From holiday productions and festivals to a rock-guitar god to San Jose seasonal fun, there is a lot to see and do this weekend.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Victorian London comes to life
“Please sir, I want some more” overnight-oats porridge with almond milk? OK, so it might not have the ring of the original “Oliver Twist,” but you can expect things to be a little more upscale at the “Great Dickens Christmas Fair” at the Cow Palace.
Celebrating its 40th year, the fair is a total immersion into the Dickensian universe of Victorian London with dozens of costumed characters from the famed books and also history. Father Christmas? He’ll be there. Ebenezer Scrooge, Mrs. Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present? Them, too. Visitors can explore 4 acres of Victorian-style theaters, pubs, dance halls with live music and — most importantly for holiday shoppers — plenty of lamp-lit shops selling handmade gifts. For adults, this year there are special add-on events like a port-and-chocolate tasting, a Jekyll & Hyde pub crawl where you solve a mystery and a racy-sounding “Dark Garden Corset Experience” where you are personally fitted by a world-renowned corsetiere. And then there’s a miniature steam train for all the real Tiny Tims (and Tinas) out there.
Details: Through Dec. 22 at the Cow Palace, Daly City; hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (plus the Friday after Thanksgiving); admission is $18-$45; dickensfair.com.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Classical picks: ‘General,’ ‘Amadeus’ with soundtracks; ‘Elijah’
This week’s classical music scene includes two concerts enhanced by film — and another celebrating one of the world’s great oratorios. Here are three events to help launch the holiday season.
Silent No More: Movie lovers might want to make their way to the Telegraph Quartet’s Sunday concert at Noe Valley Ministry. The award-winning foursome will play the West Coast premiere of Stephen Prutsman’s score to “The General” alongside a screening of the classic 1926 silent film starring Buster Keaton, still one of the funniest and most innovative movies of all time.
Details: 5 p.m. Sunday; Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco; $45 general, $15 students; noemusic.org.
“Amadeus” at the Symphony: The San Francisco Symphony’s Film with Live Orchestra series continues to yield treasures for movie lovers. This weekend, it’s “Amadeus,” the 1984 film and winner of eight Academy Awards, directed by Miloš Forman and starring actor Tom Hulce in the title role. The event is conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos and features pianist John Wilson; Kevin Fox leads the San Francisco Symphony Choir.
Details: 7:30 Friday and Saturday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $130-$299; sfsymphony.org.
“Elijah” sings: The San Jose Symphonic Choir is set to present a single performance of Mendelssohn’s masterful oratorio about the Old Testament prophet; under conductor Leroy Kromm, the performance features bass-baritone Christian Pursell in the title role, along with soprano Marnie Breckenridge, tenor Arnold Geis, and mezzo-soprano Katherine Trimble Mills.
Details: 5 p.m. Saturday; United Methodist Church, Campbell; $35-$40, 12 and under free; sanjosesymphonicchoir.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
‘Carols’ getting a new song
What the Dickens is going on with “A Christmas Carol” in the Bay Area? For years, there have been two reliably excellent local productions of the play based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel about a bitter, miserly old man getting a ghostly lesson on the joys of income redistribution. One of those two productions, at American Conservatory Theater, is gone, replaced by a “Carol”-themed comedy “A Whynot Christmas Carol,” penned by Obie-winning playwright Craig Lucas. It follows a small-town theater company staging “A Christmas Carol” and encountering frequent setbacks. Company artistic director Pam MacKinnon is helming the new production, which runs through Dec. 24 at Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$130 at www.act-sf.org.
Meanwhile, Center Repertory Company in Walnut Creek has announced that this is the final year for its long-running and widely acclaimed “A Christmas Carol.” Next year will bring a different holiday production, although the company has not yet said what it will be. Center Rep’s “Carol” runs Dec. 12-22 at the Lesher Center for the Arts; 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tickets are $22-$79 at www.centerrep.org. And what are we Scrooge fans supposed to do next year? Don’t worry, someone will likely be staging the show somewhere; and there is always the excellent animated version starring Mr. Magoo that’s available on several streaming platforms.
— Bay City News Foundation
A Wylde time is guaranteed
It’s time to bang your heads, dear rock fans, as Zakk Wylde brings the King of the Monstours tour to the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Sunday.
The supremely talented rock guitarist, best known for his time supporting Ozzy Osbourne as well as for leading his own band, Black Label Society, is fronting his awesome Black Sabbath tribute act — Zakk Sabbath — on this road show.
That means that fans can expect to hear some truly monumental covers of such great Black Sabbath cuts as “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “The Wizard,” “Solitude” and “Sweet Leaf.” All of those are tunes featured on Zakk Sabbath’s latest collection, “Greatest Riffs.”
What separates Zakk Sabbath from other Sabbath tribute acts is Wylde’s stellar guitar work: Very few musicians not named Tony Iommi can handle these legendary Sabbath guitar parts like Wylde can.
Accompanying Zakk Sabbath on the King of the Monstours are two other acclaimed tribute acts — Zoso (Led Zeppelin tribute) and The Iron Maidens (all-female Iron Maiden tribute).
Details: 7 p.m. Sunday; $39.50; axs.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Celebrating the holidays
San Jose takes this whole Christmas business pretty darned seriously, with a trio of celebrations and attractions that turn the city’s downtown into Yuletide Central. Chief among the holiday attractions is Christmas in the Park, which opens at 6 p.m. Friday with the lighting of the 50-foot Community Giving Tree, the annual centerpiece of the festivities. Through Jan. 1 at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, 1 Paseo de San Antonio, the event will feature more than 40 exhibits, live entertainment, a collection of trees decorated to the hilt, a dazzling drive-through light show, and more. Meanwhile, the nearby Winter Wonderland attraction, also opening on Friday, serves up a series of fun rides, a glittering carousel and a 60-foot ferris wheel, along with plenty of food stalls and gifts and crafts vendors. And if ice skating is your thing, a festive rink is available at 120 S. Market Street in the Circle of Palms Plaza.
Admission to Christmas in the Park and Winter Wonderland is free, though the rides, drive-through light show and skating are ticketed – the rides cost $5 each, the drive-through light show is $25-$30 and skating costs $21 for 2 hours. So visitors can immerse themselves in a variety of fun or just stroll the grounds at no charge and enjoy the glittering spectacle of it all.
Details: More information is available at christmasinthepark.com, www.winterwonderlandsj.com and www.sjdowntownice.com
Serving up ‘Waitress’
The 2007 film “Waitress” is often described in terms like “charming” and “delightful,” like it was a Hallmark Channel rom-com that somehow escaped to the big screen. Yet, there is some serious stuff going on in Adrienne Shelly’s story about a waitress who hopes a pie contest can lift her out of an unsatisfying life defined by a loveless, abusive marriage and unplanned pregnancy. Things change, as they are wont to do, when she meets a new obstetrician in town and falls in love. In all, it is actually a charming story, partly because it’s grounded in just enough reality and because of Shelly’s clever and insightful writing. Tragically, she was murdered in her New York City home three months before the film’s premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
About a decade later, the film gave rise to “Waitress: The Musical” a stage show penned by the talented songstress Sara Bareilles and producer/director/actor/screenwriter Jessie Nelson. The show debuted on Broadway in 2016 and had a successful London run and national tour before returning to Broadway in 2021 with Bareilles in the lead role. The second Broadway run also produced a movie of the musical. Now San Francisco Playhouse is taking on the musical in a production running through Jan. 18. And yes, of course, there’s a pie angle – the Playhouse will offer pies for sale from Three Babes Bakeshop in San Francisco.
Details: Performances at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St.; $35-$135; www.sfplayhouse.org
Slip-slidin’ away at Chabot
The Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland launches a “Season of Winter Wonder” this weekend with a whole host of fun events starting Friday and running all the way through Jan. 5. At the top of the list for the sheer glee of it is the Sock Skate that takes place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on two different rinks located indoors on the top level adjacent to the Observatory. The surfaces are made of synthetic ice tile (not cold!) developed by scientists so hockey players could train in the off season but now growing popular with the general skating public. With the price of admission to the Center ($24 adults, $19 ages 2 to 12 and 65 and up, but free for members), skaters are invited to don their own comfy socks or buy a special pair on site and bladelessly glide all around the 34-by-23-foot rink reserved for ages 6 and up or the 18-by-15-foot one for families with children 5 and under. The area is decorated like an icy planet with projections and lighting designed to simulate snow and large-scale photo backdrops and glowing planets suspended from the ceiling. There will be recorded music to help get you moving. (We recommend Paul Simon!)
Sign up in advance for 30-minute time slots as you purchase your admission. Find links at chabotspace.org
— Bay City News Foundation