San Francisco Spotlight: April 2011

Spring’s usual April showers will have to yield to three days of Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles (April 8-10) at the Orpheum. The touring cast performs the full range of the Fab Four’s discography live, including songs The Beatles recorded but never performed for an audience.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and one man’s hell just might be a seedy hotel room where there is No Exit (April 7-May 1). Sartre’s famous existential masterpiece is reimagined as live cinema at American Conservatory Theater. Meanwhile, ACT’s 2011 MFA program presents Horton Foote’s The Widow Claire and Courtship (April 21-30) on a double-bill, and also Ion (April 28-30) by Euripides.

Broadway star Jason Graae finds himself in Perfect Hermany (April 3-4) singing Jerry’s tunes at the Rrazz Room. He is followed by Steve Ross (April 10-11), Marilu Henner (April 15-16), jazz singer Clairdee in Mad About Gershwin (April 19), Lynda Carter in Wicked Cool (April 20-23), and Veronica Klaus Sings the Music of Peggy Lee (April 25-26).

On the heels of closing their record-setting two-year run of Pearls Over Shanghai (April 9), Thrillpeddlers hope lightening strikes twice with Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical (April 22-July 31). Russell Blackwood directs this revival of the 1972 musical revue at Hypnodrome as part of their fourth annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival. Didik Nini Thowok uses masks and Sundanese, Cirebon, Balinese, Central Javanese dance forms in Gender Mystic (April 21-24) at New Conservatory Theatre Center, exploring transgender culture and historical mystical practices in Indonesia.

Linda Eder sings Now (April 22-23) for two nights of ex-husband Frank Wildhorn’s songs on her new CD at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre. Suzanne Westenhoefer is Semi-Sweet (April 8-9) for Theatre Rhinoceros at the Victoria Theatre.

Interracial romance and historical tensions abound amid Snow Falling on Cedars (April 1-24) from TheatreWorks in Palo Alto. The play was adapted by Kevin McKeon from the book by David Guterson and is directed by Robert Kelley.

Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley explores The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (April 1-May 8) in honor of Tennessee Williams’ centennial. Berkeley Rep presents a new adaptation of Chekov’s Three Sisters (April 8-May 22) written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Les Waters.

EXIT Theatre is home to Sea Turtles: Three Generations of Women Cross the Mediterranean (April 15-30). Actors Theatre of San Francisco rides A Streetcar Named Desire (April 8-May 23). Magic Theatre conjures a rolling world premiere of The Lily’s Revenge (April 21-May 22) by Taylor Mac. Lear’s daughter gets Noh respect in Cordelia (April 20-May 7) at Theatre Yugen. Peter Callender and Marcus Shelby give a jazz twist to Twelfth Night (April 1-May 1) for African-American Shakespeare Company.

42nd Street Moon wants to Strike Up The Band (April 6-24) at the Eureka Theatre. Broadway San Jose brings the tour of Stomp (April 12-17) to Center for the Performing Arts. Palo Alto Players kneel for Altar Boyz (April 23-May 8). Life is a Cabaret (April 15-May 14) at 6th Street Playhouse and Cinnabar Theatre says Stand By Your Man (April 8-17) in Santa Rosa. Berkeley Playhouse premieres Pride (April 30-May 8), an original musical by Jon Tracy with a score by Scott De Turk. Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre in Livermore gets All Shook Up (April 22-May 8).

The Jewish Theatre San Francisco is Lost in Yonkers (April 1-9) in Palo Alto. Bus Barn Stage goes Camping with Henry and Tom (April 7-30) in Los Altos. Coastal Rep wonders Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (April 1-23), directed by Tim Longo in Half Moon Bay. Lee Sankovich directs the world premiere of Trevor Allen’s Lolita Roadtrip (April 6-May 1) at The Stage in San Jose.

The relationship between science and religion is discussed between Galileo’s Daughters (April 22-May 8) at Tabard Theatre Company in San Jose. Center Rep features Kerri Shawn as Ann Landers in The Lady with All the Answers ( April 28-May 15) preceded by Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (April 1-30) at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Contra Costa Civic Theatre commits Crimes of the Heart (April 8-May 1) in El Cerrito. Shakespeare’s Associates lead A Life in the Theatre (April 1-23) in Livermore.

Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose provides a youthful take on the aging chorines of Chicago (April 15-23) and works an updated version of Starmites (April 28-May). More youthful thesping can be caught in Charlotte’s Web (April 1-9) with Palo Alto Children’s Theatre. Tri-School Productions — a collaboration of high-schools Serra, Mercy and Notre Dame — get to Hillbarn in Foster City by going Into the Woods (April 1-10).