Critic's Picks: SaraSolo Festival Week 2

The individual performer takes center stage from Feb. 2-3 in the second weekend of the SaraSolo Festival at Crocker Memorial Church. Eight shows remain. See them all if at all possible. If your free time is limited, here are my top selections:

Paula Broadwater’s ‘You Are What You Think’

5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2

Accompanied by pianist Tom Sivak.

As Milton observed, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Broadwater chooses the heavenly path, with uplifting selections from the Great American Songbook and tales of the power of positive (and negative) thinking.

James Rayfield’s ‘Charles Lindbergh: A Life In Flight’

7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2

Chris Jackson embodies America’s most beloved and controversial aviator in Rayfield’s one-person play. Was Lindbergh a man with the right stuff, or a closet fascist? This one-man show traces Lindbergh’s flight path, from his days on the America First Committee, to the kidnapping of his child, to the famous flight that made his name a legend.

Dennis McSorley’s ‘Typhoon of Tenderness’

1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3

With music by Steve Goldberg.

McSorley unfolds his personal odyssey of addiction and recovery in a mesmerizing narrative of multiple characters. This master storyteller is sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, but never false. Expect no sugarcoating or sentimentality. McSorley delivers the truth, and nothing but.

Richard Caldwell’s ‘Making Love Great Again!’

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3

The death of romance has been greatly exaggerated. To prove it, this Montreal-based performer weaves a tapestry of story and song in French and English. The generous helpings of Brel, Piaf, Aznavour and Lloyd-Webber will do your heart good!

Kuniko Yamamoto’s ‘Oh, Origami!’

5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3

According to Japanese legend, your wish will come true if you fold 1,000 origami cranes. The legend unfolds in the life of Kuniko. She wishes for her dead uncle to come back to life. That wish doesn’t come true, but other wishes do in an amazing story of survival and a love of nature as big as our planet.

Ashley Strand’s ‘Enough Of An A**hole To Say It Onstage’

7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3

Jerry Seinfeld bemoans the impact of political correctness on American comedy. Who’s carrying on the uncensored tradition of Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Bill Hicks? Ashley Strand is. He says what everybody else is thinking — and he says it out loud onstage.

That’s just a sample, folks. For the big picture, be sure to check out the SaraSolo website. And check out as many shows as you can. You won’t be alone.