Bay Area arts: 9 great shows and concerts to catch this weekend

From a legendary bassist to great plays and operas, there are some great shows to catch in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.

Here’s a partial rundown.

New wave icon has 2 Bay gigs

Peter Hook is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of not just one but two legendary bands — Joy Division and New Order.

Both of those acts were actually elected as part of a very rare co-induction earlier this year, which voters deemed appropriate since the bands share three of the same members. (We actually feel like the two acts — especially the all-time great Joy Division — were musically distinct enough to warrant separate inductions, but we’re also just glad both got in.)

Hook, one of the coolest bassists to ever rock a stage, is one of those artists who belonged to both bands and he’s still doing justice to the mighty Joy Division and New Order songbooks during his regular tours.

Each of the road shows have a different focus and this time the bassist and his troupe — collectively dubbed Peter Hook and the Light — are performing New Order’s “Get Ready” in its entirety at each show.

While it should be entertaining to hear all of that 2001 comeback album — which marked the synth-pop act’s first release since “Republic” in 1993 — we’re much more interested in catching the great Joy Division post-punk cuts that will also make the setlist.

In other words, Joy Division > New Order all day long.

Details: Peter Hook and the Light performs 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Warfield in San Francisco (tickets start at $61, axs.com) and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga (8 p.m., tickets start at $56.14, mountainwinery.com.)

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Stage/classical picks: ‘The Cook,’ Williams’ classic, Don G

Here are two plays and a opera production stage fans should know about

“The Cook”: Prolific Cuban playwright Eduardo Machado’s comedy/drama explores an aristocratic Cuban family as members flee from Havana to Miami on the eve of Fidel Castro’s revolution, leaving their mansion to their cook Gladys, who protects the domain for 40 years. Described as “quietly devastating,” Machado’s play at Berkeley Rep is another in his many chronicles of Cuban life. The Rep’s Associate Artistic Director David Mendizábal directs.

Details: Through Oct. 11; Berkeley Rep Peet’s Theatre; $70-$154; berkeleyrep.org.

“The Glass Menagerie”: The haunting tale of the Wingfield family, trapped inside circumstances both circumstantial and self-inflicted, is enjoying a “Legacy Revival” by Center Repertory Company in Walnut Creek. Tennessee Williams’ autobiographical drama centers on a writer haunted by deserting his delusional mother Amanda and sister Laura, who’s painfully shy and retreats to her collection of glass animals. Center Rep’s artistic director Matt M. Morrow directs.

Details: Through Sept. 27; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $31-$78; centerrep.org.

Opera with the “Don”: Opera San Jose is unveiling a new “noir” production of Mozart’s classic, which follows the fall of the notorious libertine. Alek Shrader directs; music director Joseph Marcheso conducts.

Details: Through Sept. 27; California Theatre; $50.50-$250.50; operasj.org

— David John Chavez, Correspondent

Here’s your freebie of the week

Arias al fresco all afternoon, anyone? Opera in the Bay Area is alive and thriving, as an event coming up Sept. 20 at the Transamerica Pyramid Center Redwood Park in San Francisco will amply demonstrate. Beginning at 1 p.m. on the rustic stage set among a half-acre of towering coastal redwoods on the eastern side of that iconic tower, a parade of practitioners of the high art of singing will perform music by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Bizet, Gilbert & Sullivan and more at a concert called Opera Day in the Bay. Produced by Céline Ricci, founder of Ars Minerva and program director of 836M Arts, the afternoon will be emceed by Bay Area composer Carla Lucero and dedicated to the memory of the late Erie Mills, the soprano who was executive director of Livermore Valley Opera. Participating companies include LVO, Walnut Creek’s Festival Opera, San Francisco’s Pocket Opera and Opera Paralléle, West Bay Opera, Opera San Jose, Ars Minerva, Upspark Productions, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Lamplighters Music Theatre and more.

Details: The event is free, but audience members are requested to reserve advance tickets through Eventbrite online at http:/tinyurl.com/OperaDay2026. It is also recommended to find entry to the park at 545 Sansome Street between Washington and Clay.

