DK Travel : San Francisco : Performing arts

American Conservatory Theater (ACT)

Founded in the 1960s, San Francisco’s most important theater company is internationally respected and has produced premieres of a number of major plays. At the heart of ACT is one of the most acclaimed actor-training institutions in the nation – former students include Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Winona Ryder.
Beach Blanket Babylon

High camp and high headdresses, along with jolly good singing by the veteran ensemble cast make this one of the joys of the city. It’s been zinging the heartstrings of lovers of San Francisco for more than a quarter of a century and shows no signs of flagging. The excuse for all this frivolity is the sending up of various notables, most of whom well deserve the good-natured ribbing.
Curran Theater

Built in 1922, this is one of the grandest theaters in the city and a Registered National Historic Landmark. The interior is a fantasy of gold and carved wood, complemented by a vast chandelier and murals. Shows tend toward long-running Broadway successes such as Les Misérables .
Golden Gate Theater

This former movie house, designed with Moorish influences in the 1920s, is one of the larger mainstream theaters. Its usual offerings are traveling Broadway shows – most recently, hits imported from New York have included a revival of Damn Yankees , starring Jerry Lewis.
Herbst Theater

The smallest of the mainstream houses offers a mix of cabaret, comedy, dance, lectures, and concerts. It’s really just a recital hall, and the acoustics are not great, but the beautiful 1930s building is decorated with eight enormous Beaux-Arts murals that were executed for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition.
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

With performances from September to May, under the directorship of Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra performs in this modern structure with carefully modulated acoustics. Built in 1980, this curving, glass-fronted concert hall is loved and loathed in equal measure by San Franciscans. Its corner placement is set off by a Henry Moore bronze, which also has its share of detractors.
Magic Theater

In the 1970s, none other than Sam Shepard was the resident playwright of the Magic, and its stage has seen performances by the likes of Sean Penn and Nick Nolte. It specializes in bringing new plays to light, usually by up-and-coming Americans. It also offers “raw play” readings of as yet unstaged works.
Masonic Auditorium

Originally a Masonic Temple, built in 1957, this attractive structure, with its 3,000-seat auditorium, is used as a venue for jazz performances, lectures, and readings, as well as conventions and seminars. Mosaics inside and out depict some of the tenets of Freemasonry.
Orpheum

Originally a vaudeville house and then a movie theater, this is the historic spot where Hair was given its first West Coast performance some three decades ago – known locally as “the New York version of what happened here in San Francisco.” The theater, decorated in 1920s Moorish taste, now mostly stages Broadway productions.
War Memorial Opera House and San Francisco Ballet

The San Francisco Opera Company is the second largest in the country and performs from June to January. The excellent San Francisco Ballet, one of the nation’s oldest, mostly performs at the Opera House, too (see Civic Center).