VIRAGO'S THREEPENNY OPERA IN ALAMEDA THE ANGOLA PROJECT: JAZZ FROM PRISON SPIRITUALS ANDRE SUMELIUS TRIO/UKELELE STORE, BERKELEY

With THE THREEPENNY OPERA, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill created the hallmark of Germany's Weimar Republic, a cynical cabaret of operatic musical theater about the underworld of thieves, beggars and whores, set in old London (and drawn from John Gay's 18th century ballad opera, THE BEGGAR'S OPERA, that satirized British society).

This story of upside-down social values, of anti-anti-heroes, seduced its audiences with its remarkable songs that fused folk and popular songs with modern music, the sentimentality of torch songs and hymns with cutting sarcasm and social criticism. CABARET, the ever-popular musical of Weimar Berlin, is a pale realist impression of Brecht and Weill's "fantasy" that slides effortlessly under your skin.

Brecht's theater, a staple of the 1960s (and since then in Britain), seems to be making a comeback in the Bay Area. Virago Theatre Co.'s recent run of THREEPENNY OPERA was virtually sold out. Now, Virago's announced a reprise--one performance at 7:30 on April 8 at the Masonic Hall, 2312 Alameda Ave. (off Park), Alameda--featuring Mack The Knife, Jenny Diver--and soprano Eileen Meredith as Polly Peachum. Directed by Virago Artistic Director Laura Lundy-Paine. /$17 gen. $10 students & seniors/ virago.org (510) 865-6237

Howard Wiley's a young saxophonist from Berkeley who's been attracting national attention. His early musical experiences in church and love of "that intangible something" in John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," in late Billie Holiday, in Mahalia Jackson's magisterial gospel sound, led him to mount THE ANGOLA PROJECT when a writer friend got him to listen to the spirituals and field shouts from Angola State Prison in Louisiana, a prison plantation much like the more notorious Parchman Farm.

Commissioned by San Francisco's Intersection For The Arts, Wiley has composed pieces based on the unusual meters and pitches of the prisoners' songs, "what you can't write down,"
for an unusual sextet featuring saxophone (tenor and soprano), trumpet, cello, two acoustic basses, drums and two singers, "one opera, the other scat."

Wiley and his group will premiere the PROJECT's work at Intersection, in SF's Inner Mission, 8 p. m. Tuesday April 4.
He hopes to continue working with such an ensemble in the tradition of Duke Ellington's "Sacred Suite," of early Fletcher Henderson, of Billy Strayhorn's spirituals. "I get goosebumps listening to that music. Anything that gives you goosebumps--that experience is good!"

Intersection For The Arts, Valencia near 16th St., San Francisco. theintersection.org (415) 626-3311

Young Jazz drummer Andre Sumelius is from Helsinki, where his CD, 'KIRA,' won the Finnish Grammy for Best Jazz Album in 2001. Now living in the Bay Area, Sumelius will lead his trio--fellow countryman, saxophonist Jussi Kannaste, and American bassist John Shifflett--at 8 p. m. Friday, March 31, at the Da Silva Ukelele Shop, 2587 Eighth St.,
west Berkeley, presented by The Jazz House and the Berkeley Arts Festival. Admission, $10.

"Andre plays straight-ahead jazz," said Rob Woodworth of The Jazz House. "He first started to meet local players when he sat in on jam sessions after moving here; at The Jazz House he played with musicians like Dana Stephens and Howard Wiley. He's a quiet, personable guy who fit right in. Andre's toured the West Coast, and played at venues like Berkeley's Jazz School.

"Steve Da Silva's Ukelele Shop's a place Bonnie Hughes of the Berkeley Arts Festival first told me about. Shows there have been mostly in the World Music vein--lowkey, like house parties--a good place to hear music like Andre's."

(info: thejazzhouse.com --or 415-846-9432)