Celebrate Pleasanton’s ghostly history

Of all the places in the Bay Area, who would’ve guessed the most haunted is Pleasanton? But it’s true, say many people who believe in g-g-ghosts: Back during the Gold Rush, when it was called Alisal and nicknamed the “most desperate town in the West,” the enclave saw so much drunken violence, shootouts and illness that it’s now haunted by more spirits than reside in the “Scooby-Doo” universe.

This Halloween month, people can explore Pleasanton’s spectral side with the Museum on Main’s annual Ghost Walk. You might encounter the “lady in blue” who haunts an 1860s building now known as — of all things — Gay Nineties Pizza, where the word “Boo” mysteriously appears in the restaurant mirror no matter how often it’s scrubbed out. Or perhaps it will be the clanging poltergeists who shove objects around at the Blue Agave Club — featured on ABC’s “20/20” for its mysterious phenomena — or the ghost of an 1870s prostitute stabbed to death in the old Pleasanton Hotel. Heck, even Bigfoot’s reportedly been spotted in the area.

Despite all this horror, the tours are described as “family friendly” with costumes encouraged, so expect to be at least equal parts scared and entertained.

Details: Two-hour tours offered Friday and Saturday and Oct. 18-19 beginning at the Museum on Main, 603 Main St., Pleasanton; timed tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children; museumonmain.org/ghost-walk.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Fuller revisits the ‘Dream Bowl’

Kellie Fuller is one of Wine Country’s finest vocalists. So it’s always worth buying ducats when she has a gig coming up.

Her next show, however, sounds especially enticing.

We’re talking about “A Night at the Dream Bowl,” which Fuller will perform with her longtime musical partner — pianist Mike Greensill — tonight at Blue Note Napa.

Fuller looks to transport attendees back to the 1940s as she leads a seven-piece band — featuring Greensill, Ruth Davies on bass, Jack Dorsey on drums, Mary Fettig on the alto sax and flute, Charlie McCarthy on tenor sax, John Gove on trombone and Dave Bendigkeit on trumpet — through greatest hits from that era.

The show’s title references the famed Dream Bowl, which was an iconic ballroom located just south of Napa that hosted such all-time greats as Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey. Later on, the Grateful Dead would also set up shop and perform there. The venue closed in 1969, but the building is still standing.

Details: 7 p.m.; $20-$45, bluenotejazz.com/napa/.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Classical picks: Famed baritone, Canadian Brass, opera prep

This week’s classical music calendar features a recital by baritone Lester Lynch, a wide-ranging concert by the Canadian Brass, and an informative introduction to one of the world’s all-time great operas.

A singer of poise and power: Bay Area operagoers will remember Lester Lynch from his performance as Crown in San Francisco Opera’s production of “Porgy and Bess”; throughout his career, the powerhouse baritone has also sung Wotan in “Das Rheingold” and the title roles in “Macbeth” and “Rigoletto.” This weekend, he returns to the Bay Area for a recital at Cal Performances. Accompanied by pianist Kevin Korth, the program includes a range of repertoire, with works by Schubert, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Ives, and Gordon Getty included. Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $69-$74; calperformances.org.

Live, from Canada: Founded in 1970 by Chuck Daellenbach and the late Gene Watts, the Canadian Brass is still making music; to date, the group has produced an astonishing 100-plus albums and appeared in concerts around the world. Covering a range of classical works in addition to popular music, the group comes to Livermore on Sunday afternoon. Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $50-$80; bankheadtheater.org.

Learn about “Tristan”: Opera lovers planning to see San Francisco Opera’s fall production of “Tristan and Isolde,” opening Oct. 19 at the War Memorial Opera House, can hear director Paul Curran discuss the opera in a free event as part of the “Directors in Conversation” series presented by the Wagner Society of Northern California. It’s sure to enhance the opera-going experience. The company’s production features tenor Simon O’Neill and soprano Anja Kampe in the title roles. Details: 7 p.m. Monday; Green Room at S.F.’s War Memorial Opera Building; free; Wagnersf.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

A grand ‘Tea’ worth revisiting

When news broke last week that legendary actor Maggie Smith had died at age 89, I reached immediately for Roger Michell’s delightful 2018 documentary “Tea With Dames,” which finds Smith and three of her contemporaries — Joan Plowright, Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins — reminiscing over a rainy afternoon at the charming country cottage Plowright built with her husband Laurence Olivier.

If you are seeking an exhaustive treatment of the quartet’s stage and screen careers, you’re better off looking elsewhere. But as an introduction to their work, to say nothing of their sparkling wit, “Tea With the Dames,” released in the U.K. as “Nothing Like a Dame,” contains plenty to chew on, especially in its focus on their work in the British theater, glimpsed in a remarkable array of archival clips as well as through the gauze of memory. If you, like many on social media, were frustrated to see obituaries identify Smith primarily as the star of “Harry Potter” and “Downton Abbey” — or if you simply enjoy a bit of banter among old friends — this film is well worth your time and a reminder always to celebrate the artists you admire while they’re still here.

Details: 89 minutes, available for streaming on Kanopy, available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime and other sites.

— Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times

‘Angels’ flies to Marin

The Oakland Theater Project is a jewel in the East Bay stage scene with its ambitious MO of presenting classic and thought-provoking works in imaginative ways aimed at bridging cultural and socio-economic divides. And now the company is presenting Tony Kushner’s game-changing “Angels in America” in San Rafael in a collaborative venture with Marin Shakespeare Company.

The troupe is presenting both parts of the epic Tony- and Pulitzer-winning drama that tells a sprawling series of stories featuring historic and imagined characters and framed by the AIDS crisis and gay lifestyles of the late 20th century. “Part I: Millennium Approaches” is being staged through Oct. 26; “Part II: Perestroika” will be presented Friday through Oct. 26. For “AIA” purists, Parts I and II can be seen back-to-back Oct. 19 and 26. All performances are at Marin Shakes’ new 165-seat indoor theater at 415 Fourth St., San Rafael.

Of course, a big part of any Kushner production is the legendary playwright’s unique style of epic storytelling that incorporates compelling dialogue and a thicket of ideas both timely and eternal. As company co-artistic director Michael Socrates Moran, who is helming the production, puts it, “‘Angels in America’ reveals itself as an uncanny prophecy for our political moment, demanding we face impossible hopelessness with hope, agency and action.”

Details: Tickets are $10-$60; oaklandtheaterproject.org/angels

— Randy McMullen, Staff