Best Bets/Hot Tickets

Best Bets/Hot Tickets
TONIGHT
* Guests at the fictional Black Bull Inn in North Yorkshire must contend with twists of time and fate. The Victorian Players' production of "I Have Been Here Before" is based on a J.B. Priestley story in which one man contends that the past repeats itself again and again, while the others wonder if the future can be changed. Show time, 7:30 p.m. Additional performances, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 5. For reservations for the shows, at 720 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown, call (330) 727-8663.
FRIDAY
* Sibling stories are the focus at New Castle Playhouse, 202 E. Long Ave., where Willy Russell's musical "Blood Brothers" will be performed for three weekends. It's about an Englishwoman and her twin sons who are separated at birth, only to be reunited years later. Show times, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 12. An opening-night reception will start at 7 in the Annex Theater. Wine and cheese will be served, and music will be by AUS10, featuring Jessica, Lindsay and Jennifer Austin performing songs from their debut CD.
* An actress's mysterious death inspires a new play -- one that's meant to catch a killer -- in "Rehearsal for Murder," which begins a two-weekend run at Salem Community Theatre, 490 E. State St. Performances, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 5. Reservations, (330) 332-9688.
* Pittsburgh rap duo Grand Buffet performs at Nyabinghi, 1229 Salt Springs Road, Youngstown. Grand Buffet combined its savvy raps with a lo-fi sound on its recent CD, "Cigarette Beach," and has opened concerts for Wesley Willis and Sole, among others. Grand Buffet also headlines Saturday night at Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights.
* Call Tickets.com after 10 a.m. to buy tickets for these Cleveland events: Comedian Chris Rock, performing at 8 p.m. Oct. 15 in Palace Theatre on Playhouse Square (tickets, $39.50 to $59.50); and Canada's funny-folky band Barenaked Ladies at 8 p.m. Nov. 1 in next-door State Theatre (tickets, $35).
* Meanwhile, Ticketmaster will sell these tickets: Glen Phillips, lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, with special guest Teitur, 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at Odeon Concert Club, 1295 Old River Road, Cleveland; British new wave band The Fixx ("Saved by Zero"), 10:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Odeon; and pop interpreter Michael Feinstein with Grammy-winning songwriter Jimmy Webb, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in Akron Civic Theatre.
SATURDAY
* Put on your red shoes and dance the blues with David Bowie and special guest Macy Gray when they perform at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at Cleveland State University Convocation Center. Don't wait until then to buy tickets; they'll go on sale at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.
SUNDAY
* Contralto Susan Toth Shafer will give her final recital as Westminster College's artist in residence at 3 p.m. in the school's Wallace Memorial Chapel, New Wilmington, Pa. Shafer's theme, "A Recital of Songs About Love and Loss," will be based on early Italian songs and American and German folk songs. Her accompanist will be Dr. Russell Miller of Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Shafer will perform in Pittsburgh Opera's production of "The Flying Dutchman" in November.
NEXT WEEK
* Playwright Neil Simon strikes again with "Prisoner of Second Avenue," which will be performed by YSU Theater beginning at 8 p.m. next Thursday in Spotlight Arena Theater, Bliss Hall. This is a different kind of survival story than you'll see on reality TV, and humorous, too, despite the subject matter. An executive from a New York company suffers a nervous breakdown after losing both his job and his ability to cope with big-city life. He and his wife must learn to be resilient and to appreciate their bond with family and friends. Other performances, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 12. Reservations, (330) 941-3105.
AHEAD
* Hear "When the Saints Go Marching In" as performed by Preservation Hall Jazz Band, from New Orleans, at 8 p.m. Oct. 17 at Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St. Musicians from age 31 to 88 play in this ensemble, which uses a slightly slower tempo than most jazz bands but isn't any less energetic. Tickets are $26 and $21. Buy them at the Civic Theatre box office, (330) 253-2488, or from Ticketmaster.
* Tom Wopat, star of TV ("Dukes of Hazzard"), Broadway ("42nd Street") and records, will perform Oct. 23 at a benefit for DeBence Antique Music World Museum and Barrow-Civic Theatre in Franklin, Pa. Refreshments will be served at 6 p.m. at the museum; Wopat's cabaret-style show will be at 2 and 8 p.m. at the theater. Call (814) 437-3440 or (800) 537-7769 for details.
* It'll be a party with a purpose when Rory Block, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Jason White perform at a "Reading, Writing and Roots Music" benefit from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 25 at Wilbert's, 812 Huron Road, Cleveland (across from Jacobs Field). It's a fund-raiser for Roots of American Music, which works to educate children about roots music in all of its forms -- blues, jazz, gospel and rock. Tickets are $75, including a silent auction. Call (216) 321-5868 for details.