G Spotlighting

Starting at the end of the story, the big Granada Centennial Weekend finished off on Sunday evening with collective singing in the rain followed by dancing in the streets.

More specifically, Sunday’s pageant of young local talents closed with an audience sing-along of “Singing in the Rain,” after the San Marcos High School troops previewed their upcoming production of their spring musical production. We were then led outside the Granada’s doors, where a block party was underway, stoked by Santa Barbara’s premier party meister Spencer the Gardener. The collective vibe on the block and in the theater was fairly giddy, and even the rain gods agreed to clear the skies in time for the wrap-up party.

A sense of ongoing historical continuity was central to the clever and illuminating 100th party planning by the Granada forces that be. Friday night was film night, reflecting the deep cinematic legacy in this moviehouse and performing arts haven. Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (with silent movie music specialist Michael Mortilla in the house) and Star Wars: A New Hope, (screened in 1977 in 70mm format), both significant items from the Granada’s epic list of screenings over the years, were given a welcome big screen close-up.

Leaning into the future tense, Sunday’s (mostly) locals only foray proved an inspiring window on the truly gifted young music-makers in our midst. The trusted television reporter, bon vivant and local legend John Palminteri served as emcee, and all three local public high schools presented teasing and tempting glimpses of musicals hitting the boards shortly: Santa Barbara High School’s A Chorus Line, SMHS’s Singin’ in the Rain, and Dos Pueblos’ Anything Goes. The performances were impressive and made a strong case for catching the upcoming shows. 

In other local musical theater news, special kudos go to the special musical group Euphony, bringing out the edgy and angular dimensions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. That music was arranged by Rachel La Commare, also a strong singer-songwriter-pianist who performed her own tune (with a Sondheim-winking title) “Send in the Wolves” at the Granada on Sunday night. La Commare is no stranger to the Granada stage, as a winner of the “Teen Star” competition here, a status shared with two other strikingly fine young singer-songwriters on the Sunday bill: the blues-basted rocker Jackson Gilles, sounding bold as both vocalist and nimble Stratocaster picker with his trio; and Hunter Hawkins, who wowed with her engaging progressive pop stylings, with band and harmonizing trio filling out the sonic canvas.

Saturday night’s centerpiece fare celebrated the theater’s present tense life as a premier performing arts space, while also lending a proper big stage spotlight to the exciting new Pacific Jazz Orchestra. Founded in 2022 and led by the gifted and well-connected arranger-composer Chris Walden, the PJO was making its Santa Barbara debut on this big weekend, and the results were thrilling on various levels.

German-born and long Hollywood-based Walden is the right, musically multilingual person for the job. His ensemble successfully reaches across the demographic aisle by blending elements of the jazz big band with a string section and smartly integrating featured moments for singers from the pop, jazz, and R&B worlds. Walden understands as well as anybody that Los Angeles is home to some of the finest and most versatile musicians in the world, and PJO takes advantage of that fact and proximity.

At the Granada, the crowd-pleasing vocalist contingent included soulful R&B singers Adam “AeJaye” Jackson and young powerhouse Sheléa, who bedazzled the crowd with her take on “Home,” from The Wiz. From more jazz-lined quarters, seasoned singer Billy Valentine gave us the balladic high of the night with his version of “Angel Eyes.”

Celebrity-wise, the biggest spotlight went to Katharine McPhee, star of American Idol, TV’s Smash and Scorpion and Broadway’s Waitress. McPhee dipped into Granada nostalgia by recalling hanging out at the G as an impressionable 14-year-old, while her mother spent a summer performing in Showboat here. On Saturday, she gave heft and nuance to “Cry Me a River” and a Sinatra-channeling moment on “That’s Life.”

Vocal spotlights aside, Walden was careful to include doses of instrumental jazz in the two sets, showing off his skills as a big band (with strings) arranger and composer. The night kicked off with Walden’s tune “No Bounds” and segued into Wayne Shorter’s iconic “Footprints.” Also from Walden’s original book, we heard “Wayne-ology” — a feature for veteran L.A. trumpeter Wayne Bergeron — and an encore of the tender ballad “Gentle Soul,” a tribute to his late father with Walden waxing gentleness on flugelhorn.

This was also a night with a fond focus on the late, great Kurt Weill — speaking of musicians whose work stretched between musical theater, pop, and jazz lore. An instrumental medley of Weill classics “Speak Low” and “My Ship” opened the second set, which closed with an all-aboard version of “Mack the Knife,” with the singers in tow, all in a row stage front.

100th birthday parties, in human terms, are often combinations of celebration and commemoration of long lives reaching a period of closure. By contrast, closure is the last thing we think of regarding “our Granada.” The sturdy house that Charles M. Urton built in 1924 is both a true veteran by West Coast theater standards and is healthy as ever, going boldly forth into the future.