Holiday arts: Bay Area stages serve up Scrooge, Austen, ‘Golden Girls’
Holiday season finds Bay Area stage companies performing classics by Dickens and Austen, and some surprises, too.
It seems like it starts earlier and earlier. No sooner does Halloween pass than the Christmas stuff comes out — and that’s as true on Bay Area stages as it is in drug stores.
All of a sudden, local theaters are bursting with beloved holiday traditions old and new. Here’s just a taste of the seasonal offerings onstage.
“A Christmas Story”: With its Red Ryder BB gun and iconic weird leg lamp, the 1983 movie has become a yuletide cultural touchstone. This 2009 musical adaptation has proven pretty popular too, with songs by the “Dear Evan Hansen” team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. This year, Berkeley Playhouse is presenting it. Details: Through Dec. 22; Julia Morgan Theater, Berkeley; $29-$44; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org.
“It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”: Speaking of beloved Christmas movies, Frank Capra’s heartwarming and curiously gloomy 1946 film has long been an inescapable holiday staple. Joe Landry’s clever stage adaptation adds a new wrinkle by having a cast of five play more than 50 characters radio drama style, complete with live foley sound effects. Details: Nov. 29-Dec. 15; Contra Costa Civic Theatre, El Cerrito; $11-$32; 510-524-9012, www.ccct.org.
“Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Musical Radio Play”: Why should “Wonderful Life” get all the fun? Los Altos Stage Company presents a 1940s radio drama style version of the 1947 movie about a department store Santa who just may be the real thing. Details: Through Dec. 22; Bus Barn Theater, Los Altos; $20-$38; 650-941-0551, www.losaltosstage.org.
“The Jewelry Box”: Brian Copeland, the irresistible San Leandro storyteller behind the autobiographical solo shows “Not a Genuine Black Man” and “The Waiting Period,” brings back his holiday monologue about trying to earn $11.97 to buy his mom a Christmas present at age 6. Details: Dec. 5-14; The Marsh, San Francisco; $20-$35; www.themarsh.org.
“The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes”: San Francisco drag stars Heklina, Matthew Martin, D’Arcy Drollinger and Holotta Tymes reunite to send up more episodes of the beloved TV sitcom in the 13th year of this Bay Area tradition. Details: Nov. 29-Dec. 22; Victoria Theatre, San Francisco; $25-$50; www.goldengirlssf.com.
“A Christmas Carol”: It’s just not the holidays without the Charles Dickens classic, and Bay Area theater fans have several choices, each offering a different adaptation. Northside Theatre Company performs its version by Richard T. Orlando in San Jose for the 36th year running (Dec. 5-24 at Olinder Theatre, San Jose; $17-$22; www.northsidetheatre.com.) In Walnut Creek, Center Repertory Company brings back its version by Cynthia Caywood and Richard L. James for the 22nd time around (Dec. 12-22; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $29-$50; 925-943-7469, www.centerrep.org. And American Conservatory Theater is presenting the chestnut for a 43nd year, though only the 14th year of its current adaptation by Paul Walsh and Carey Perloff (Nov. 29-Dec. 24; Geary Theater, San Francisco; $10-$150; 415-749-2228, www.act-sf.org. Only in its third year, Theatre of Yugen’s “A Noh Christmas Carol” is an adaptation in Japanese noh, kyogen, kabuki and butoh styles by Yuriko Doi and Cienna Stewart (Dec. 5-30; Theatre of Yugen, San Francisco; $15-$45; 415-621-0507, www.theatreofyugen.org).
“Scrooge in Love!”: San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon revives its hit 2015 sequel to “A Christmas Carol” with music by Larry Grossman, lyrics by Kellen Blair and book by Duane Pool. Set one year later, the musical brings back all the characters of the Dickens classic in a quest for Belle, the woman Scrooge loved and lost. Details: Dec. 4-22; Gateway Theatre, San Francisco; $31-$72; 415-255-8207, www.42ndstmoon.org.
“The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge”: Also set one year after “A Christmas Carol” and bringing back many of its characters, this courtroom comedy by Mark Brown sees Scrooge reverting to type and suing all the ghosts that visited him for everything they put him through. A production of SF City Theatre Company. Details: Dec. 6-22; Clarion Music Performing Arts Center, San Francisco; $23-$25; 650-784-5303, www.sfcitytheatre.com
“Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley”: Speaking of sequels, intrepid theatergoers have the chance to see both of the holiday-themed sequels to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” by local playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon. Performed by Sonoma’s Spreckels Theatre Company, “Miss Bennet” gives bookish and overlooked middle sister Mary a delightful and hilarious love story of her own. Details: Through Dec. 15; Spreckels Performing Arts Center, Rohnert Park; $12-$26; www.spreckelsonline.com.
“The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley”: Taking place in the kitchen downstairs at the same time as “Miss Bennet,” Gunderson and Melcon’s “The Wickhams” sees the servants striving to prevent younger sister Lydia’s dissolute husband Wickham from ruining the Darcy family Christmas. San Jose’s City Lights follows up its 2017 production of “Miss Bennet” with the sequel to that sequel. Details: Through Dec. 15; City Lights Theater, San Jose; $23-$47; 408-295-4200, cltc.org
“Pride and Prejudice”: Jane Austen’s beloved romantic comedy has no particular holiday connection, but the sequels are sure to put you in the mood to revisit the original, or some semblance thereof. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 70th world premiere is this new musical by Paul Gordon, whose past TheatreWorks hits include “Emma,” “Daddy Long Legs” and “Jane Eyre.” Details: Dec. 4-Jan. 4; Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto; $30-$100; 650-463-1960, www.theatreworks.org.
“Cinderella”: Fairy tales are a staple of the winter holidays, and “Cinderella” gets produced more than most. In San Francisco, the African-American Shakespeare Company revives its annual signature holiday show (Dec. 20-22 at Herbst Theater, San Francisco; $25-$40; www.african-americanshakes.org. In Lafayette, Town Hall Theatre Company presents the Bay Area premiere of a cheeky new reimagining of the story from the U.K. by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck (Dec. 5-21 at Town Hall Theatre, Lafayette; $18-$30; 925-283-1557, www.townhalltheatre.com.
“Who’s Holiday!”: Back for a second year, this R-rated one-woman show in couplets by Matthew Lombardo catches up with Cindy Lou Who from Dr. Seuss’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” 40 years later. Details: Dec. 6-22; 3Below Theaters and Lounge, San Jose; $36-$45; www.3belowtheaters.com
“Beach Blanket Babylon”: The longest running musical revue in the world always goes into holiday mode at this time of year, but “always” isn’t what it used to be. This San Francisco institution, known for its frequently updated pop culture parodies and its outrageously immense hats, finally calls it quits after 45 years following its New Year’s Eve shows. Details: Through Dec. 31; Club Fugazi, San Francisco; $35-$355; www.beachblanketbabylon.com.
Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com, and follow him at Twitter.com/shurwitt.