Bay Area weekend: ‘Hadestown,’ ‘Evan Hansen,’ Ukraine benefit

There are a lot of great live shows to see this weekend (and beyond) in the Bat Area. Here’s a partial rundown.

Stage: Blockbusters play in Bay Area

Two Broadway hits are headed to the Bay Area.

‘Hadestown’: The smash-hit musical that debuted on Broadway in 2018 and wound up winning eight Tony Awards and a bunch of other trophies, just opened at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre. The show builds on two Greek mythology love stories — Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and Persephone — while incorporating such contemporary hot-button themes as global warming, industrialization, politics and faith. The show features music, book and lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell, who developed the show in Vermont. She is reportedly only the fourth woman in history to write all the dialogue, lyrics and music for a Broadway show.

Details: Through July 3; $56-$256 (subject to change); www.broadwaysf.com.

‘Dear Evan Hansen’: The musical about a socially anxious high schooler who accidently writes himself into an impossible situation makes its South Bay premiere with a run at the San Jose Center for then Performing Arts. The show, which has won widespread acclaim for its treatment of mental illness and teen suicide, earned six Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2016, including best musical.

Details: Through June 19; $31-$178 (subject to change); broadwaysanjose.com.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

Ukraine benefit has a LOT going on

At a time when Russia’s brutal subjugation of Ukraine has no end in sight and the U.S. political landscape remains a festering sulfur pit of ugly partisanship, Saturday brings an event that seemingly addresses both of these maladies. Organized by the San Francisco-based Metro Film and Arts Foundation, which provides grants to a wide array of arts groups and social causes, Breaking Down Walls: Celebrating Our Shared Humanity is something of a variety show of goodwill. Different artists representing music, dance, theater, comedy, animation and spoken word will present new works created for the event and exploring themes of how the arts can unify people. Proceeds from the event will go to House of Ukraine, a nonprofit that, among other things, is organizing efforts to aid Ukranians affected by the war.

Among the artists set to perform are singer/songwriter Will Hammond Jr.; composer and musician Van-Anh Vo, who will team with choreographer Mia J. Chong and San Francisco’s Post:ballet; the Seattle-based, progressive-minded Teatro Nagual theater troupe; poets Kim Shuck, Aileen Cassinetto, Tureeda Mikell and Maw Shein Win, and animator Jaroslav Baran. Emceeing the event is San Francisco comedian, storyteller and NPR personality Dhaya Lakshminarayanan.

Details: 7 p.m. June 11; Cowell Theater in San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture; $12.50-$25; a recording of the event will also be available for streaming on June 26 ($25); www.metrofilmandarts.org/breaking-down-walls.

— Bay Area News Foundation

Classical picks: Stravinsky times 2; ‘Red Chamber’

Here are three performances classical music lovers won’t want to miss.

Stravinsky double bill:  A recently-announced partnership between San Francisco Symphony music director Esa-Pekka Salonen and director Peter Sellars will yield four large-scale works over four seasons. Those events begin this week, with a staged production of Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex” and “Symphony of Psalms.”  A mighty cast is on hand for this double bill, with tenor Sean Panikkar (Oedipus Rex), mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges (Jocasta), and bass-baritone Willard White (Creon/Messenger/Tiresias) in principal roles.

Details: 7:30 p.m. June 10-11; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $35-$165; www.sfsymphony.org.

A Beautiful “Dream”: Stories of romantic triangles never go out of fashion. In “Dream of the Red Chamber,” soulmates Bao Yu and the beautiful Dai Yu seem destined to marry — but a dark scheme to marry Dai Yu to the rich and powerful heiress Bao Chai threatens to dash the lovers’ plans. Based on the 18th-century Chinese novel by Cao Xueqin, the opera by composer Bright Sheng and librettist David Henry Hwang premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2016; now it returns in Stan Lai’s opulent original production with a new cast starring Chinese soprano Meigui Zhang as Dai Yu and Korean tenor Konu Kim as Bao Yu. Darrel Ang conducts.

Details: June 14-July 1; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $26-$408; www.sfopera.com.

Closing on a high note: The Berkeley Symphony concludes its 50^th anniversary season with “Symphonic III: Rejoice,” featuring the world premiere of “Rise” by Berkeley’s own Jimmy López Bellido, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, conducted by Lynne Morrow with a “re-imagined” libretto commissioned by Carnegie Hall and set by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

Details: 4 p.m. June 12; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $15-$90; www.berkeleysymphony.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent