Here’s some interesting local theater news — some high-powered casting, a Skywalker-y night out and, be still my heart, the return of Kiki & Herb:

Carl Lumbly, last seen on TV’s “Alias,” heads the cast of Jesus Hopped the `A’ Train, the next show at SF Playhouse. Other cast members include Susi Damilano, Daveed Diggs, Joe Madero and Gabriel Marin. Bill English directs the Stephen Adly Guirgis drama, which begins previews Feb. 28 and opens March 3. Call (415) 677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org.

In other exciting news, at long last, Canadian actor Charles Ross brings his hit solo show, One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, to San Francisco’s Post Street Theatre for 14 performances only, Feb. 27 through March 11.

Since he first performed the show five years ago, Ross has been in demand for what critics have called “effortlessly energetic…he nails the tiny details that fans obsess over.” As the title indicates, Ross takes a brisk, nonstop shot through the first three Star Wars movies, the result of too much of his childhood, Ross says, spent in “a galaxy far, far away.”

Ross does all the character voices, recreates the special effects, sings the music, fights both sides of the light saber battles and, of course, kisses the princess, er, his sister, er, the princess.
Tickets are $37 and go on sale Sunday. Call (415) 771-6900 or visit www.poststreettheatre.com.

And finally, fans of the truly bizarre (in the best possible way) will be happy to know that Kiki and Herb are returning to the city that gave them birth.

Yes, Justin Bond (Kiki) and Kenny Mellman (Herb) return to San Francisco, where they first started singing in 1989, with Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway.

As the title suggests, this is the show the duo performed on Broadway last summer, and it opens July 13 at the American Conservatory Theater and runs through July 29.
Kiki and Herb haven’t been in the Bay Area since a triumphant New Year’s Eve appearance when 2005 turned into 2006, so we’re all ready for the duo’s _ how shall we say? _ unique version of songs ranging from The Cure to Public Enemy to Dan Fogleberg. Tickets are $20 to $60. Call (415) 749-2228 or go to www.act-sf.org.

And now, enjoy some Kiki love:

American Conservatory Theater’s first-ever cast album _ for last year’s superb Happy End by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill _ is released Tuesday (Jan.30) on the Ghostlight Records label.

The CD _ the first English-language recording of the score _ is beautifully produced by David Frost and preserves music director/conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos’ excellent work with a snazzy, jazzy eight-piece band.

The Brecht-Weill score (with lyrics adapted by Michael Feingold) is more accessible than some of their other collaborations and features some sonic gems including “The Sailor’s Tango” (sensuously performed by Charlotte Cohn), “The Mandalay Song” (Jack Willis in a vigorous performance as Sam “Mammy” Wurlitzer) and another lustrous Cohn performance on “Surabaya Johnny.”

The ensemble’s moment to shine in this Guys and Dolls meets Threepenny Opera tale of gangsters and Salvation Army soldiers comes in the prologue, with the cynical “blessing” of Rockefeller, Ford and J.P. Morgan.

The show’s lively but sardonic tone resonates throughout the disc, coming on strong in the epilogue: “And though the poor may starve and die, make sure no earthly court will try the rich who rule the Earth the way you rule the sky, almighty Lord!”

Happy End makes for some very happy listening indeed.

Julia Mitchell (left) is Mona, Eleanor Mason Reinholdt (center) is Sissy and Candice M. Milan is the mysterious Joanne in California Conservatory Theatre’s production of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Photo by Patrick Tracy.

(opened Jan. 25, 2007)

A group of friends gathers at a small-town Texas reunion to untangle the knots of the past. One of the friends raises her Lone Star beer bottle in a toast.

“To James Dean,” she says. “Long live the dead.”

The dead, the missing, the transformed and the crazy all receive equal stage time in Ed Graczyk’s Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, now at San Leandro’s California Conservatory Theatre.

If Graczyk’s drama is known for anything other than its cumbersome title, it’s as a minor 1982 film directed by Robert Altman and starring Cher, Kathy Bates and Karen Black.

If a Sam Shepard Western somehow got mashed up with Steel Magnolias, the result might be something like Jimmy Dean, an enjoyable mess of a play that grazes potent subjects ranging from gay rape to Hollywood delusion to breast cancer. There are even attempts to explore transgender issues, female bonding and loss of faith.

As they say in Texas, boy howdy, that’s a lot of territory to cover in a two-hour play. But Graczyk manages to give the dusty drama a little weight amid the lurid details.

Director Linda Piccone never lets the pace lag as she unfurls the story of the Disciples of James Dean, a group of teenagers in McCarthy, Texas, a town not far from Marfa, where James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson filmed Giant in 1955.

Mona, the leader of the Disciples, is Dean crazy. She got to be an extra in some of the Giant crowd scenes, and the sad thing is that experience turns out to be the high point of her life.

Twenty years after Dean’s death on Sept. 30, 1955, the Disciples are reuniting at the near-decrepit town’s dingy 5 & Dime (effective set by Ric Koller, lighting by Malcolm Carruthers).

Mona (Julia Mitchell) never left McCarthy, and neither did the vivacious Sissy (Eleanor Mason Reinholdt). Both women still hang out with the God-fearing 5 & Dime owner, Juanita (Mary Gibboney).

Turn-out for the reunion is disappointing, with only three out-of-town visitors: rich and sassy Stella May (Monica Cortes Viharo), always-pregnant Edna Louise (Heidi Wolff) and mysterious Joanne (Candice M. Milan), whom no one can quite place.

The action shifts back and forth between 1975 and 1955, with Danielle Perata, Kerry Wininger and Sean Grady (left with Mitchell) playing younger versions of the Disciples.
The actors keep the melodrama to a minimum _ a mercy given Graczyk’s tendency toward twangy, often purpleish prose.

Reinholdt goes even further and finds a damaged, compassionate soul under Sissy’s bravado. Viharo’s strong comic instincts make the most of an underwritten role, and the younger actors are all excellent.

Mitchell handles the difficult role of Mona well and connects to the character’s paralyzing fear of death, an undercurrent that threatens to transform Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean from a pulpy soap opera into a serious drama.

Laura Bell Bundy (in pink, naturally) as law student Elle Woods faces off with a law professor (Michael Rupert), much to the delight of fellow student played by Kate Shindle (left) in Legally Blonde, The Musical at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. Photo Credit: Paul Kolnik

We here at Theater Dogs don’t believe in reviewing shows before they’ve opened, but we’re not above buzzing when the preview buzz is good.

Legally Blonde, The Musical had its first preview on Tuesday (Jan. 23) at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. Spies in the house reported that some set snafus that had dogged final rehearsals were absent and that the show — which opens here Feb. 6 and heads to Broadway with previews beginning April 29 at the Palace Theatre — is a heck of a lot of fun.

Our spy Dogs had a rollicking good time at the show, with especially high marks going to director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s big numbers, Laura Bell Bundy’s unflagging energy and charm and a couple of razzle-dazzle songs.

Reminder: this is not a review, but the spies did have a three-word summation: MAJOR CROWD PLEASER.

For more Legally Blonde info, visit www.shnsf.com.

We have confirmation that John Doyle’s revival of Sweeney Todd, the one in which the 10 actors also play all the instruments, will indeed open the American Conservatory Theater season on Aug. 30.

A press release from ACT stated: “The ACT presentation of Sweeney Todd launches the company’s 2007-08 season. Fruther details on the season’s offerings will be announced in March. Tickets for Sweeney Todd go on sale in August.

The press release also notes that next month, director Tim Burton begins filming the movie version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp (left, wearing my new glasses) as the title character and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett (a role originated by Angela “God Bless Her” Lansbury). Also in the cast are Alan Rickman (Judge Turpin), Sacha Baron Cohen (Pirelli). Vrrrry niiiiice.

In this week’s Jones for Theater column, I talked with Michael Lerner, (left, with fellow film director Ludi Boeken) son of famed lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi). Though he has spent his career as a journalist and a filmmaker, Michael finally got involved in the family business when he helped revise the book for a touring production of Camelot that pulls into the American Musical Theatre of San Jose season Tuesday (Jan. 30).

Here’s some more of what Michael had to say about musical theater.

I think my father’s a genius. I do like musical theater, I mean, my generation [Michael is 47] is not my dad’s generation. The things that first intrigued me were Sondheim, my dad’s work and, obviously, the classics like West Side Story and the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon. I grew up in it and love it all. I think I developed a discerning eye in kowing what I like.

As for modern musical theater, Michael says he is intrigued by the possibilities for musicals in this day and age.

I remember seeing Rent prior to its move to Broadway and knew right away I was seeing something historic. Whether you liked it or not, it was clear it was going to be a phenomenon — it was so impassioned, so appropriate to the moment. But we’re kind of in a dormant phase with musicals right now. The newer stuff on Broadway isn’t working on national tours. People are nostalgic, which isn’t to say you can’t create classics today — it’s just a lot more difficult given the financial necessities and pressures. Investors want instant returns.