— Bay City News Foundation

Drag him to hell

That devious, debonair but utterly dastardly dude Don Giovanni is among the most intriguing characters in all of operadom. The leading character in Mozart’s tragicomedy by that name has the proverbial little black book bulging with the names of the damsels he has seduced. But he gets his just comeuppance by agreeing to a dinner invitation that turns out to be a dance with the devil. Opera San Jose has just opened its 43rd season with a production of this magnificent work helmed by the internationally recognized tenor Alex Shrader, and there are four performances remaining. American bass Wm. Clay Thomson stars in the title role of the swaggering libertine, with bass-baritone Phillip Lopez serving as his long-suffering manservant Leporello, whose famous “Catalogue” aria is the comic highlight of the opera. Bass Kenneth Kellogg is the Commendatore, whose death by the don’s hand in the opening scene sets all the action in overdrive. Sopranos Yuan Piao and María Brea star as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and soprano Nicole Koh is Zerlina, the young peasant bride tempted by Don Giovanni with the famous Lá ci darem la mano” aria.

Details: Performances at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose are at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 and 25 and 2 p.m. Sept. 20 and 27; $58-$215; at operasj.org

— Bay City News Foundation

Creature features in SF

Such is our fondness for animals as well as cleverly titled events that it was almost certain that CritterFest would lasso our attention. The event is one of several film series created under the San Francisco IndieFest banner, and its focus (if you haven’t guessed already) is on animals. Specifically, to use the festival’s own words, “the profound resonance and interaction between humans and the animal kingdom.” The festival, running Sept. 17-20 at the 4-Star Theater, 2200 Clement St., San Francisco, serves up close to a dozen feature-length films and shorts spotlighting a wide variety of animal tales. The opening-night screening features “Second Nature,” a look at some of the stranger reproductive practices in the Animal Kingdom. The family-friendly “Secret Lives of Pets 2” will be screened Friday. Other titles in the mix include “Flamingos: Life After the Meteor” (about how the site of a dinosaur-killing meteor crash is now a favorite meeting ground for some frisky flamingos, screening Saturday); and “Unspoken Bond,” which looks at the powerful and healing bonds that form between animals and their owners (screening Sunday).

Details: Screenings are $15 apiece; a full-fest pass costs $60; many of the films will be available online Sept. 17-20 for $10 apiece; sfcritterfest.eventive.org/welcome.

— Bay City News Foundation

Smuin choreographer lost in thought

You can forgive My’Kal Stromile if he has a lot on his mind. Less than a decade ago the much-in-demand, Boston-based choreographer graduated from Julliard (where he received the prestigious Hector Zaraspe Prize) and has already moved on from an acclaimed six-year stint as a performer — largely with the Boston Ballet — and settled full-time into choreography while still in his early 30s. He has already debuted one world premiere this year with “The Leisurely Installation of a New Window,” performed by Boston Ballet, and has another new work as the centerpiece of Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s fall program. The work has already drawn a good deal of attention with its mouthful of a title: “I-SCRIT-AH-SCREE-TAH-SKRATT,” which Stromile has described as “a completely preposterous, made-up phonetic phrase I made when I was trying to organize my thinking.” The piece – which like much of Stromile’s work incorporates a variety of dance styles – is set to Symphony in F major by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. The world premiere work is the highlight of a program that also includes Smuin artistic director Amy Seiwert’s provocatively titled “French Kiss” and a revival of company founder Michael Smuin’s mournful “Stabat Mater.”

Details: Smuin brings the program to Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center this weekend for performances at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 and 2 p.m. Sept. 19. Tickets are $25-$100; go to smuinballet.org or www.lesherartscenter.org. The fall program also comes to the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture Oct. 9-18.

Comedian’s catching fire

Florida-born comedian Kam Patterson came thisclose to taking on a career as a firefighter. It’s a noble profession but, let’s face it, his career as a standup comedian is pretty much on fire these days. We’re not sure why he passed on life as a firefighter, but his bio points out he instead took a job at a Foot Locker store, where his winning personality convinced customers as well as his father that a career in entertainment was the way to go. He had already demonstrated a taste for standup; during his early years in grade school he was known to tell jokes in front of the class. In the early 2020s, he moved to Austin, Texas, to pursue the standup trade and scored a career boost when he, er, killed it on a comedy/variety podcast titled “Kill Tony.” Last year, he scored his biggest career milestone yet, landing a spot on “Saturday Night Live” as a featured player, a role he still has today. He’s also broken into movies with roles in such comedies as “Busboys,” “72 Hours” (with Kevin Hart) and the upcoming tennis-themed Amazon comedy Love Love.” But Patterson, known for his enthusiastic storytelling style and stage manner, is keeping a foot in the standup field.

Details: He brings his latest tour to the San Jose Improv this week for performances at 8 p.m. Sept. 17 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 . Tickets are $33.55-$104.08; go to improv.com/sanjose/https://improv.com/sanjose/