TWO TRAINS RUNNING, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST & More Lead San Francisco's November Top Picks
Each month we're rounding up 10 recommendations for San Francisco audiences not to miss!
By: BWW Staff Nov. 01, 2022
San Francisco is never lacking outstanding theatre, whether epic Broadway shows, engrossing dramas or bold fringe offerings. BroadwayWorld is rounding up our top recommended theatre every month.
August Wilson's Two Trains Running
Marin Theatre Company - November 25, 2022 through December 18, 2022
August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING is his seventh of ten plays in The American Century Cycle chronicling the African American experience in the 20th Century. In 1969 Pittsburgh amidst the Civil Rights Movement and the start of Black Power, restaurant owner Memphis Lee fights to sell his diner for a fair price, as it's slated for demolition. Memphis and his regulars confront their changing neighborhood, struggle to make ends meet, and strive to step towards a better life. They search for work, love, and justice as their neighborhood continues to change in unpredictable ways. Two Trains Running marks the fifth August Wilson play to be produced by MTC and will be directed by Dawn Monique Williams.
For tickets: click here.
Pony
Cutting Ball Theater - October 15, 2022 through November 13, 2022
When Pony, a formerly incarcerated trans guy, moves to a post-industrial town to start a new life, he soon realizes that the people there reflect his own lived experiences with scarcity, isolation, toxicity, and gender identity. He starts to fall for a woman whose escapist fantasies could be a salve. Or, will this new love lead him down a path of violence?
Born out of Sylvan Oswald's dream of writing complex, exciting roles for transmasculine actors, Pony highlights trans characters in different stages of transition, diving deep into their complex lives and many forms of love
Now in its Bay Area Premiere, helmed-by director Kieran Beccia, Pony asks whether starting over comes at the cost of forgetting the past.
For tickets: click here.
Attempts On Her Life
La Val's Subterranean Theatre - October 21, 2022 through November 13, 2022
Theatre Lunatico will present Attempts On Her Life, a contemporary postmodern play that offers insight, misdirection, contradictions, and commentary on the life of the protagonist Anne the "her" of the title. Through an intentionally ambiguous gauntlet of 17 seemingly disparate scenes, playwright Martin Crimp attempts to define who Anne is (or was?) through hot button topics including pop-culture, political violence, and personal identity, among others. Theatre Lunatico's interpretation will be physical, intimate, and theatrical as the all-women ensemble grapples with the scenes in the script that so accurately reflect the chaos of the current day. Attempts On Her Life will be directed by Michael Barr and feature Devon DeGroot, Eileen Fisher, Jennifer Greene, Shawn Oda, Kateryna Ponomarenko, and Lauri Smith.
For tickets: click here.
The Singing Windmills
Gateway Theatre - November 12, 2022 through November 13, 2022
After two successful Sold-Out Off Broadway runs in New York City, "The Singing Windmills" is coming to San Francisco!
Written by Roman Freud and directed by Gera Sandler, "The Singing Windmills" explores the story of the life and work of the legendary Solomon Mikhoels - a Soviet Jewish actor, artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater, and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
The production attempts to make sense of and restore the lives and art of legendary heroes, whose breath was cut short and whose legacy was erased. This play ponders eternal questions, the fate of an artist, the secrets behind inspiration and the price which one is willing to pay for it.
For more information visit: www.thesingingwindmills.com
The play is performed in Russian with English subtitles.
PM Theater troupe consists of the most sought-after, professionally trained New York-based Russian-speaking actors from Ukraine, Russia, and Israel. Driven by a common goal of bringing quality live theater back to NYC stages and creating a meaningful and honest dialogue with the audience, PM Theater is eager to introduce its new work to the masses with such a riveting and important piece as "The Singing Windmills."
A special thank you to our supporter Eugene Fooksman and The Fooksman Family Foundation.
November 12 & 13 ONLY
Gateway Theatre
215 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94111
For tickets: click here.
The Museum Annex
Central Works/ Berkeley City Club - October 15, 2022 through November 13, 2022
Central Works new comedy The Museum Annex by Mildred Inez Lewis runs Oct 15 - Nov 13 at Berkeley City Club. The production is directed by Elizabeth Carter with a cast that features Brenda Miles, Juanita Harris, Julia Jackson, Brittany Nicole Sims and Success Ufondu.
