Art and Shows to Enjoy in São Paulo

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The “Catraca Livre” and “Sympla” have joined together to recommend great shows and super theater plays in the São Paulo capital, embracing the most diverse styles and with tickets for all budgets. The events take place on stages such as Bona and Teatro das Artes.

1. Mrs. Warren’s Profession

In a country house, Vivie Warren meets her mother, whom she knows little about. Mrs. Warren had become wealthy by running an international network of brothels alongside her partner, Sir George Crofts. But Vivie doesn’t know this. Upon discovering that her privileged education and lifestyle were made possible by her mother’s profession, one of the most memorable clashes in English drama begins, through the sparkling glow of Shaw’s dialogues.

“Mrs. Warren’s Profession” is one of the best-known plays of the Nobel Prize and Oscar winner, Bernard Shaw. The author explores, with a great sense of humor, issues such as enrichment, social hypocrisy, and moral paradoxes. The plot surrounding the unveiling of Mrs. Warren’s profession is a vigorous exercise in honesty, humor, and intelligence.

August 10th to September 30th
Monday and Saturday at 8:30 PM; Sunday at 7:00 PM.
Venue: Teatro Aliança Francesa
Address: Rua General Jardim, 182 – Vila Buarque
Price: From R$25 (US$6) to R$50
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

2. “ZORRO, nasce uma lenda” (ZORRO, a legend is born)

Directed by Ulysses Cruz and starring Marcos Mion, Leticia Spiller, Bruno Fagundes, Nicole Rosemberg, and a great cast, the play tells the source of the masked hero’s story, blending romance and plenty of humor.

“ZORRO, nasce uma lenda” is a musical with Latin spice, set around a “Tablao Flamenco” in a Gypsy tavern, filled with humor, special effects, fights, lots of dance, and flamenco music, including in its track original songs and some of the greatest hits of the Gipsy Kings band, with renowned hits around the world like “Djobi, Djoba”, “Bamboleo” and “Baila Me”.

August 2nd to September 8th
Friday, 9 PM; Saturday, 5 PM and 9 PM; Sunday, 4 PM and 8 PM.
Venue: 033 ROOFTOP
Address: Avenida Juscelino Kubtscheck, 2041 – Vila Olímpia
Price: From R$37.50 to R$220
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

3. Van Gogh — The shadow of the invisible.

The shadow of the invisible is a monologue about Van Gogh, created from “Cartas a Theo” (Letters to Theo). The painter’s existential issues, misunderstood in life and recognized after his death, are the core of the work.

How many beings are there in a single man?

Van Gogh, the animal, the savage, the foreigner, wretched, lonely, hungry, failed, unruffled, insatiable, consecrated, revolutionary.

How many creatures can fit inside of us?

Directed by Helena Fraga and researched by Alice Rocha, Van Gogh is the tenth authorial work of João Paulo Lorenzon and his return to monologues after five years.

August 25th, 2019 from 7 PM to 8 PM
Venue: Viga Espaço Cênico
Address: Rua Capote Valente 1323 – Pinheiros
Price: From R$30 (half price) to R$60 (full price)
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

4. Αμαζόνων | Amazonon and Chrysanth Gkika in Bona

The name Amazonon recalls the Greek mythology, with the tribe of the Amazons, while referring to our Brazilian Amazon jungle. This project was born from the confluence of distant musical traditions; the music of the eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey and the Middle East) in all its melodic complexity with the richness of Brazilian music.

Over the past two years, Juliano Abramovay (Grand Bazaar, Luiza Lian, Orkestra Bandida) has been in Europe researching and participating in projects related to modal music from different traditions. Now, the musician returns to Brazil with Ricardo Zoyo (bass) and João Fideles (drums).

Juliano performs on guitar and lute, a traditional instrument present in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. This region is marked by ancient musical traditions with modal systems (Makam, Maqam, Mugam, Dashtag) where melody and percussion are the main elements.

Chrysanthi Gkika is an exponent of the Lyra, a traditional stringed instrument from Greece and Turkey. A student of Sokratis Sinopoulos, she has played in leading orchestras such as the “Myths” Orchestra, conducted by Ross Daly, as well as performing and promoting workshops in Spain, China, and Turkey.

