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The holiday season brought a happy rush of returning to in-person performances and other arts events, but as winter wears on, the quick spread of the coronavirus’ omicron variant has postponed or put on hold in-person events scheduled for the first months of 2022.
But it’s not the throwback to the grim, empty calendars of spring 2020 that it might initially seem. After nearly two years of navigating the ups and downs of the pandemic, some groups are now adding a virtual option or expanding virtual options that they already had in place.
Many groups are also rescheduling in-person events — postponing them anywhere from a few weeks to a number of months down the road.
Here’s an evolving list of arts postponements and cancellations on the Peninsula. Check back here as more updates become available.
Unless otherwise noted, rescheduled or canceled events are in person.
TheatreWorks
In late December, TheatreWorks announced that it was postponing its production of “Hershey Felder as Monsieur Chopin.” The show, which was slated to open in mid-January at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (MVCPA), has been moved to summer, planned for Aug. 17 through Sept. 11 still at the MVCPA.
The company’s musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” running March 9 through April 3 at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre, is expected to go ahead, with a streaming option also offered.
For more information, visit theatreworks.org.
Stanford Live
The performing arts presenter canceled the bulk of its January schedule, including these upcoming dates: “Rite of Spring” by Chinese dance legend and renowned choreographer Yang Liping (Jan. 21-22); New Century Chamber Orchestra’s program “Hope Leads Appalachian Spring” (Jan. 22); Sundays with the St. Lawrence concert (Jan. 23); and Cliff Cardinal’s solo play “Huff” (Jan. 27-28); songwriter Anaïs Mitchell featuring Bonny Light Horseman (Jan. 30).
Beyond January, Stanford Live Communications Manager Katie Haemmerle confirmed that at this time, most other upcoming shows are still slated to go forward, except for these cancellations:
Omer Quartet (Feb. 13); Russian National Orchestra (Feb. 20); Basel Chamber Orchestra (March 6); Abdullah Ibrahim (April 27); “And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears” (May 20-22).
January shows still going ahead (as of Jan. 18) are:
Inua Ellams and Fuel present: An Evening with an Immigrant (Jan. 29-30), in person at Bing Studio and a related discussion, “Un-othering Through Artistic Exchange: A Dialogue between Inua Ellams and Professor Ato Quayson,” that will take place via Zoom Jan 28. Jenny Scheinman’s “Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait” has been rescheduled from mid-January to June 1.
For more information, visit stanford.edu/calendar.
Los Altos Stage Company In early January, the company announced that it rescheduled its production of Lisa Loomer’s “Roe,” about the landmark case that legalized abortion in the United States, from mid-February into March, with the new run taking place March 3 through 13.
There will be a streaming option for the shows taking place on March 4-6 and 11-13.
For more information, visit losaltosstage.org/roe.
Palo Alto Players Last week, the company announced that its production of “Men on Boats,” planned for mid-January, was rescheduled to run Feb. 4 through 20 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, with streaming on demand offered Feb. 17-20. Jaclyn Backhaus’ “Men on Boats” offers a modern take on a 19th-century expedition of the American West’s waterways led by Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell.
For more information, visit paplayers.org.
The Pear The theater company announced this week that it’s postponing its winter shows by two weeks.”The Mountaintop” and “Sunset Baby,” presented in repertory as part of the company’s 20th anniversary season of “Pear pairings,” had been slated to open mid-January and will now both open the weekend of Feb. 4.
Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop,” which runs Feb. 4 through 19, offers a reimagination of events the night before civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. “Sunset Baby,” which runs Feb. 5 through 20, is a new play by Dominique Morisseau that tells of a former Black revolutionary and political prisoner who is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
For more information, visit thepear.org.
Music@Menlo The chamber music nonprofit rescheduled its benefit concert and reception, originally planned for early February, to March 13. The concert features a program of works by Shostakovich, Beethoven and Amy Beach performed by Chelsea Wang, piano; Audrey Chen, cello; James Thompson and Angela Wee, violin, and Lisa Sung, viola.
Also coming up: “A Spanish Journey: Behind the Music,” a two-day mini-artist residency exploring Spanish music slated for April 8-9. The group’s flagship summer festival is scheduled for July 14 through Aug. 6.
For more information, visit musicatmenlo.org.
Oshman Family JCC
Designer Isaac Mizrahi, who was scheduled to bring his musical cabaret show “Moderate to Severe,” to the Palo Alto Oshman Family JCC in mid-January has postponed his appearance. A new date has not been announced yet.
For more information, visit paloaltojcc.org.
Palo Alto Art Center The art center’s winter exhibition, “Creative Attention: Art and Community Restoration” is still taking place in person and will open as scheduled on Jan. 22. But the Jan. 28 opening reception for the show has moved online.
A March 4 conversation featuring artists from the show, Creative Attention Virtual Artist Residency Conversation with Christine Wong Yap and Marcel Pardo Ariza” will take place online as planned.
For more information, visit cityofpaloalto.org.
West Bay Opera This week, the opera company announced that it has bumped its winter 2022 production of Verdi’s “La Traviata” to the fall, with the new dates of Oct. 21-30. Its production of Tchaikovsky’s “Pique Dame” is expected to open as planned on May 20. The company is based at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre.
For more information, visit wbopera.org.
Foothill Theatre Arts Two years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic cut short the company’s March 2020 production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Foothill Music Theatre is remounting the show, but has postponed a planned early March opening by a week. The new dates for the show’s run are March 10 through 20.
For more information, visit foothill.edu.
