A ‘Beetlejuice’ breakthrough

Sophie Aknin is currently living out her dream.

The aspiring young actor, who graduated from Valley Christian High School in San Jose before earning a BFA in musical theater from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, in 2019, has scored a choice spot in the Broadway touring production of “Beetlejuice.”

It’s the national tour debut for the South Bay native, who already has several regional theater credits (including with New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse).

Aknin is part of the ensemble in this production. Yet, she also is the understudy for several key roles — including that of the main female character Lydia (which was played by Winona Ryder in the film version and recently performed by another South Bay rising star, Isabella Esler, in this touring production).

Aknin surely will see plenty of familiar faces in the crowd as she returns home to the Bay Area with the “Beetlejuice” tour, which has set up shop at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco.

Details: Through Sunday; Tickets start at $56; broadwaysf.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

A velvet revolution

Velvet as an artist material is perhaps most often associated with those chintzy black-velvet paintings of classic Cadillacs and Elvis. In the deft hand of the Bermuda/California artist Soleé Darrell, though, the fabric soaks up new resonance and depth — literally, as it invites you to peer into the mind-bending stretches of space and time that define our very universe.

Darrell’s work with silk velvet, enhanced with colorful dyes and oddments like boat rope and found trimmings, is the subject of a new exhibition at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, “Soleé Darrell: Cosmic Ceremony.” In display through Feb. 2, the show explores the artist’s obsession with who we are and where we come from, in terms that NASA might appreciate. The intensely hued, warping and blended fabrics recall something captured by the Hubble Telescope — exploding supernovae, merging galaxies, nebulae and the birth of new stars.

If the vibe seems rather alien, the message is quite human. “She uses layers of mixed media to symbolize the healing of wounds and maps the unknown paths we take in life,” according to the museum. “She is forever fascinated with the idea of things we can never know about our existence, and the self-inflicted suffering that human beings can endure through generations of trying to figure it out.”

Details: Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday; 685 Mission St., San Francisco; $15 general admission (free every second Saturday); moadsf.org

— Jon Metcalfe, Staff

Punching above its weight

Some dismiss inspirational true-life sports movies as formulaic crowd-pleasers. And what’s wrong with that? I eat ’em up. Director Rachel Morrison’s debut biopic is one of the better ones yet. It’s about Flint, Michigan, female boxer Claressa Shields — a name that might not resonate with the average American, but should, given the titles she’s won.

With an ambitious screenplay from Barry Jenkins, Morrison gives us a portrait of an athlete’s resiliency and a portrait of a city and its inhabitants who’ve been pummeled by poverty but refuse to stay down for the count. Shields (played with fiery intensity by Ryan Destiny, an actor to watch) overcame a litany of hurdles, including macho beliefs that girls and women shouldn’t enter the ring, yet became the only American boxer to win two back-to-back Olympic gold medals with her big-hearted coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry).

“The Fire Inside” also takes some jabs at how other athletes, predominantly men, land huge endorsements while women from hard-scrabble backgrounds get passed over. That concept adds more dimension and even authenticity to this superbly crafted drama.

Details: Rated PG-13 (language, thematic elements, brief suggestive material); 1 hour, 49 minutes; in theaters now.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent

Ring in 2025 with tunes

Here are some musically oriented New Year’s Eve shows you should know about.

Gryffin: The San Jose native, whose real name is Dan Griffith, stands among the top names in all of EDM and is ready to greet 2025 with a big gig at Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Details: 9 p.m. Tuesday; tickets start at $287 (subject to change); axs.com

Primus: Les Claypool, the El Sobrante-raised vocalist-bassist, always seems to have something fun going on the last night of the year. This year, he’s performing two shows with his most famous outfit, Primus, at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Details: 8 p.m. Monday, 9 p.m. Tuesday; tickets start at $78.15; apeconcerts.com.

Paula West: It should be a special night as this wonderful Bay Area-based cabaret/jazz vocalist plays the ritzy Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco. Details: 7 and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets start at $80.57, feinsteinssf.com.

Tommy Castro: The Legendary San Jose bluesman brings his band, the Painkillers, featuring saxophonist Deanna Bogart, the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Details: 9 p.m. Tuesday; $46.50-$84; thefreight.org.

Jeff Bordes: The trumpeter and Bay Area native, who’s collaborated with artists ranging from Branford Marsalis and Richie Cole to Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks, brings his talented friends to Bankhead Theater in Livermore. Details: 8 p.m. Tuesday; $100; livermorearts.org.

— Jim Harrington; Staff

A classical blast in San Jose

The San Jose Chamber Orchestra is ready to send off 2024 in style, with a star-studded concert featuring works by Bach, Chopin, Debussy as well as a world premiere.

With orchestra music director Barbara Day Turner on the podium, the 19-member orchestra will welcome all-world pianist Jon Nakamatsu as soloist in a performance of Chopin’s andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op 22. The program also features:

• Jon Manasse and Alec Manasse teaming on Bach’s famed Double Violin Concerto.

• Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse teaming on Debussy’s Premiere rhapsodie.

• A world premiere finale by Bay Area composer and San Jose State grad Michael Touchi.

A reception with sparkling toast will follow the matinee concert. The chamber orchestra, which formed in 1991, refers to its annual year-closing performance as “perhaps our favorite concert of the year,” and adds, “Expect the unexpected in this delightful joyous afternoon of music.”

Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave., San José (street parking available); $15-$75; sjco.org.

— Randy McMullen, Staff