10 January 2014

fun stuff I may or may not get to: January 2014

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival celebrates the centennial of the Little Tramp – not Charlie Chaplin himself, but his famous creation, who first appeared on-screen in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. The program is Saturday, 11 January at the Castro Theater; check here for a list of the programs, including the musical accompaniment. If you want to check out the films in which Chaplin first figured out how to make films, Flicker Alley, always a reliable and high-quality source, is selling its Chaplin at Keystone set at a special low price for a limited time.

Cutting Ball presents a new translation of Alfred Jarry's modernist classic Ubu Roi, directed by Yury Urnov, 24 January to 23 February.

ACT presents Shaw's Major Barbara,  directed by Dennis Garnhum, from 8 January to 2 February.

San Francisco Playhouse presents the first American production of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, directed by Bill English. That's 21 January to 8 March.

Shotgun Players present a revival of last summer's Sea of Reeds, by and featuring Josh Kornbluth. I recommend it highly. Please note that it's not at Shotgun's usual home, the Ashby Stage in Berkeley, but at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, through 12 January.

San Francisco Ballet opens its non-Nutcracker season with Giselle, 25 January - 2 February.

Magnificat performs works by Monteverdi, Schütz, and some of their compatriots, in San Francisco on 10 January, Berkeley on 11 January, and San Jose on 12 January. More information may be found here.

San Francisco Performances presents Wayne McGregor's troupe Random Dance in FAR at Yerba Buena 17 - 19 January. They end the month with some powerhouse performers: mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and pianist Graham Johnson in an all-French program on 24 January; soprano Heidi Melton and pianist John Parr perform Haydn, Schubert, Berlioz, Sibelius, and Richard Strauss on 26 January; and pianist Marc-André Hamelin performs music by himself, Medtner, and Schubert on 31 January. The two singers are at the Conservatory of Music; Hamelin is at the Nourse, which is a handsome room but, uh, problematic. I heard a concert there last October and people could not stop talking about the restrooms, and not in a good way. It didn't help that it was one of last fall's unusually cold and windy days and the restrooms are out in the courtyard. There was a sign up in the men's room apologizing and saying that they would be improved in early 2014. So look on it as an adventure!

Cal Performances has a full and varied slate; highlights include pianist Richard Goode playing Janáček, Schubert, and Debussy on 19 January; pianist Emanuel Ax and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter in a "Brahms and Beyond" concert, featuring music of, obviously, Brahms, but also Bay Area premieres of new works by Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly, on 23 January; and Wu Man on the pipa on 26 January. Check out their whole schedule here and note the instructions for getting their winter sale price, through 26 January.

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