Working — quite literally — in his father’s footsteps in re-working the troublesome script for Camelot (below right, with James Barbour and Rachel York), Michael says he was able to revisit his father, though he adds he’s not really looking for work in musical theater. He is intrigued, however, with the notion of creating an original movie musical.

Hollywood is a fickle, fickle lady. If you hit at the right time, and the last two musicals have worked, you might have a chance. Newsies closed the door on movie musicals for years. Then Chicago hit, but then Rent was so awful. Now Bill Condon (director of Dreamgirls, adaptor of Chicago) has come back to us with some pretty amazing work. I’d love to make a movie musical, but getting one of those off the ground…that’s a big bite.

For more information on AMTSJ’s Camelot, visit their Web site.

“Grease: You’re the One That I Want” is the worst kind of “reality” TV tripe. So why am I watching it and sort of looking forward to Sunday’s TWO-HOUR voting show?

From the outset, I wasn’t going to watch the show at all. Other than “Project Runway,” I don’t do reality TV (insert snobby sniff-sniff here). I missed the first episode of “Grease” on NBC and my doggone TiVo (it knows me too well and it scares me) recorded a rerun on Bravo.

For those who don’t know, “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” is patterned after a similar show in England in which a lengthy audition process to find the Maria for a new Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced The Sound of Music in London’s West End was televised, and viewers got to vote on the winner. Apparently the woman chosen by the public is very good, and the revival is monster hit.

For the American version, they’re casting the roles of Danny and Sandy for a new Broadway revival of Grease (the musical least in need of Broadway reviving).

Some real talent (director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall) (left) is involved in this process as well as some non-talent (”hosts” Billy Bush and Denise Van Outen). All the worst reality TV trappings — dumb-ass sound effects, slow-mo, agonizing repetition — are here in full force and nearly ruin the show.

Notice I say “nearly.” There is fun to be had here. My favorite drama so far has been all the cry-baby auditioners. One girl melted down mid-audition for producer David Ian. That can’t be fun (hey — I hear vocal training can really help in these situations — check it out!). And the saga of jock Matt Nolan has been great. He’s a major sports guy (even works in sports marketing or some such) who has a secret desire to be a Broadway song and dance man. Turns out he was the biggest cry-baby of all. His session with producer Ian is a hoot. Watch it:

Going into what is sure to be two hours of torture on Sunday, what with the live component and viewer voting, I’m pulling for Ashley Spencer (who played Barbie in the national tour of Barbie in Fairy-topia) and Juliana Hansen (who’s in a Bruce Springsteen tribute band) in the Sandy category and local Foster City boy Jason Celaya and pure pro Austin Miller. I suppose I should also throw my support behind Chad Doreck because I support anyone named Chad who isn’t a porn star.

Visit NBC’s official “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” Web site here.

In his most recent e-mail newsletter, Mike Daisey, who was recently profiled in the New York Times, dropped a little nugget of information:

Writes Daisey: “If you’re reading this in the Bay Area, be advised that I’ll be performing GREAT MEN OF GENIUS, my 4-part monologue about megalomania and insanity in the lives of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard at Berkeley Rep this June. Watch for details soon!”

Daisey, you may remember, has been at Berkeley Rep with previous shows, “21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com” and “The Ugly American.”

Visit his Web site here.

Caught up late with Rough and Tumble’s production of 43 Plays for 43 Presidents at La Val’s Subterranean Theatre in Berkeley this week. It runs through Jan. 27 and is mostly sold out. Congratulations, Rough and Tumble.

I didn’t find the show nearly as funny as the rest of the audience, though I did think Joshua Pollock and Arwen Anderson were stand-outs in the energetic ensemble.

The play is the product of Chicago’s Neo-Futurists, and my friend and fellow theater writer Kerry Reid of the Windy City, shared the following anecdote about the show’s Atlanta run, which she read about in American Theatre (why the word theater has an “re” ending after the word “American” is something I’ll never understand):

Jimmy and Roslyn Carter saw [the show] at Dad’s Garage in Atlanta and it just made me love Carter all over again. Particularly because when they asked “Who can tell me something about Benjamin Harrison’s administration?,” guess who had the only hand in the air? Which, of course, caused the actor asking the question to observe “Okay, basically, that’s cheating.”

For more info, visit www.randt.org.

Can it be true?

John Doyle’s acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd – you know, the one where the actors also play all the instruments — is going on tour and SAN FRANCISCO is the first stop?

Yes indeed. The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the worst pies in London will soon be mere blocks from Union Square. BroadwayWorld.com broke the story today. Read it here.

The gist of it is that Sweeney, which starred Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris on Broadway, will play a limited engagement at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before heading out on tour. Dates are Aug. 30-Oct. 14th.