From the sublime Chanticleer Christmas show to Anita Baker and a Panto “Sleeping Beauty,” there are some terrific shows to see this weekend in the Bay Area. Here’s a look.
Chanticleer cheer contines
As the story goes, Bay Area singer and musicology student Louis A. Botto was looking to address the Bay Area’s relative lack of Renaissance-era choral music performances when he assembled a group of like-minded vocalists in his San Francisco dining room. The resulting choir, Chanticleer, made its debut in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores in June 1978 and has gone on to become one of the Bay Area’s most cherished choral groups, one that has won worldwide acclaim for its stirring and glorious vocal performances. The group has since broadened its repertoire to embrace a wide range of international music styles; commissioned more than 90 premieres from more than 70 composers; and performed a fully staged opera, “Curlew River,” by Benjamin Britten. The group, which trains and tutors more than 5,000 students a year, became a full-time professional choir in 1991, six years before Botto died of AIDS.
Despite its full house of admirable accomplishments, Chanticleer might be best-loved for its annual holiday concert; a sublime affair that opens with a candle-lit procession and features such fan favorites as Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” and a wide array of contemporary and traditional holiday songs. It’s an exquisite evening (or afternoon) of music and reminds one that beauty, love and peace are truly the things to worship at this time of year.
Details: 4 and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 21 at Mission Santa Clara; 6 p.m. Dec. 22 at Carmel Mission; 8 p.m. Dec. 23 at St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco; $36-$85; www.chanticleer.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Anita Baker heads to Bay Area
There’s a quiet storm heading for the Bay Area.
But, in this case, that’s a very good thing.
So, get ready to experience the legendary soul singer Anita Baker at the Oakland Arena on Dec. 23.
The multiplatinum-selling vocalist first came to widespread fame in the ’80s as part of the smooth R&B movement known as the “quiet storm” that also nurtured such success stories as Luther Vandross and Sade.
The Ohio native was a constant presence on the charts in the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, as she delivered four consecutive platinum-plus-selling albums — 1986’s “Rapture,” 1988’s “Giving You the Best That I Got,” 1990’s “Compositions” and 1994’s “Rhythm of Love” — as well as such smash singles as “Sweet Love,” “Just Because” and “Caught Up in the Rapture.”
Baker, who also has won eight Grammy Awards and was ranked among Rolling Stone magazine’s recent list of 100 greatest singers of all time, is out on the road with The Songstress Tour, which takes its name from the singer’s debut album from 1983.
Details: 8 p.m.; tickets start at $69 (subject to change); ticketmaster.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
A legend in his own mind
The Fabulous Bud E. Luv might be the best and most popular singer of all time. Just ask him.
The alter-ego of San Francisco entertainer and comedian Robert Vickers lays claim to many impressive accomplishments and attributes — he invented disco; he wrote most of the hits for such legendary crooners as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.; he is an unparalleled sex symbol (“to want me is to be alive,” he asserts on his hilarious website, www.budeluv.com) — which, of course, are completely false. Well, OK, maybe not the sex symbol part.
His penchant for fraudulent self-promotion is only one of the things that make Vickers/Luv such a priceless entertainer. His popular lounge-lizard act is a mix of comedy and performances of classic jazz/pop standards and even easy-listening versions of Black Sabbath songs. No set-up or send-up is too ridiculous for The Budster, he he calls himself.
Vickers has been performing as Bud E. Luv for some 35 years and his act has only grown more polished with time. Which means now is a great time to catch the performer as he comes to The Chapel in San Francisco to perform his annual holiday-themed show. Yes, it really is a holiday show, but that doesn’t mean the Budster will tone down any of his wacky inclinations. As the Chapel wesbite notes, “He’s got a sense of humor that won’t quit, and a set of pipes that’ll knock your socks off.”
Details: 8 p.m. Dec. 23; 777 Valencia St;, San Francisco; $25 advance, $28 day of show; thechapelsf.com.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Panto ‘Beauty’ back at Presidio
Pantomime, a form of live entertainment that parodies classic theater conventions, dates as far back as the 1500s, when it was developed in England (a country with a long and proud history of finding ways to act silly in public). Often referred to as “panto,” It has evolved and spread and become a wildly popular form of live entertainment — particularly during the holidays — and has found a roost in San Francisco.
Now in its third year, Panto in the Presidio specializes in lively, family-friendly spoofs of children’s stories and fairy tales. During the holiday stretch, the group is reviving its hit 2022 parody of the classic “Sleeping Beauty.” The production incorporates bits of magic, music, clowning, dance and theater in a silly mash-up that includes a wild witch named Hernia, Bay Area native fairies, a lovably whacky palace cook, a dog that talks, a chorus of singing chickens, dancing ghosts and a consensual (of course) awakening kiss.
