San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
New takes on classic musicals and circus inside; other shows outdoors or online
As audiences, we have been afraid, grief-stricken, confused and lonely for more than a year, and theater makers have heard our cries and issued their own. Joy and a sense of healing ring out from the fall season’s offerings, whether you’re exploring in the woods, returning to a beloved playhouse or streaming from home.
CounterPulse’s “Radius” and “Network”:
The wild art of CounterPulse heads into the actual wilds as part of the company’s CounterPulse Festival 2021, as two pieces made for the outdoors tour to the Djerassi Resident Artists Program’s ranch in Woodside.
“Network,” directed by Krista DeNio as a response to climate change and other disasters, explores what humans actually need to survive in nature and counts an ecologist among its collaborators.
“Radius” is an improvisational movement piece that responds to the realtime sounds and other stimuli of the natural habitat.
Palo Alto Players’ “Working::
Ordinary workers talking about their on-thejob routines is not only worthy of our interest but ripe for the grand scale of musical theater. That’s the premise of “Working,” which still feels revolutionary 44 years after the show’s premiere. Its lyrics wring poetry from the banal: “Looking in my rearview mirror, I saw myself the next car back.”
Palo Alto Players’ production of the show, which is based on the book of the same name by Studs Terkel, features songs by Stephen Schwartz, Mary Rodgers and James Taylor, as well as LinManuel Miranda (who contributed to the 2012 revised version). It should resonate all the more in an era of hollow praise — praise not backed up by action — of so-called essential workers.
“Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story”:
Prepare to radically redraw whatever stereotypical or nostalgic images you have in your head of circus. This new show, from the creators
TheatreWorks’ “Lizard Boy”:
Musical theater gets a revitalizing dose of youthful irreverence with Justin Huertas’ show, now in a TheatreWorks production in which he co-stars.
The show fuses the sound of indie rock with the aesthetics of comic books to tell the story of a socially isolated Seattle resident who takes the plunge into online dating and winds up having to save the world, all while covered in reptilian skin.
Chris Gethard:
Get ready for a double dose of the bespectacled New Jersey storyteller, author and improv pro as he takes over the Independent for a podcast taping and a stand-up performance.
If you haven’t heard “Beautiful/Anonymous,” the concept behind Gethard’s wildly popular podcast is both simple and profound: Strangers are invited to call him and discuss whatever they’d like for up to an hour. The results run the gamut from hilarious to harrowing, with Gethard serving both as an anchoring comedic presence as well as an empathetic ear.
Following this San Francisco show, fans are invited to stick around for a separately ticketed stand-up performance, where the comic — known for his guest turns on shows like “Broad City” and “The Office” — will conjure the same humorous pathos that made his 2017 HBO special, “Career Suicide,” a critical darling.