The repertoire includes compositions by contemporary artists such as Rabih-Abou Kalil (Lebanon), Anouar Brahem (Tunisia), Efren Lopez (Catalonia), John Zorn (USA) and Egberto Gismonti (Brazil), as well as her own compositions and traditional pieces from Turkey and Greece.

August 20th, from 8:30 PM
Venue: Bona
Address: Rua Álvaro Anes, 43 – Pinheiros
Price: R$35
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

5. Santa Jam Vó Alberta | Special California, Nevada, and Nashville

https://youtu.be/Bc16tO5wOTw

Grandma Alberta alludes to the blues ambassadress: Alberta Hunter. Like her, the band develops a deep study of musical expressions by region resulting in a performance that seeks cultural fusion penetrating, through traditional jazz, folk and baião, blues, country, and gypsy.

The group also features an authorial repertoire, consolidating the musical experience of a legitimate jam session. The musicians of Santa Jam Vó Alberta develop musical backgrounds through storytelling, turning their instruments (acoustic double bass, accordion, banjo, harmonica, country guitar, guitar, washboard, zabumba, alpha, and mandolin) into an extension of the musical plot.

August 21st, from 8:30 PM onwards
Venue: Bona
Address: Rua Álvaro Anes Street, 43 – Pinheiros
Price: R$40
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

6. Mario Bakuna | CD release “Where Rio de Janeiro Meets Bahia”

Mario Bakuna is a Brazilian composer, singer, and guitarist living in London, with over fifteen years of professional experience and study focused on Afro-Brazilian music, samba, jazz, and bossa nova.

He traveled to Europe to expand his research, and since moving to London, he has performed alongside musicians such as Jean Toussaint, Liam Noble, Roberto Manzin, Ricardo dos Santos, Edmundo Carneiro, Cacau Queiroz, Alain Jean Marie, Filó Machado, and Andrew McCormack.

August 22nd, from 7:03 PM
Venue: Inferninho Familiar Quinta dos Infernos
Address: Rua Coronel José Eusébio, 109 – Higienópolis
Price: R$15.17
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

7. “Elvis, O Tributo” (Elvis, The Tribute)

Gilberto Augusto, the most respected songster in Brazil, introduces the greatest tribute to Elvis Presley in Latin America.

Unique, exciting, surprising, “Elvis, O Tributo” is a great production with the participation of Memphis Band, the talented Vocal Memphis Group and marked by the performance of the Brazilian cover artist whose hallmarks are charisma, congeniality, energy and vocal potential.

Over 100 songs entirely true to the originals, the thoroughly studied vocal harmony, the band composed of highly skilled professionals and the tuning and vocal potential of Gilberto are all part of the concert.

August 22nd, starting at 9 PM
Venue: Teatro das Artes (Eldorado Mall)
Address: Av. Rebouças, 3970 – Store 409 – Pinheiros
Price: From R$35 to R$80
To buy tickets, visit Sympla’s website here.

8. “Escola do Rock, O Musical” (School of Rock, The Musical)

School of Rock comes to Brazil just four years after its debut on Broadway. There are 63 actors, the largest cast ever staged in Brazil (42 children and 21 adults) in another super production of the Atelier de Cultura, this time in partnership with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Three casts of 14 children take turns in an electrifying adventure, with bold choreography, in a show of lights and sound, in which four of the cast’s children play their own instruments live: guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard. Believe it: they play live!

Based on the 2003 film School of Rock, written by Mike White and starring Jack Black, it tells the story of Dewey Finn, a singer and guitarist in his early thirties, who still wants to become a rock star. After discovering his students’ musical talent, by pretending to be a substitute teacher at a prestigious, conservative school, Dewey forms a band in an attempt to win the next contest, the Battle of the Bands.

From August 15th to September 1st
From Thursday to Friday at 8:30 PM, Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM and 7:30 PM
Venue: Teatro Santander
Address: Avenida Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek, 2041 – Vila Olímpia
Duration: 120 minutes (with a 20-minute break)
Rating: Free; under 12 years of age only accompanied
Price: From R$75 to R$310
Children: up to two years of age it is free if on parent’s lap (showing the child’s document at the entrance to the theatre is required). Above this age, even if on parent’s lap, a ticket is required (half price).
To buy tickets, visit the Sympla website here.