Keillor (twice), Gaga and ‘Wicked’ in Bay Area

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Ball” tour comes to the HP Pavilion on January 17th.

As the new year opens, those with a yen for big names and a willingness to drive out of town can look to San Francisco and beyond for coming attractions of all kinds.

For starters, this month offers two live broadcasts by Garrison Keillor and his “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show cast in San Francisco.

January also brings the national touring production of the Broadway hit “Wicked” back to the city, and the always outrageous Lady Gaga in concert at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Dutch master painter Rembrandt van Rijn has been dead for three and half centuries, but he’s still a rock star in the art world. The de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park opens an exhibition of his work near the end of the month.

Here are the details:

Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor will host live broadcasts of “A Prairie Home Companion” from War Memorial Opera House at 2:45 p.m. Saturday with guitarist and singer Elvin Bishop, and Jan. 12 with the Chanticleer chorus.

Currently in its 39th season, “A Prairie Home Companion” is set in the fictional small town of Lake Wobegon, “… where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

The show is broadcast on more than 600 public radio stations nationwide, with a weekly audience of nearly four million listeners.
You can buy tickets by phone at (415) 392-4400 or online at cityboxoffice.com. Ticket prices range from $35 to $65.

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Ball” tour makes a stopover at 7 p.m. Jan. 17, with Madeon and Lady Starlight, at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

The five-time Grammy Award winner is playing 25 cities in North America in the early part of this year, continuing a tour that has sold out shows throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Tickets cost $178, $93 or $52.50, and will be available at livenation.com, the venue box office or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

Wicked

“Wicked,” this different take of “The Wizard of Oz,” told from the Wicked Witch’s point of view, opens Jan. 23 and runs through Feb. 17 at the Orpheum Theatre at 1192 Market St. in San Francisco.

The show originally previewed in the city a decade ago, before going on to become a Broadway hit. Ticket prices: $50-$275. Information: shnsf.com, (888) 746-1799.

The de Young Museum presents two related exhibits — “Rembrandt’s Century” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis” — from Jan. 23 through June 2.

Drawn largely from the collection of works on paper in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, “Rembrandt’s Century” features more than 200 rare prints from the 17th century.

The de Young will be the first stop on the American tour of paintings from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, featuring Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and more than 30 other paintings by artists of the Dutch Golden Age, including Rembrandt.

The de Young Museum is at 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission: $15-$25. Information: deyoungmuseum.org, (415) 750-3600.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.