It wasn't a case of seasonal amnesia after all. Meteorologists hired to look out the window report that this August in San Francisco really has been unusually grey. But we do know that autumn is when summer weather is really supposed to arrive in these parts, which creates something of a disconnect with the whole notion of the "fall season." But our theaters abide by the traditions observed nationwide, and we are humble servants of the established show-making machinery. What follows is a look at what promises to intrigue in the first three months of the new season.
September
Tom Ammiano may have retired from the bully pulpit of politics, but he's not about to retire from the spotlight. In Mincing Words, running Sept. 8-Oct. 15 at the Marsh, the trailblazing gay politician and long-running standup comedian offers a comic, caustic take on his years in the State Assembly. themarsh.org.
The San Francisco Fringe Fest will offer up 36 productions Sept. 9-24 at the Exit Theatres and the nearby PianoFight. A few titles that may speak to this publication's demographics: Queer Heartache, Time Out: Don't Bring Up Gender, OK? and Raised by Gays and Turned Out OK! sffringe.org.
ACT launches its season with the recent London and Broadway hit King Charles III, which begins with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and follows the travails of the new monarch as he battles both legislators and his own family as he inserts himself into politics. Veteran film, stage, and TV actor Robert Joy (partner of Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger) will play the new king in Mike Bartlett's play, running Sept. 14-Oct. 9. act-sf.org.
Chess was a London hit in 1986 and a Broadway flop in 1988, the victim of a thawing Cold War that had given the musical its juice. With lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar) and music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, it began life as a concept album and toured in a concert version before being adapted into a stage musical. Custom Made is creating a new version of this rarely seen musical, running Sept. 15-Oct. 15, by pulling together elements from the London, Broadway, and concert versions of the show. custommade.org.
Type/Caste is a play about acting while black. And queer. Rotimi Agbabiaka draws on his own experiences pursuing a professional acting career, and the obstacles he has faced, in the solo show running Sept. 15-Oct. 1 at Brava Theatre Center. Shape-shifting from character to character, he uses monologues, songs, dance, and drag to explore battles minority artists often must face. brava.org.
Ray of Light Theatre is headed into the mainstream after such unconventional choices as The Wild Party, Heathers, and Jerry Springer: The Opera. Its new season will open with Little Shop of Horrors, running at the Victoria Theatre Sept. 16-Oct. 8, with a return to Rocky Horror Show a few weeks later. rayoflighttheatre.com.
It Can't Happen Here ends its run at Berkeley Rep two days before the elections, so we won't know if in fact it can indeed happen here. Tony Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen's adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' 1935 semi-satirical, anti-fascist novel about the rise of a dangerous "populist" presidential candidate runs Sept. 23-Nov. 6. berkeleyrep.org.
Theatre Rhino opens its 39th season with The Brothers Size, Tarell Alvin McCraney's play about the strained relationship between two siblings in southern Louisiana that further buckles when a friend and perhaps lover who did prison time with the younger of the two brothers shows up. McCraney is best known for the Brother/Sister Plays trilogy, of which The Brothers Size is a component. Rhino's production runs Sept. 24-Oct. 15 at the Eureka Theatre. therhino.org.
San Francisco Playhouse opens it season with the world premiere of Seared, running Sept. 27-Nov. 12. The theater commissioned noted Broadway and Hollywood writer Theresa Rebeck to write the work, which is set in a boutique restaurant where culinary arts and commerce collide. A working kitchen on stage will provide an olfactory component to the theatrical experience. sfplayhouse.org.
October
Hometown boy makes good. Darren Criss, a child actor on local stages before Glee made him a hot property, is starring in the touring production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Criss played the role of the transgender rocker on Broadway in 2015, following Neil Patrick Harris in the role, and he will be joined by Tony Award-winning Lena Hall as sidekick Yitzhak. During the Oct. 2-30 run at the Golden Gate Theatre, Criss and Hall will exchange roles at certain performances. shnsf.com.
If it's October, that must mean that Thrillpeddlers is ready to shock us anew. The 17th annual Shocktoberfest is subtitled Pyramid of Freaks, and will include a classic Grand Guignol thriller, an adaptation of an episode from The Twilight Zone, a new pulp-fiction musical, and a world-premiere black comedy. And as always, a lights-out spook show will provide the finale for the production at the Hypnodrome, running Oct. 6-Nov. 19. hypnodrome.org.
New Conservatory Theatre Center opens its season with a revamped bar and lobby, and more importantly, with Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina, running Oct. 7-Nov. 6. The 2014 Broadway play is set in the early 1960s at a rundown colony of vacation cabins in the Catskills. Eight heterosexual men make an annual escape to this haven where they can act and dress as women. Based on an actual place, the play looks at the men relaxing into this safe space even as the divisive issue of accepting gay cross-dressers is introduced. nctcsf.org.
November
42nd Street Moon's founding artistic director Greg MacKellan has moved on, but his legacy endures as the theater devoted to seldom-seen musicals presents a final season selected by him. It starts off with Baker Street, a 1965 musical based on the Sherlock Holmes mysteries that had a score by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel and a book by Jerome Coopersmith in their pretty much first and last Broadway efforts. The musical did manage a decent run of 311 performances, but its Nov. 2-20 run at the Eureka Theatre will be a very rare revival. 42ndstmoon.org.
Rainbow Logic: Arm and Arm with Remy Charlip is a celebration of the iconic gay choreographer, author, and illustrator. Seth Eisen's Eye Zen company is creating the multi-disciplinary work that uses both actors and puppets, to be seen Nov. 4-20 at CounterPulse. eyezen.org.
New Conservatory's second play of the season is Sons of the Prophet, running Nov. 11-Dec. 18. In Stephen Karam's 2011 play, a gay man with a host of unexplained physical ailments struggles to keep his family together in the face of tragedy. The play aims at being both funny about and sensitive to the tragedies that befall us all, and about how those tragedies are distributed in wildly uneven fashion. nctcsf.org.
San Francisco will see the U.S. premiere of Cirque du Soleil's newest show when Luzia opens Nov. 17 under the big top near AT&T Park. The new show, which debuted in Montreal in May, offers dreamlike impressions of Mexico and its culture while incorporating a cast of 44 acrobats, clowns, musicians, and singers. After finishing its run here on Jan. 8, the production will move to San Jose, where it begins a month-long run on Feb. 9. cirquedusoleil.com.
San Francisco Playhouse, which currently has its successful production of City of Angels on its boards, will take on another esteemed musical for a Nov. 23-Jan. 14 run. She Loves Me made only a minor stir on Broadway when it first opened in 1963, but its growing prestige and popularity have led to three popular Broadway revivals. The songs are by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, who went on to write Fiddler on the Roof the following year. sfplayhouse.org.
Theatre Rhino will take on the 70s classic Equus as its second production, running Nov. 25-Dec. 11 at the Eureka Theatre. Peter Shaffer's drama focuses on a psychologically damaged teenage boy who finds orgasmic pleasure in riding horses before injuring them, facts elicited by a psychiatrist who wants to help the boy but is conflicted about inflicting "normalcy" upon him. therhino.org.