'Clown Bible' A Musical, Slapstick Scriptural Tour-De-Farce Blossoms of Poetry & Dance at Mary Sano Studio/Duncan Dance

Ten Red Hen, an innovative young company whose '99-Cent Miss Saigon" was one of the best things in the Bay Area last year, have outdone themselves with 'Clown Bible,' a musical comedy revue from Scriptural stories, Genesis to the Gospels, off to a bang when Adam & Eve pluck red noses from the Tree of Life, & God, silhouetted in a circle of light above the stage, shouts through a ringmaster's
bullhorn, "Alright, put 'em on!"

And they do--through a tapdancing, stuttering Moses, working overtime to appease the Lord and curb his tribe's appetites; Samson as an Action Hero, grinning and letting the Philistines have it (singing "I'm Samson, I'm crazy ... Get out of my way so I can do my hair!"), until getting vamped by a Delilah right out of a kitschy old movie; and Jesus preaching in parables, like jokes that the Apostles just don't seem to get ...

The music is original and good, with a swinging little combo onstage that becomes part of the action (the guitarist, as David, soothes the raging Saul; Dave Malloy at the keyboards--coauthor & composer--doubles as Job, whose Sorrows are represented by the loss of his piano, accordions & pitchpipe, while the other cats rib him for it). It's a talented young cast doing its schtick, featuring operatically voiced Jane Chen, a fine performer, as two persons of The Godhead.

Don't miss this work-in-progress. It's out there entirely on its own, with its own slant, a different feel. And it's genially, not contentiously, funny. The stories are almost all literal from Scripture, with a couple apocraphal transitions. A constant, delightful surprise.

(A full review was posted March 30 in the Weekend Edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet--berkeleydailyplanet.com)

'Clown Bible' runs through April 14 at Willard Metalshop Theater, 2425 Stuart St. (behind Willard School on Telegraph Ave) Berkeley $15-20 at the door or brownpapertickets.com (though nobody will be turned away for lack of funds). Info at: tenredhen.net

8 pm Saturday March 31
245 Fifth St. #314, between Howard & Folsom
$14 w/reservation, $16 at door
info@duncandance.org or (415) 357-1817

Mary Sano is celebrating the 10 years of her studio's activity with BLOSSOMS OF POETRY & DANCE, featuring Mary herself and guest dancer Junko Sodeyama, Merrill Collins on keyboard and Hideo Sekina on bamboo flute, and poetry by Kaori Annan, with video & photographic images by Yvon Chausseblanche.

The studio was founded just South of Market on Fifth to teach, practice and perform the dance style of pioneer Isadora Duncan, who was born a few blocks away in the late 19th century, the avatar of what would become modern dance around the world.

Mary is one of Isadora's most luminous followers, in her teaching, the book she wrote in her native Japan, her choreography and in her own exquisite performances.

But--just as important--her studio has served as a venue for many artists of diverse styles, in a time of academic and aesthetic provincialism. Her annual Dionysian celebrations--of Isadora's birthday in the spring and a festival in the fall--and other, sometimes impromteau events, gather surprising arrays of talent under the same roof, with an at-home hospitality and friendliness: from Duncan Dance to Butoh, the tragedy of Japanese Noh and the spare intensity of its music to the improvisations of performance art, modern dance and movement, popular song, Indian classical dance, Korean drumming and calligraphy, Chinese brush painting ... there's no telling what you'll see, what mood will be created.

So celebrate with Mary what she's done for the past decade, that's become a San Francisco institution, but remains in its own, original way a well-kept secret, a constant discovery.