Chabad telethon to broadcast live on TV

The annual Chabad telethon will be on television live from Hollywood on Sept. 14 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific time.

The telethon will be shown nationwide, and will be available locally on KTSF (channel 26 in San Francisco). There will also be a live Webcast at www.tolife.com.

Last year’s broadcast raised more than $7 million. Funds generated by the telethon support a number of Chabad efforts, which include education, summer camps, youth programs, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, crisis intervention and senior programs.

McCartney to play in Israel — finally

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney will perform in Israel 43 years after government officials banned the Beatles from playing there.

His Sept. 25 concert in Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Park is expected to be one of the largest in Israeli history.

The show is part of a world tour by McCartney made up of more than 100 shows. Earlier this year, Israeli Ambass-ador to Britain Ron Prosor invited McCartney and Ringo Starr to perform in Israel for the country’s 60th birthday.

In 1965, Israeli government officials denied the Beatles a permit to perform out of fear their music would corrupt the morals of the nation’s youth. — jta

New Stoppard play makes West Coast debut at ACT

American Conservatory Theater will launches its 2008-09 season with the West Coast premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Tony-nominated play “Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Directed by ACT artistic director Carey Perloff, the play tells the story of a Marxist professor at Cambridge and his Rolling Stones-obsessed protégé in ’60s-era Czechoslovakia.

San Francisco-born and Tony Award-nominated actor Manoel Felciano makes his Bay Area debut as Jan, the Czech graduate student at the center of the play.

Born to a Jewish family in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, Stoppard fled to England in 1939. He went on to become one of the most honored British playwrights, with works such as “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” and “Arcadia.”

“Rock ‘n’ Roll” runs Thursday, Sept. 11 through Oct. 12 at ACT, 415 Geary St., S.F. Tickets: $17-$62. Information: (415) 749-2228 or www.act-sf.org.