If three makes a trend, it would be fair to say that Bay Area musical theater makers are on a fantastic trend, creating fabulous world premieres that vividly celebrate our local communities’ past, present and future.
The newest in the trio is “Every Saturday Night,” a dual time-period show presented by San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company. It’s delightfully set in San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood— back in the jazzy 1950s when it was known as “Harlem of the West,” and today, in the Western Addition, as it’s called, as the real estate scene is wildly out of control in the wake of bad redevelopment practices.
(The two previous shows are SFBATCO’s 2025 production “The Day the Sky Turned Orange” about the weirdness of the world during the pandemic, particularly on Sept. 9, 2020, when wildfire smoke produced a literally eerie atmosphere here; and American Conservatory Theater’s 2025 “Co-Founders,” about the adventures of a young Black woman/tech inventor trying to launch a digital animation app that’s a sweet avatar of her deceased father.)
The best parts of “Every Saturday Night,” with appealing jazzy, bluesy music and lyrics and a story by Danny Duncan (who lived in the Fillmore back in the day!) are the most historical. His loving reminiscences come to life telling the story of Ardella (Cathleen Ridley), who hosts weekly “after hours” parties in her Fillmore home, a place where Negroes can freely gather for dancing, food and fun. Learning about this sadly, little-known events is a treat!
Ardella mostly has a good relationship with her affable young son Dante (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa), who helps her stage the festivities, but also has secret, thespian ambitions of his own. The pair shines in the sweet tune “Only When I’m With You.”
Ardella also has a tenant Doris (Imri M. Tate), who’s riled up about racism and changes in the area that very well could drive out the Black residents. Tate nearly stops the show with her second act solo in “For the Greater Good of the Neighborhood.”
Written by Michael Gene Sullivan, perhaps best known for his longtime work making beloved San Francisco Mime Troupe satires, “Every Saturday Night” also follows older, current-day Dante (Darryl V. Jones), who’s considering selling the Fillmore house to an up-and-coming Black family from the East: mom Joanelle (Janelle LaSalle), dad Samuel (Jon-David Randle) and teen son Adaré (Trevor Miller), who amusingly are charged with personifying a “bougie Black fantasy.” They’re met, almost bombarded, by Christine LaFontaine, a local Black business owner determined to ensure that the “right” people move into Dante’s place. Velina Brown, a sometimes SF Mime Trouper, plays Christine with the same sassy spirit that characterizes the troupe.
With direction and choreography by AeJay Antonis Marquis, “Every Saturday Night” perhaps could benefit from a slightly zippier pace, a shorter overture and yet even lengthier production numbers in the first act. Grown-up Dante and the company were just getting going in “On Fillmo” when it seemed to end too soon; likewise, it was a touch disappointing to witness the chorus dancers in the aisles in audience rather than onstage front and center. The good news: The situation was remedied in Act 2, with lively, buzzy numbers “Ardella’s Place,” “Life Ain’t Nothin’ But Jazz” and the reprise of “Every Saturday Night,” seemingly authentic replications of those joyful gatherings decades ago.
Pivotal to “Every Saturday Night’s” success is a great band, led by music director-pianist Othello Jefferson and featuring Shawn Tennie on drums, Chili Corder on guitar, Kenda Kop on bass, William Berg on reeds and Charles Ryan on trumpet. They alternate with associate music director-pianist Noah Bossert, drummer Phoebe Chou, bassist Travis Kindred, Hal Richards on reeds and Jason Park on trumpet.
SFBATCO’s “Every Saturday Night” continues through Nov. 1 at the Strand Theater, 1127 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $30 to $66 at SFBATCO.org.