12 amazing shows and fests going on
There are a lot of fun festivals and live shows to catch in the Bay Area this weekend, including a street fest in San Jose's Little Italy, “Kinky Boots” in Berkeley and more. Here is a partial rundown.
Fall festivals
The autumn festival season is upon us. Here are highlights for this weekend.
• Little Italy San Jose Street Festival: This historic district's annual street festival returns Saturday with a huge lineup of Italian food, plus wine booths, arts and crafts vendors, a Ferrari and Lamborghini exhibit and live entertainment. Headliner Pasquale Esposito will take the stage from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m.
• Details: Admission is free; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Little Italy near Guadalupe River Park; littleitalysj.com
• Oktoberfests: Find brats, beer and entertainment at two-day festivals along Clayton's Main Street and in Oakland's Dimond district. The former features a carnival; the latter is highlighting local microbreweries. Los Gatos gets into the action on Sunday from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. with an event on the Civic Center Lawn.
• Details: claytonoktoberfest.com, oaktoberfest. org, kcat.org/oktoberfestlosgatos
• Mosaic Festival: This third annual festival celebrates the mosaic of American cultures — from the original native American inhabitants to the newest arrivals — with music, dance, arts and crafts, food, healing practices and local vendors.
• Details: 3 to 9 p.m. this weekend at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose. Admission is free; get seminar updates with registration
at mosaicfestival.org.
— Linda Zavoral and Brittany Delay
On stage
Here are three productions theater fans should know about.
• “Ric Iverson is Alive and Well and Living in Milpitas”: The Bay Area actor, musician and first-rate storyteller is bringing his acclaimed autobiographical solo show with music back to the Bay Area after a successful showing at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
• Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3Below Theaters and Cafe, San Jose; $40 to $44; sanjoseplayhouse.org.
• “Soul of the City”: Brenda Aoki's new work combines elements of traditional Japanese theater and music, contemporary spoken word and Asian American jazz in a story about a down on her luck storyteller who embarks on a make-or-break journey to discover the soul of San Francisco.
• Details: 4 p.m. this weekend; Presidio Theater, San Francisco; $25 to $60; presidiotheatre.org.
• “Kinky Boots”: The
lovable musical, with a book by Harvey Fierstein and tunes and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, is about a shoe factory in workingclass England that finds an unusual way to stay afloat. It's getting a production by Berkeley Playhouse.
• Details: Through Oct. 15; Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley; $27-$52; berkeleyplayhouse.org.
— Randy McMullen
Classical picks
Symphonic works, a piano recital and chamber music gala are on the calendar this week. Here are the highlights.
• “American Traditions”: The California Symphony opens its 202324 season paying tribute to Aaron Copland with a performance of the composer's suite from “Appalachian Spring.” “Me Chicano,” a new work by Juan Pablo Contreras, makes its Bay Area premiere, and Kelly Hall-Tomkins is the soloist for Wynton Marsalis's Violin Concerto in D. Ruth Crawford Seeger's “Rissolty Rossolty” completes the program.
• Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday;
Lesher Center, Walnut Creek; $45-$90, $20 students under 25; 925-9437469; californiasymphony. org
• “Alpine” heights: Marsalis also has a piece on this week's San Francisco Symphony program. Under music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, the orchestra will open the concert with the composer's “Herald, Holler and Hallelujah.” Leonidas Kavakos is the soloist for Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and the program concludes with Richard Strauss' breath of fresh air, the “Alpine” Symphony.
• Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $25$169; 415-864-6000; sfsymphony.org
• Borrow out, Denk in at UC Berkeley: A “heartbroken” pianist Tom Borrow has been forced to cancel a recital that was to be mark his first Bay Area appearance, after he was injured in a bicycle accident, Cal Performances officials have announced. The acclaimed pianist will be replaced by Jeremy Denk in a program that includes works by Mozart, Ligeti,
Bach and Beethoven.
• Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $72; 510-642-9988; calperformances.org
• Chamber music gala: San Francisco Performances opens its season with a special gala performance by the Alexander String Quartet, featuring Ravel's Quartet in F Major, and Shostakovich's Quartet No. 2 in A Major, No. 68.
• Details: 7 p.m. Friday, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; $50; sfperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe
Unique show
Taylor Mac, who grew up in Stockton, is a theater-maker who has attained near legendary status in the stage world, even if people can't always quite figure what the heck he's up to. Mac's bizarro shows aim to entertain while turning conventional narrative and character elements on their head. His ridiculously lengthy 2017 show, “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” has, despite its staging challenges (in its original form, it runs for 24 hours) been heralded as one of the best plays of the century and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
His 2019 Broadway hit “Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” (starring Nathan Lane) earned rave reviews and is now getting its Bay Area premiere by the Oakland Theater Project (sans Lane). As its title suggests, the play picks up after the bloody finale of Shakespere's tragedy, and its characters must grapple with the existential question: Who is going to clean up this gory mess? Featuring Mac's trademark blend of dark humor, weirdness, politics and pointed observations about the human condition, the 90-minute production, directed by Emilie Whelan, runs through Oct. 1.
• Details: 7:30 p.m. through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; at the FLEX Art & Design building, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr., Drive, Oakland; $28 to $55, available on Video on Demand through Sunday ($15-$25); oaklandtheaterproject.org.
Plenty of ‘Soul’
Brenda Wong Aoki is a Bay Area talent who creates the kind of shows you just won't find anywhere else. The playwright, actor and storyteller's works are an eclectic blend of Eastern and Western traditional narratives, dance, poetry, Asian and traditional jazz music and other elements that come together in a way that feels both ancient and of the moment. Her latest work is titled “Soul of the City,” and centers on a beleaguered storyteller who is haunted by demons and ghosts and has run out of what she needs most – stories, and people to tell them to.
The story follows her desperate journey to find the “Soul” of San Francisco and a return to her once-rich life. The production incorporates live Asian American jazz, poetry, traditional Japanese theater, contemporary spoken word and multimedia effects. Attendees are encouraged to wear celebratory attire and are invited to bring personal effects to be left at a Soul of the City sacred tree. A Buddist priest will be on hand to perform a purification ceremony. In a sense, everyone in the audience is invited to see the production as a journey to the soul of their own city.
Details: 4 p.m. this weekend; Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave., San Francisco; $25 to $60; presidiotheatre.org.