There are several live and streaming shows this weekend Bay Area arts and entertainment fans should know about. Here’s a rundown.
Dances from around the world
The annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival is one of the jewels of the local arts scene, serving up a stunning diversity of performances and reminding us that living in the Bay Area affords us a ticket to an unbelievable trove of cultural riches.
Organizers have opted to go virtual with this year’s production as we continue to adjust to the pandemic. The result is “The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Film,” a full-length production shot in various Bay Area locations over the summer and featuring Bay Area artists performing dance, music, and spoken word from Cuba, Guinea, Hawaii, India, Iran and Turkey, Mexico, and the U.S.
Among the companies represented in the film are Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose (South Indian Dance), Hālau o Keikialiʻi (Hawaiian), Lahydi Dance Collective (Guinea) Molodi (body percussion) and Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco (Mexican). Spoken word artist Darius Simpson and Native American hoop dancer Eddie Madril also also perform in the film.
The film has an interactive online premiere at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 that includes special presentations by performers ($25). There are also in-person screenings 3 and 7 p.m. Oct. 9 at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre and 3 and 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at the AMC Kabuki theaters in San Francisco ($12-$15 each). It can also be streamed On Demand Oct. 17-21 ($15).
Details: More information and access is at www.worldartswest.org.
Microwave Shakespeare in Oakland
The last time artistic director L. Peter Callender and the African-American Shakespeare Company were doing live shows, it was 2019 and the company was delivering its typically forceful and well-acted takes on such Bard classics as “Othello” and “Macbeth.” Almost two years later, the company is about to deliver its first post-pandemic live performance, but with an entirely different kind of Shakespeare.
The troupe makes a rare East Bay appearance Saturday, Oct. 9, with an outdoor performance of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare … Abridged and Revised” at Oakland’s Jack London Square. “Complete Works,” created in 1981 by the Reduced Shakespeare Company and a hit on stages and theater festivals round the world, is a madcap, 97-minute summation of 37 of the Bard’s plays. It is performed by three actors, who portray some 75 characters in the process. Calendar, who has appeared in all manner of Shakespeare’s works during his renowned Bay Area theater career, calls it “part Marx Brothers, part Three Stooges, part poetry and part vaudeville.”
And while the high-speed mashup of Shakeapeare’s works is indeed intended for comic effect, it’s a reverential spoof. And nothing is made up — everything that happens in the show originated in a real Shakespeare play. “Complete Works” was supposed to be part of African-American Shakespeare’s 2020 season but, forsooth, we know what happened there. The company says it is preparing to perform the show in the Silicon Valley in the near future, check its website for updates.
Details: 2 p.m. Oct. 9; 2 Broadway St., Oakland; free; www.african-americanshakes.org.
— Bay Area News Foundation
Lots of laughs in the offing
Here’s a partial look at the comedy shows coming to Bay Area venues this weekend.
Taylor Tomlinson: The 27-year-old comedian has said she got her first taste of performing standup at a church basement comedy class her father enrolled her in. Now the rising star has a hit Netflix special, “Quarter-Life Crisis,” and is headlining a theater tour that stops at the Warfield in S.F. for two shows on Oct. 9.
Details: 7 and 9:30 p.m.; 982 Market St.; $29.75-$139.75; www.thewarfieldtheatre.com.
Paul Rodriguez: The 66-year-old Mexico-born comedian has appeared in countless films and TV specials and sitcoms, but his bread and butter has always been his provocative standup show. Comedy Central once listed him as one of the best 100 comedians of all time. This weekend, he’s headlining five shows at the San Jose Improv.
Details: 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Oct. 8, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Oct. 9, 7 p.m. Oct. 10; 62 S. 2nd St.; $25; improv.com/sanjose.
T.K. Kirkland: Dubbed the “Underground Superstar,” the 60-year-old actor and comedian has developed a loyal fanbase through his relentless touring as well as through a variety of comedy specials and films, including “Mo’ Funny: Black Comedy in America” and “Jamie Foxx Presents Laffapalooza.” He’ll be at Tommy T’s in Pleasanton for five shows this weekend.
Details: 7:30 and 10 p.m. Oct. 8, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Oct. 9, 7 p.m. Oct. 10; 5104 Hopyard Road; $25-$35; www.tommyts.com/pleasanton.
Dan Cummins: The 44-year-old Idaho native, a comedian and host of several podcasts, had his breakthrough with the release of the 2009 album “Revenge is Near.” He brings his “Symphony of Insanity” tour to Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco for four shows.
Details: 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Oct. 8-9; 915 Columbus Ave.; $30-$40; www.cobbscomedy.com.
Classical picks: Salieri vs. Mozart; 2 acclaimed string quartets
Here is an opera and concerts by two revered string quartets that classical music fans should know about.
Many opera fans got acquainted with the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri through the 1984 film “Amadeus,” but composer Rimsky-Korsakov got there first with his 1898 opera, “Mozart and Salieri.”
Based on a play by Alexander Pushkin, who also served as librettist, this psychological drama begins with Salieri plotting to poison the up-and-coming composer who would overshadow him for all time.
Opera San Jose’s new virtual production, a fully staged performance conducted by Donato Cabrera with direction by Fenlon Lamb, stars baritone Sidney Outlaw (Salieri) and baritone Simon Barrad (Mozart). In Russian, with subtitles, it’s available for streaming through Oct. 31.
The company returns to live performances next month with a production of Purcell’s baroque Trojan War tragedy “Dido and Aeneas,” which opens Nov. 13 at the California Theatre.
Details: “Mozart and Salieri,” $40-$65, tickets offer access for 30 days; www.operasj.org.
St. Lawrence Sunday: Brooklyn-based cellist Paul Wiancko, formerly of the Harlem Quartet, has performed with Chick Corea, Etta James, Stanley Clarke, and the Kronos Quartet. As special guest with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, he’ll help kick off Stanford Live’s popular Sundays with the St. Lawrence series.
Details: 2:30 p.m. Oct. 10; Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $15-$68; live.stanford.edu.
Chamber intensive: The Danish String Quartet, known for its fiercely focused performances, is back in Berkeley this month in the first of two programs for Cal Performances. It’s a great program, pairing a U.S. premiere with a beloved masterwork. Along with Schubert’s String Quartet in G Major — the composer’s final quartet — the Danes will play Bent Sørensen’s “Doppelgänger,” a new work co-commissioned by Cal Performances as part of a three-season initiative.
Details: 3 p.m. Oct. 10, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $52-$92; calperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent