ballet, oil painting on canvas, ballerina, painting on black background, miniature

Friday night at the War Memorial Opera House this collaborative “Frankenstein” hit the stage in the company’s third program of the season before a packed house. The questions: Is it new? Different? Daring? The answer: sometimes. The first image of the production is arresting. On the drop curtain there’s a giant skull viewed from the side, a spinal cord and what appears to be a trachea at a disturbing remove from the spine. When that curtain rises, a three-act, nearly three-hour, visually compelling but choreographically flawed ballet starts unfolding.

4th of July Festivities: Parade, 10 a.m.-noon, begins at Second and Main streets and ends at Robin Sweeny Park, Picnic, noon-6:30 p.m., with live music, tug of war, dance, egg toss and food at Dunphy Park, Bridgeway and Napa Street, 6:30-9:30 p.m., dinner, live music and ballet, oil painting on canvas, ballerina, painting on black background, miniature fireworks at Gabrielson Park, 750 Bridgeway, All events free but dinner table reservations, $120-$130, www.oursausalito.com, Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration: 9:30-11 a.m, Kevin Moran Park, 12415 Scully Ave, Highlights include patriotic music, singing, parade, popsicles and more, Free, www.saratogaJuly4.com..

But Morris fundamentally missteps here. It begins with his multiplying of Layla and Majnun in his cast — the men in blue tunics with white scarves and the women in dappled orange with orange scarves, echoing the costumes of the lead singers who, too, embody the lovers. At the most basic level, the choreography needed vastly more space for this multiplicity to be meaningful. But more critically, the multiplied bodies undermine the iconic allegory: The lovers embody not just human love but the singular human longing for transcendent oneness. It may be a shared condition, but in its heart it speaks to our aloneness with the ineffable.

The southbound lanes of the freeway were closed as firefighters placed large inflatable bags underneath the man and extended ladders to him, The traffic snarl spread onto connecting freeways and surface streets and workers in nearby buildings stopped to watch the events unfold, Cars passing on the other side of the freeway at times ballet, oil painting on canvas, ballerina, painting on black background, miniature honked at the man and one even shouted to police: “Shoot him!”, The standoff ended when the man eventually did a back flip off the freeway sign down to an inflatable below, He was unhurt and quickly arrested..

The all-day music event is noon to 9 p.m. Oct. 25 at El Cerrito High School, 540 Ashbury Ave., a new location following festivals from 2009 to 2011 at the former Windrush School. The festival disappeared for two years after Windrush closed its doors in 2012, but was able to find a new venue at the high school through the help of the city’s Arts and Culture Commission, according to event founder and director Ken Hayes. “The festival really did get a lot of support from the community previously,” Hayes said. “I’m really happy that we’re starting it up again.”.