Events Around the Bay

September 8 through November 6, 2022

Based on the 20th Century Fox Motion Picture by Baz Luhrmann the Tony Award®-winning Best Musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical is ready to wow the crowds of the Bay Area. The ten-time Tony-winner will play the Orpheum Theatre in the North American Tour of the best musical! “Spectacular! Euphoric! In Moulin Rouge!

The Musical, life is beautiful,” raves The New York Times.  Enter a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur, and glory! A world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Welcome to Moulin Rouge! The Musical! Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Choreographed by Tony Award-winner Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! is more than a musical — it is a state of mind. As in the film, Moulin Rouge! The Musical celebrates over 160 years of music – from Offenbach to Lady Gaga. The stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the movie and also includes recent hits released since the movie premiered 20 years ago. Released by 20th Century Fox, Baz Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE! premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. At the 74th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and won two. Today, the Moulin Rouge and its 60 artists present the Féerie revue show: two hours of amazement between cabaret and music hall styles where dance scenes and surprise acts intersperse – without forgetting the Moulin Rouge’s most emblematic dance, the French Cancan!  BroadwaySF, part of the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), is the preeminent theater entertainment company in the Bay Area, bringing live theatrical experiences to the Orpheum and Golden Gate Theatres in San Francisco. Bravo and thanks ATG!

Information:

For tickets visit MoulinRougeMusical.com

4 Orpheum Theatre

1192 Market Street in San Francisco

Photo courtesy of BroadwaySF

“To Kill a Mockingbird” at Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco

September 13 through October 9, 2022

The National Tour of Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork “To Kill a Mockingbird”  will have its stop-over in San Francisco. “The most successful American play in Broadway history” (60 Minutes). Rolling Stone gives it 5 stars, and calling it “an emotionally shattering landmark production of an American classic” is a play you must see. This is a theater presentation  in its true amazing magnitude and having the Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas play the lead role of Atticus Finch in this National Tour is your unforgettable experience of a  brilliantly written, staged, produced and acted  play you will ever see this year.

Information

888-746-1799

broadwaysf.com

Golden Gate Theater

1 Taylor Street in San Francisco

Photos courtesy of Broadway SF

Memories of Olivia Newton-Jones in XANADU Musical

Now Through September 11, 2022

XANADU, the musical hit returns for a limited run at San Jose Playhouse. Performances will take place as part of 3Below Theaters’ “Up On The Roof” program, an outdoor entertainment festival taking place on the roof of the 2nd Street and San Carlos Garage above 3Below Theaters.

Douglas Carter Beane penned the book for XANADU based on the film of the same name. The score, by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, includes the hits, “Magic,” “Xanadu,” “All Over the World” and “I’m Alive” — all top 20 Billboard hits. Lynne wrote and produced all of the music of Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O). Farrar was also responsible for most of the hits that were performed by late Olivia Newton-John in the 1970s. Taking audiences back to 1980, this hilarious musical follows the beautiful Kira, who travels to earth to inspire a struggling young artist named Sonny. A vision in leg warmers and wind-swept hair, she helps this hunky painter find his voice, discover true love, and build the world’s first roller disco (not necessarily in that order). The production at San Jose Playhouse stars Annie Hunt as “Kira” (played in the film version by beloved Olivia Newton-John). XANADU is directed by Scott Evan Guggenheim with musical direction by Stephen Guggenheim and choreography by Shannon Guggenheim. Rounding out the team is Julie Engelbrecht (production design), Jon Gourdine (lighting design), and Tom Tomasello (sound design.)

Information

Reserved seating tickets range from $35-$55

408-404-7711; sanjoseplayhouse.org

3Below Theaters, 288 South Second Street in downtown San Jose

Photo courtesy of Guggenheim Entertainment

Smuin Launches 29th Season With “DANCE SERIES 1”

September 16 through October 8, 2022

Shows in Mountain View, San Francisco and Walnut Creek will present a striking world premiere

of The Turntable by Osnel Delgado; Requiem for a Rose by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Take Five by Rex Wheeler. A long-awaited World Premiere by brilliant Cuban choreographer Osnel Delgado, whose work Bay Area audiences will experience for the first time in The Turntable.

Set by Smuin company artists, this vibrant debut is inspired by the uncanny timing of life and is set to a sweeping percussive soundtrack including music from Latin American artists and composers. Also on the bill is Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s hit Requiem for a Rose, which examines both the ephemeral nature of romance and the enduring devotion of love in a pulsing ballet called “Brilliant” by the SF Chronicle. Finally, the music of jazz legend Dave Brubeck will come alive in Take Five by former Company member Rex Wheeler.  Born in London, Wheeler danced with Slovak National Ballet and Sacramento Ballet before joining Smuin as a dancer in 2015. As a choreographer, he has created works for organizations across the country including several classical and contemporary ballets for Smuin’s annual holiday spectacular, “The Christmas Ballet.” For more than 25 years Smuin has pushed the boundaries of contemporary ballet within a distinctly American style, engaging and delighting audiences with uncommon physicality and expression. Founded in San Francisco in 1994 by Tony and Emmy award-winning choreographer Michael Smuin, the company is committed to creating work that merges the diverse vocabularies of classical ballet and contemporary dance. Artistic Director since 2007, Celia Fushille has celebrated Michael Smuin’s legacy while enriching the company’s impressive repertoire by collaborating with inventive choreographers from around the world, commissioning world premieres, and bringing new contemporary choreographic voices to the Smuin stage. Dance Series 1 will tour the Bay Area beginning with shows in Mountain View (September 16-18), San Francisco (September 23-October 2), and wrapping up in Walnut Creek (October 7-8).

Information

Ticket prices range from $25 to $99

For detailed information visit smuinballet.org

Photos courtesy of Smuin Ballet

By Lina Broydo