Audience participation is part of the fun, too. Viewers are encouraged to boo uncontrollably at the show’s villains, sing along to the songs and partake of the candy that actors toss out from stage.
In other words, this is not an everyday trip to the theater.
Details: Through Dec. 30 (no performance Dec. 25); Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave., San Francisco; 110 minutes with intermission; $20-$60; www.presidiotheatre.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Smuin’s ‘Christmas Ballet’ in home stretch
Introduced 30 years ago, Michael Smuin’s yin/yang “Christmas Ballet” revue has proven remarkably durable with its two-act nice-and-naughty structure and alluring blend of long-time pieces and fresh additions.
Opening with “Classical Christmas,” the production features the company’s impressive dancers performing to holiday standards and includes the world premiere of “Catalan Carol,” by company associate artistic director Amy Seiwert, set to music by French musician and composer Carlos Salzedo. The portion also includes traditional favorites by company founder Michael Smuin’s, including “Bach Magnificat,” “Gloucestershire Wassail,” and “Licht bensh’n.”
The dancing heats up with the second half, “The Cool Christmas,” which keys on Eartha Kitt’s insouciantly sexy recording of “Santa Baby,” long a favorite of the Smuin faithful, as well as another world premiere, “Ring Ting Tingling,” by Nicole Haskins, set to music by Leroy Anderson.
As originally conceived by Smuin, the production showcases the company’s versatility with an array of ballet, tap, and jazz. But this weekend marks your final chance to see it.
Details: Through Sunday; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; $25-$119; www.smuinballet.org.
— Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
All that SF Symphony brass
Some players in the San Francisco Symphony’s brass section are in a jubilant seasonal mood, and they’re going to spread that joy Dec. 21 in Davies Hall, with conductor Edwin Outwater leading a Holiday Brass concert that begins on the bedecked stage at 7:30 p.m. Principal trombonist Timothy Higgins is a major contributor, as he has done the arrangements for four of the numbers he and his cohorts will be performing: the “Troika” section from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kijé Suite,” the “I Have a Little Dreidel” song, some selections from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” and “Monde Joyeux,” which is a version of the “Joy to the World” carol Higgins arranged as George Frideric Handel might have done it. Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” and “Christmas Festival” are on the program, which also includes Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasy on Christmas Carols, Handel’s famed “Hallelujah” Chorus and selections from Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio.”
Details: Tickets are $49-$175; sfsymphony.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Last chance to catch SFGMC
They do it every year, and it is wildly popular everywhere. The 100-plus members of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, after having made their annual rounds at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco, the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park and Cal Performances’ Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, are winding up their 2023 Holiday Spectacular tour at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco on Christmas Eve. A beloved tradition that dates back 45 years, the concert is part choral outpouring and part comedy show, beginning with the “Deck the Hall” carol and running through holiday favorites and medleys and various comic sketches.
Details: Dec. 24, 5 and 7 p.m. shows sold out, seats remain 9 p.m. performance; $40; sfgmc.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Get ‘Ruthless’ for the holidays
“Ruthless!” a deliciously wicked, over-the-top musical about the dramatic measures people take to get ahead in show business, is now onstage at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco, providing the perfect antidote to the ubiquitous warm fuzzies of the holiday season.
The show by Joel Paley (book and lyrics) and Marvin Laird (music) spoofs Hollywood and Broadway, shamelessly scrunching themes from “The Bad Seed,” “Gypsy,” “Mame” and “All About Eve” as it tells the tale of a devilish young girl, Tina Denmark, who goes to extreme lengths to secure the lead in her school play.
Melissa Momboisse bounces, smiles, and sneers as blond-braided little Tina, who tap dances up a storm and is responsible for her rival’s demise when she doesn’t get the title role in her class production of “Pippi Longstocking.”
An off-Broadway hit upon its premiere in 1992, it’s still a hoot decades later. The production is impeccably directed by Dyan McBride, and in addition to Momboisse, boasts a cast with the vocal chops and spot-on comic timing needed keep the satire sharp as well as silly.
Great, colorful sets by Matthew Owens, all-around scrumptious costumes by Wes Crain and wacky wigs by Deon Christopher Glass add glitz and oomph to the proceedings.
Details: Through through Jan. 7; 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco; $25-$65; nctc.org.
— Leslie Katz, Bay City News Foundation
