Spring brings music and romance to Peninsula stages
It’s spring, and love is in the air—and on the stage at Bus Barn Theater, where Los Altos Stage Company will open its production of “Harold and Maude” on April 13.
Stanford grad Colin Higgins wrote the 1971 cult film and adapted his script about a quirky May-December romance for the stage a year later.
Directed by LASC Executive Artistic Director Gary Landis, the dark romantic comedy features Lillian Bogovich as Maude and Max Mahle as Harold.
The show runs through May 7. Tickets are $20-$40 at 650-941-0551 or www.losaltosstage.org.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s April offering is equally heartfelt but more dramatic. “A Distinct Society” takes place in a quiet library that straddles the United States and Canada and becomes the battlefield for border control during the Muslim travel ban. Written by Kareem Fahmy, it was first presented locally in 2021 as part of the TheatreWorks New Works Festival.
The play is directed by TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works Giovanna Sardelli and presented in association with Pioneer Theatre Company. It runs April 5-30 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $29-$77 at www.theatreworks.org or 877-662-8978.
For those who like their musicals on the wistful side, the Redwood Symphony is staging a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” April 15-16 at Canada College, 4200 Farm Hill Road in Redwood City. Debra Lambert directs the backstage look back at the lives and careers of former showgirls, and Eric K is the music director. Tickets are $10-$35 at www.redwoodsymphony.org.
Spring also marks the return of “Pear Slices,” the Pear Theatre’s annual production of original short plays from the members of the Pear Playwrights Group.
This year’s “Slices” runs April 20-May 14 at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View. Caitlin Papp and Thomas Times direct this year’s compendium of nine short plays.
As in past years, the plays in “Slices” cover a wide variety of themes and topics, including navigating personal and professional relations, artificial intelligence, and a mystery that fuses film noir and “Sesame Street.”
Tickets are $20-$38 at 650-254-1148 or www.thepear.vbotickets.com/events.
The last weekend of the month marks the opening weekend for the Palo Alto Players’ production of “The Spongebob Musical.” The Players’ artistic director Patrick Klein says even though the show is based on the children’s animated television series “SpongeBob SquarePants,” it’s geared toward theatregoers ages 5 and up.
“Spongebob” runs April 28-May 14 at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theater. Tickets are $30-$60, with preview tickets available on a sliding scale from $10-$40, at 650-329-0891 or www.paplayers.org.