George C. Wolfe's play The Colored Museum in 1986 imagined a series of 11 scenes, or "exhibits" in a metaphoric "museum," where each of these exhibits addressed a range of different themes and aspects of the African American experience. The Museum Annex is an homage to Mr. Wolfe's play, adding something of a "new wing" onto the original museum "I wrote The Museum Annex as a comic love letter to African American women with everyone invited to listen in, engage, heal and laugh." remarks Mildred Inez Lewis.
For tickets: click here.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Palo Alto Players - November 04, 2022 through November 20, 2022
Singing teapots and candlesticks, an evil spell, and an unlikely love story are all part of the magic of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, an international sensation that has played to more than 35 million people in 13 countries. Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature, the stage adaptation includes all of the original songs from the movie including "Belle," "Be Our Guest," and "Beauty and the Beast," by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, plus additional gems written for the Broadway musical by Menken and Tim Rice. The whole family will be enchanted by this gorgeous production, featuring stunning costumes and sets, spectacular dance numbers, and, of course, a fairytale ending.
For tickets: click here.
Alma Deutscher's
Opera San José - November 12, 2022 through November 27, 2022
Opera San Jos will host the international operatic conducting debut of prodigy composer/musician Alma Deutscher, who will take the podium for a lavish production of her landmark opera, "Cinderella." Based on the classic fairytale, this family-friendly work is reset at an opera company run by a scheming stepmother, in which the title character is a brilliant composer, laboring as a copyist. In this production, Cinderella is united with the prince not due to the fit of a glass slipper, but with the beginning of a melody only she knows how to continue. In 2017, California Theatre audiences watched the sold-out American premiere of "Cinderella" by the then 13-year-old composer, in a production supported by the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI). Opera San Jos and PHI again join forces to welcome Deutscher back, with the now 17-year-old taking the baton in this pivotal moment in her career. Director Brad Dalton will return to revive his stunning original production. "Cinderella" will be sung in English, with English supertitles.
For tickets: click here.
Clue
Margaret Lesher Theatre at Lesher Center for the Arts - October 29, 2022 through November 20, 2022
Center Repertory Company will present the uproarious cult comedy "Clue". Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble for a dinner party at Boddy Manorand become suspects when their host turns up dead. Led by Wadsworth the butler, the guests race to find the killer as the body count stacks up. Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the cult 1985 Paramount movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro game, Sandy Rustin's adaptation of the farce-meets-murder-mystery was called a welcome throwback to an era of physical comedy by The New York Times. Says TheaterMania, Sandy Rustin adapts Jonathan Lynn's infinitely quotable screenplay, borrowing its most sparkling gems but fashioning her own piece in the spirit of classic ensemble farce. Whether audience members are longtime followers or newcomers to "Clue", this comedic whodunit should offer a bloody good time. Acclaimed Bay Area director Nancy Carlin directs Center REPs production.
For tickets: click here.
The Christmas Ballet
Lesher Center for the Arts - November 19, 2022 through November 20, 2022
Smuin's joyful holiday tradition returns to spread yuletide cheer at theatres around the Bay with its signature showcase of classical and contemporary dances set to delightfully festive tunes. Smuin's The Christmas Ballet, performing November 19 through December 24 in Walnut Creek, Mountain View, Carmel, and San Francisco, celebrates the holidays with two acts highlighting the best of both worlds: beautiful classical ballet set to beloved carols, and red-hot contemporary numbers set to pop favorites. Its 2022 edition will feature dances ranging from ballet, tap, and jazz, to swing and more, plus the unwrapping of two world premieres. Smuin's yuletide spectacular was declared "sheer joy...the finest toast to the season" by the San Francisco Chronicle.
For tickets: click here.
The Late Wedding
Zellerbach Playhouse - November 17, 2022 through November 20, 2022
The Late Wedding is a sharp, witty, and seductive journey into life, love, and the rituals that keep things interesting. Along the way, we encounter some unique relationships, a spy thriller, and a rocket hurtling through space, ending on a lunar beach and the promised nuptials... maybe. Inspired by the writings of fabulist Italo Calvino, this provocative and unpredictable play by TDPS alum Christopher Chen (Obie Award-winner for Caught) celebrates the potent magic and mystery of theater.
For tickets: click here.
Looking to include your shows? Submit them to our listings here.
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