Friday, Bay Area comedian

Bob Sarlatte & Friends bring a night of comedy to the Opera House at 8 p.m. Sarlatte, a regular guest on Late Night with David Letterman, will bring with him Michael O'Brien and Geoff Bolt, both of the National Theater of the Deranged, and the always entertaining and "occasionally funny" Johnny Steele, the 1992 San Francisco Comedy Competition champion.

Sarlatte has been making Bay Area and national audiences laugh since the late '70s, and headliner Johnny Steele is "an intense comic whose best material grows out of anger at the state of modern American culture," according to the San Francisco Examiner. In addition to these stand-up bits, the evening also offers sketch and audience participation improv, complete with piano accompaniment, where audience members will get to "direct" the performers a la Who's line is it Anyway?

Tickets for Bob Sarlatte and Friends are $25 and $30.

Gypsy Jazz

Django Reinhardt, influenced by the likes of Louis Armstrong, was a Gypsy virtuoso, called a genius by many. His influence lives on through recordings and talented musicians who continue to enjoy and appreciate his very special and original style of swing music. Nov. 3 at 8 p.m., the Napa Valley Opera House presents The Django Reinhardt Festival, created in 2000 to carry on Django's musical legacy and the creativity the continues to grow from his enormous talent and inspiration.

This year the festival celebrated a successful sixth annual performance at Birdland, in New York City and is now traveling around the country bringing the exciting, virtuosic, romantic, hot swing form of music to a variety of venues including Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center.

Producers, Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta created the first-ever Django Reinhardt Festival as a result of their many years of work with Stephane Grappelli, the famed violinist who in France, in the 1930s and '40s, partnered with the legendary Django Reinhardt to form the Hot Club Quintette which became the most successful musical partnership in the history of Europe. Their music defined a style known as "Le Jazz Hot," a combination of pop and jazz standards. The festival is lead by Gypsy guitarist Dorado Schmitt, his son Samson Schmitt, also on guitar, Parisian accordion whiz Pierre Blanchard and jazz violinist Brian Torff.

Tickets are $30 and $35. Reserve seats for either show by phone at 226-7372, online at www.nvoh.org, or in person at the Napa Valley Opera House box office. The Box Office is now located in the Opera House Lobby at 1030 Main Street, downtown Napa. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 90 minutes prior to each performance, subject to availability.