players, and will focus not just on skills, but also team-building and camaraderie.

Saturday might require a bit of planning for book worms, with two competing free events happening nearly simultaneously:

• The University of San Diego in Linda Vista hosts the local Festival of Books at 10 a.m. with a variety of workshops, activities and live entertainment. There also will be Q&As and panels with award-winning authors, including Alice Hoffman, T. Jefferson Parker and Guadalupe García McCall – USD faculty too – at the event.
• Twain Fest, an all-day festival celebrating Mark Twain and the literature and culture of 19th century America, starts early, but online registration is required to attend, and only slots after 1 p.m. remain open. Events at Heritage County Park in Old Town evoke not only Mark Twain – such as “Tom Sawyer’s Fence Painting” – but also favorite characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood.

Finally, how about a stop or two at one of the region’s jewels, Balboa Park:

• See classic tales jumping, not off the page, but the stage at “Fairy Tales in the Park” Saturday and Sunday. The production, by the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, includes childhood faves, from “Sleeping Beauty” to “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” Tickets cost $25, and admission includes a visit to a post-show “Fairy Tale Village.” There are two shows each day, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the Casa del Prado Theater.
• Tianguis de la Raza, a monthly artisan market at Centro Cultural de la Raza, starts at noon Sunday, and includes music, raffles, prizes, food and natural medicine, along with local POC artisans and their creations. Even better – the event is hosted at the center every third Sunday.