Read It and See It Plays This Holiday Season
/The Bay Area offers many choices for kids to enjoy live theater based on classic stories you can find at your local bookseller. Clara Doornbos from Book Passage has selected some great books and their local performances for families of all ages to enjoy this holiday season. Tickets and books on sale now and both make a perfect gift for the holiday's.
Photo American Conservatory Theater
Read It: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
See It:
- December 1-24, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco
- December 14-17, Drake Little Theater, 1327 Sir Francis Drake, San Anselmo
Be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas as you watch the transformation of the stingy Ebenezer Scrooge into a man who awakens on Christmas morning with love and generosity in his heart!
Read It: Aladdin, a folk tale from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (a.k.a. "The Arabian Nights")
See It: Aladdin
SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco
Aladdin, a thrilling new production filled with unforgettable beauty, magic, comedy and breathtaking spectacle. It’s an extraordinary theatrical event where one lamp and three wishes make the possibilities infinite.
Read It: The Night Fairy, Laura Amy Schlitz
See It: The Night Fairy
Runs until December 30, BACT Berkeley Center, 2055 Center Street, Berkeley
What would happen to a fairy if she lost her wings and could no longer fly? Flory, a young night fairy no taller than an acorn and still becoming accustomed to her wings -- wings as beautiful as those of a luna moth -- is about to find out. What she discovers is that the world is very big and very dangerous.
Read It: Willy Wonka, Roald Dahl
See It: Willy Wonka
- Runs until December 31, BACT Berkeley Center, 2055 Center Street, Berkeley
- January 5-21, Children's Creativity Museum Theater, 221 Fourth Street, San Francisco
Follow Charlie’s magical adventure when he wins a tour of Wonka’s chocolate factory. You’ll love the feast of songs from the original movie! Adapted for young audiences by Leslie Bricusse and Tim McDonald, based on Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Read It: James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
See It: James and the Giant Peach: The Musical
Runs until December 3, Cinnabar Theatre, Petaluma
A boy and his insect friends take an amazing journey across the ocean.
Read It: Elephant and Piggie Series, Mo Willems
See It: Elephant and Piggie's "We are in a Play!"
Runs until December 6, Children's Creativity Museum Theater, San Francisco
The beloved story about the adventures of the Potts family and their miraculous car as well as Jeremy and Jemima's take on the Vulgarians, who want Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the Baron’s birthday.
PHOTO: African-American Shakespeare Company
Read It: Cinderella, Brothers Grimm
See It:
- December 2-17, Cinderella, Fort Mason Center Building C – San Francisco
- December 22-24, Cinderella, African-American Shakespeare Company, Buriel Clay Memorial Theatre, San Francisco
A timeless and enchanting tale about Cinderella, a young girl, her fairy godmothers, cruel stepmother, pumpkin coaches, glass slippers and a handsome prince.
Read It: Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
See It: Velveteen Rabbit
November 27-December 13 Yerba Buena Theatre, San Francisco
Nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it. Like the Skin Horse, Margery Williams understood how toys--and people--become real through the wisdom and experience of love. Enjoy this favorite classic story, it will work its magic for all who read it and see it.
Read It: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
See It: Little Women
November 25-December 18, Spreckles Performing Arts Center, Rohnert Park
Meet the four March sisters — brassy, tomboy-like, aspiring writer Jo, romantic Meg, pretentious Amy, and kind-hearted Beth — and their beloved Marmee, at home in Concord, Massachusetts while the family patriarch is away serving as a Union Army chaplain during the Civil War. Intercut with the vignettes in which their lives unfold are several recreations of the melodramatic short stories Jo writes in her attic studio. A classic tale in literature and on stage.
