Theater in San Francisco

I'll be in San Fran next week and I was curious about their theater offerings. I did some research, but nothing really came up. Am I missing something, or is San Fran not really a theater town (outside of the occasional out-of-town transfer)? Maybe something outside of San Fran I should look into?

I would also be interested in recommendations for concerts (ideally indie rock or classical) while in San Fran. I haven't been there in years and the city has suddenly become very foreign to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Clearly you didn't look very hard. A Little Night Music has been extended through June 21. Go see that. Trouble Cometh is at the San Francisco Playhouse, which is pretty good. One Man, Two Guvnors is playing at the Berkeley Rep and it's pretty good, though never as deliriously funny as you expect farce to be.

Updated On: 6/14/15 at 05:00 PM

Thanks for the corrections. I went straight to the ticket calendar page at Berkeley Rep and it was blank. Thought it was that they were dark, not that they were sold out!

..and I just plain forgot what day it is re ALNM!

In any event, lots of stuff to see.

Updated On: 6/8/15 at 05:05 PM

Not sure when you'll be getting here, I know you said next week, but I don't know if you'll be here by the end of the weekend or not, but Jeremy Jordan is playing a new Cabaret show at Feinstein's at the Niko Hotel from this Thursday - Sunday. After that, Faith Prince will be there next Friday and Saturday.

Updated On: 6/9/15 at 04:49 AM

There's a TKTS-like booth in Union Square, but I've never used it: http://tixbayarea.org/

I saw the production of One Man, Two Guvnors at Berkeley Rep. If you saw the Broadway production, I'd say you can stay away from this one. The Broadway production was flawless and could never be matched by a regional production, so it naturally left me a bit disappointed. But everyone I know who has seen it at Berkeley Rep has loved it. So if you didn't see it on Broadway, I'd definitely so go for it.

It's actually very easy to get from SF to Berkeley Rep on BART ("Bay Area Rapid Transit").

There's also California Shakespeare Festival which is in the Hills and outdoors in Orinda - just across the Bay

"A Little Night Music in San Francisco

Exquisite production
Stellar Tony winning and nominated cast (Karen Ziemba, Dana Ivey, Emily Skinner)
and other great bway veterans-Patrick Cassidy, Laurie Veldheer, Marissa McGowan,
ACT at their best-broadway level production values in every way....wow!

Im going back to see this again before it closes on june 20

If you live in the bay area do not miss this production!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I've been wondering if I should see this, I might have to try and find a cheap ticket.

"You can get very cheap tickets on Goldstar!
https://www.goldstar.com/events/san-francisco-ca/a-little-night-music-tickets-1"

I literally just remembered that site after I posted my comment! I snagged a $33 Mezz seat for the closing night performance.

Hi guys,

I'm moving to SF soon from the NY area, and I want to know what theater I should make sure to see.

- Should I subscribe to the Berkeley Rep? With their 50% student discount, seems like a good deal if the shows are usually good.

- I'm less interested in SHN's tours, as I saw all those shows on broadway and am only interested in seeing 1 or 2 again on tour. Do they often have student tickets or do rush for these touring productions?

- What about SF Playhouse and ACT? Worth subscribing to? And do they have student or more affordable tickets?
- And finally, is there anything like TDF for San Francisco?

- I'm less interested in SHN's tours, as I saw all those shows on broadway and am only interested in seeing 1 or 2 again on tour. Do they often have student tickets or do rush for these touring productions?

Most shows have a rush of some kind, but SHN tends to announce such things at the last minute. And occasionally they have ridiculous deals like when the Les Miz tour came to the Orpheum and they had "no-view" seats. They were not free. I don't remember how much they were, though.

"Most shows have a rush of some kind"

I haven't found that to be true at all. In my experience, rushes at SHN are very hit-or-miss, heavily dependent on the show's sales, the timing in the run, and the producers of the shows themselves. I can think of more SHN shows that didn't have a rush than those that did.

And yes, the 50% student discount at Berkeley Rep is LOVELY. In 2013 I got a $30 front row-center ticket to see McKellen and Stewart in No Man's Land there. It can definitely be worth subscribing if you are interested in the shows, especially since you can do subscription packages, where you pick 3 or 4 of the shows.

Updated On: 6/13/15 at 12:42 PM

I saw this same tour in Philly last summer and they've improved a lot on the whole. I do wish they'd come to Broadway. I still think the second national tour (which was in SF last year and who I saw there and in Chicago this past spring) has a special energy that none of the other companies have.

JBroadway, maybe I was thinking of when SHN realizes halfway through a run that they can sell limited-view seats for cheaper? So not necessarily rush, I suppose. Bad phrasing.