Here is a roundup is of the many gems of musical theater coming to the Bay Area this fall.
Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, War Memorial Opera House, Sept. 12-29
I asked Stephen Sondheim once why his Little Night Music, Follies, Passion, etc. cannot be regarded as operas, and his answer was: "If it plays on Broadway, it's a musical; if it's performed in an opera house, then it's an opera." That didn't work then, and it has become even less true today. This eminently and dramatically operatic work about a wronged barber's passionate and macabre revenge on corrupt officials is the second production on San Francisco Opera's fall season, featuring Brian Mulligan (Todd), Stephanie Blythe (Mrs. Lovett), and Heidi Stober (Johanna). Patrick Summers conducts, Lee Blakeley is stage director, production design is by Tanya McCallin.
San Francisco Symphony season-opening gala, Davies Hall, Sept. 24
The opening gala of the San Francisco Symphony season is devoted to "highlights from Broadway classics, with selections from My Fair Lady and other iconic musicals." Michael Tilson Thomas conducts, Patrick Stewart is cast as Professor Higgins, and soloists include Alexandra Silber and Nathan Gunn.
Benj Pasek-Justin Paul, Dogfight—A Love Story, SF Playhouse, Sept. 26-Nov. 7
Based on the 1991 Warner Brothers film, Dogfight takes place in 1963 when three young marines spend the night before being shipped off to Vietnam playing the sordid game of the title, a contest of finding the ugliest woman for their party. They find a lonesome pacifist working in a coffee shop, and the drama turns into a romantic musical. It premiered off-Broadway last year, and the New York Times called it "an intimate, carefully tended new musical... in a melancholy, tuneful and slightly hesitant trickle that seems to be apologizing for any unpleasantness."
Wayne Harris, Mother’s Milk, at The Marsh Berkeley Cabaret, Oct. 4-Nov. 29
Called "A Blues in 3 Acts," Wayne Harris and Randy Craig tell the story of a young black man finding his way back home, against the background of the civil rights movement. Mother’s Milk mixes original songs and traditional blues with gospel music. Harris' autobiographical play was part of the San Francisco AfroSolo Arts Festival, and it has been recorded as an album of the same title.
Shaping Sound, Flint Center, Oct. 25
A dance show by artists calling themselves "visual musicians," Shaping Sound is a collaboration between Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, and Teddy Florance (of "So You Think You Can Dance") and Kyle Robinson (of "Glee"). Combining contemporary dance, jazz, and hip-hop, the group has been widely praised, called by BroadwayWorld.com "Electrifying and stunning." Says Wall: "We’re more than a dance company; you’re coming to see a show. I think it could be a Broadway show or a show in Vegas. There’s a storyline... and along the ride you see these beautiful pictures, you get taken into these different worlds, you have some awesome set pieces moving around."
Glen Hansard-Markéta Irglová, Once, Orpheum Theater, Oct. 27-Nov. 1
Once a movie, Once became a Broadway sensation, winning eight Tony Awards in 2012. The story is of a Dublin street musician down on his luck when a chance meeting with a beautiful young woman turns his life around. The musical features an ensemble of actor/musicians who play their own instruments on-stage. The song "Falling Slowly" won an Academy Award.
Noel Coward, Sail Away, 42nd Street Moon, Oct. 28-Nov. 15
Premiering on Broadway in 1961, Noel Coward's musical about Mimi Paragon (the role that made a star of Elaine Stritch), an American actress working as a cruise director on the SS Carolonia, is receiving its first professional production in California, according to 42nd Street Moon Artistic Director Greg MacKellan:
This show was Noel Coward's first production written expressly for an American audience — seeing his signature wit shine through in his modern, 1960s pop culture-inspired score is delightful. Allison F. Rich (last seen in Nick & Nora) takes on the lead role of Mimi Paragon, her love interest will be played by Lucas Coleman.
Tom Kitt-Brian Yorkey, If/Then, Orpheum Theaer, Nov. 10-Dec. 6
Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee) reprises her acclaimed performance in this contemporary Broadway musical about living in New York today. A Washington Post review described it as "two related tales involving the same set of characters that wrap around each other like the strands of a double helix. To help keep the stories straight, the creative team... employs a less-than-sufficient color-coded scene system: red background lighting for one tale, blue for the other and, if I am not mistaken — and Lord knows, I might be — purple for instances in which the narrative applies to both."
Paul Gordon, Jane Austen's Emma, TheatreWorks, Dec. 2-27
One of TheatreWorks' many world premieres, Jane Austen's effervescent ingénue, with well-intentioned, but misfiring matchmaking, returns to the Lucie Stern Theatre for an encore run. It is the work of Gordon (music, lyrics, and book), the Tony Award-nominated composer of Jane Eyre and Daddy Long Legs. Company founder and artistic director Robert Kelley is staging the work.
Cy Coleman-David Zippel, City of Angels, SF Playhouse, July 9-Sept. 17, 2016
Set in Hollywood in the 1940s, City of Angels weaves together two plots, the world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the world of the fictional film. It is also an homage to the film noir genre of motion pictures that rose to prominence in that period. Among its many musical numbers, "Double Talk," "The Buddy System," "Lost and Found," and "Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere" still set feet to tapping. Company artistic director Bill English is in charge of staging.