Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge— Hard to believe that the men behind Where the Wild Things Are and Angels in America have anything in common. But children’s-book author Maurice Sendak and playwright Tony Kushner are so tight that Kushner wrote the text for the weighty The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to Present, a massive tome covering Sendak’s recent work, including explorations into theatrical design. The most recent collaboration between the two men is the micro-opera Brundibar, now running at the Berkeley Rep in a whiz-bang production. First they did it as a book, and now it’s a gorgeous little chunk of live music, stunning sets, and masses of singing children. It’s been paired with another Czech import, VÃ clav Kliment Klicpera and Bohuslav Martinu’s Comedy on the Bridge, for two different perspectives on the perils of fascism. — L.D. (Through December 28 at The Berkeley Rep; BerkeleyRep.org or 510-647-2949.)
Cabaret — Ah, the holidays. Time for familiar music, wholesome cheer, nudity, politics, simulated sex, and dripping blood. At least at the Ashby Playhouse, where the Shotgun Players once again resist the Dickensian compulsion by staging Masteroff, Kander, and Ebb’s debauched Cabaret through the end of the year. Clifford Bradshaw has come to Weimar Berlin to write his great novel, a task at which he fails miserably once the boisterous, demanding Sally Bowles trips into his life and blithely turns everything upside down. — L.D. (Through January 8 at the Ashby Stage; ShotgunPlayers.org or 510-841-6500.)
Cirque Do Somethin’ — How many ways can you put on a hat? Unique Derique, clown and body percussionist, can put on a hat repeatedly without doing it the same way twice. Derique McGee is a menace to the repose of headwear everywhere. Paired with the wild-haired, woebegone Mr. YooWho (Moshe Cohen), it’s not just hats but noses, trash bags, yoga, and children from the audience who get the full clown treatment in the Marsh Berkeley’s production of Cirque Do Somethin’. The two men couldn’t be more different. Derique is tall, graceful, and elegant despite the silly fake glasses held tight to his head by an elastic strap. Mr. YooWho is short and rumpled, with tufts of perfect mad scientist hair stuck to either side of his head. Derique is an accomplished hambone player; Mr. YooWho wields a ukulele. Derique’s characters are big and flamboyant; Mr. YooWho’s are subtler and more introspective. The combination yields an hour that enchants children while keeping their adult minders engaged. Somethin’ is a fun, guiltless little something for the holiday season for kids and their adults. — L.D. (Through December 30 at the Marsh Berkeley; TheMarsh.org or 800-838-3006.)
Oliver! — Folks who love the earnest enthusiasm of community theater will find plenty to relish in the Willows Theatre’s new production. The Concord company pulls out all the stops, using revolving sets and complicated choreography to tell the classic tale of Oliver Twist, the orphan waif adrift in the mean streets of London. However, those who fault this musical for its mundane dialogue and sentimental, cliché-ridden songs will not find it improved in this interpretation by the sons of suburbia. — E.S. (Through December 31 at the Willows; WillowsTheatre.org or 925-798-1300.)
