Freebie of the week: During the summer of 1966 in San Francisco, the Tenderloin became a battleground between the gay, bisexual and transgender people who called the neighborhood home and police, who harassed the LGBTQ community and wanted to keep its members off the streets. While the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969 were considered a capstone in the burgeoning LGBTQ movement, San Francisco had its own watershed moment three years earlier, during what became known as the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot. The Tenderloin uprising reportedly was ignited when a transgender woman tossed a cup of coffee at a police officer who was attempting to arrest her at Taylor and Turk streets, leading to a widespread protest that was heard around the country. Fifty-nine years (and a couple of months) later, Flyaway Productions—a troupe of aerial performance artists led by Jo Kreiter who frequently tackle political issues—is commemorating the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot with a free Tenderloin performance titled “Down on the Corner” featuring 10 queer, transgender and female aerial artists accompanied by music by singer and songwriter Melanie DeMore, and a film by Leila Weefur. The 35-minute shows are happening at Turk and Taylor streets at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. No reservations are required. Simply show up and be prepared to look up. More information is at flyawayproductions.com.
Welcome, Mr. Romantic: John C. Reilly is an immensely talented character actor who’s appeared in films ranging from “Boogie Nights” and “Gangs of New York,” to “Chicago” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” But, as he proved in “Chicago” and in a starring turn in the music-biopic-spoofing story “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” he has an impressive set of pipes. He also has the heart of a Broadway star in him. His current project, solo musical stage show titled “Mr. Romantic” features a character Reilly created in the album “What’s Not To Love?” which he released in June (shortly before Mr. Romantic made a guest-starring appearance in a Jack White video). Like Reilly’s career, the song catalogue sported by Mr. Romantic is all over the map, from Tom Waits’ “Just Another Sucker on the Vine” to Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose,” as well as Irving Berlin standards and other American pop classics. Reilly brings his “Mister Romantic” show to Livermore’s Bankhead Theater on Monday, which gives you a perfect excuse to extend your weekend vibe just a little longer and enjoy the performance of a truly talented and likable performer. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday; tickets are 100-$140; go to misterromantic.com or livermorearts.org.
Words police: San Jose Stage Company is presenting a ripped-from-the-headlines production about the nature of ownership of ideas and the factors that call such ownership into question. “McNeal” by Ayad Akhtar centers on the titular character, both a talented writer infatuated with artificial intelligence, and an unethical, unlikable alcoholic. He’s about to publish a novel he’s convinced will win the Nobel Prize for literature. Though the work undeniably was created under his name, it’s also apparent that he’s had some help from artificial intelligence. So, does he actually deserve credit for it? The audience is left to grapple with muddled ethical questions, and things aren’t made easier given that the difficult character is cruel to those closest to him, and someone who thinks he is above … well, just about everything. Even though he’s experienced his own share of tragedy, the fact that McNeal is so hard to accept is both a strength and a challenge in the play. In its West Coast premiere, “McNeal,” at a trim 80 minutes (no intermission), runs through Oct. 19 at San Jose Stage. Tickets are $49-$74; go to www.thestage.org.
Like father, like son: San Francisco Performances, for its annual fundraising gala, has a concert guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings. Gabriel Kahane, composer, theater artist, writer and storyteller, has written a concerto called “Heirloom” for his father, celebrated conductor and keyboardist Jeffrey Kahane. The pair will play a two-piano arrangement of its final movement at the Herbst Theatre at 7 p.m. on Friday. The elder Kahane, who served 20 years as the music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in addition to being a sought-after concert pianist, is currently the music director of the San Antonio Philharmonic. His son, a prolific composer and wordsmith known for taking on politically charged subject matter, had his oratorio about the housing crisis, “emergency shelter intake form,” given its Bay Area premiere by the San Francisco Symphony two years ago. He writes about his inspiration for “Heirloom,” which has been described as “a meditation on what we inherit, what we transform and what we leave for the next generation,” for Reboot, a nonprofit that upholds Jewish traditions here. Other pieces on the father-and-son program will be announced from the stage. Find tickets, $55-$75, at sfperformances.org
Fancy global footwork: “Around the World Through Dance” is the title of the program the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra on Saturday afternoon in Davies Hall. Indeed, the selections in the concert, conducted by Wattis Foundation music director Radu Paponiu, seem to dip into just about every idea a diverse assortment of composers has had about how to celebrate the joy of movement to music: Johan Strauss’ Overture to “Die Fledermaus,” Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 2 in E minor, Bela Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 6, Ruth Crawford Seeger’s “Rissolty Rossolty,” Amy Beach’s “Bal Masqué,” Isaac Albeniz’s Tango in D Major and the Overture from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein. Billed as an entry on the San Francisco Symphony’s Music for Families outreach efforts, the program also features a petting zoo and a coloring station in the lobby. Tickets for the 2 p.m. performance are $29.50-$89, available at sfsymphony.org.
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