Star of TV and Stage making her SF Debut: RENEE OLSTEAD and Hometown Favorite PAULA WEST

Jul 17-Jul 19, 2009

Thurs 8pm show $30
Fri/Sat 7:30 & 10PM shows $35
Sun 7:30pm show $35

With her bright copper hair, porcelain skin, and flashing green eyes, Renee Olstead commands attention whenever she enters a room. But when this 19-year-old jazz-pop artist opens her mouth to sing, jaws tend to drop.
Olstead’s confidence infuses every aspect of her new David Foster produced album, Skylark, a fiery yet elegant collection that finds her putting a fresh, youthful, and thoroughly modern spin on some of her favorite tunes from the American Songbook, including classics made famous by Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole, and three original tunes written by Olstead in collaboration with Foster, the multi-award winning Grammy songwriter-producer. Olstead is also an accomplished actress with several feature film credits to her name, including The Insider with Russell Crowe, End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and 13 Going on 30 with Jennifer Garner. She also starred in the CBS sitcom Still Standing from 2002 to 2006 and is currently appearing on the ABC Family Series, “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”.

Paula West
San Francisco's own, Ms. Paula West has been thrilling national and international audiences with her heartfelt renditions of well-known standards and unique interpretations of dynamic jazz songs. With a particular dusky soulfulness, West has captured the hearts of critics and audiences alike from coast to coast - from festivals to cabaret clubs - with just the lilt of her voice. The Great American Songbook has never sounded as captivating as it does when Paula West sings. Says Steven Winn of the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s doubtful that anyone is singing better than Paula West these days…this extraordinary jazz singer wears each song like perfectly fitted silk”.