Mozart on Main Street; impressive new performing arts centers bring music, theater, and art to Walnut Creek, Mountain View

Sunset, Feb, 1991

It's show time, and patrons ascend a dramatic spiral staircase to their plush seats in the main theater. At intermission, they emerge from balcony boxes to mingle in an atrium lobby encircled by high walls of glass. It could be just another turn in the cultural whirl of any metropolis. But it's not.

This is Walnut Creek. Or Mountain View. These small Bay Area cities have declared their cultural coming of age by constructing impressive new performing arts centers, designed by prominent architects on a scale that you wouldn't expect to find in communities of their size (each has a population of about 65,000). Amid undistinctive office buildings, the centers are glittering symbols of civic pride and identity that proclaim these former farm towns have "arrived." Residents likely will still brave bridges and highways to take in an opera or a symphony performance in San Francisco. But the new facilities allow them to also see well-known performers in stylish surroundings close to home; at the same time, the centers encourage local music, theater, and dance groups to flourish. Both places have theaters of different sizes to accommodate major productions on a large proscenium stage, as well as more intimate performances with adaptable seating. Walnut Creek center going strong-playhouse opens in March In 1975, arts-minded citizens of Walnut Creek began to explore options for replacing the old walnut warehouse that had served as the community's main theater. After many initial discouraging studies and cost projections, followed by windfall contributions from newspaper publisher Dean Lesher, a $21-million Regional Center for the Arts finally opened last October on the site of the old nuthouse." Designed by BOOR/A of Portland (which also designed that city's performing arts center), the center is distinguished by sweeping arcs of glass that open lobby areas to the bustling civic center location. It has a 789-seat proscenium theater similar to the main stage theater in Mountain View, though larger. A 300-seat playhouse opens March 14 with the Center Repertory Company's production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. Regional groups performing at the center this month include Philharmonia Baroque, the California Symphony, and the Belasco Theater Company. The big-name Headliners Series hosts jazz vocalist Cleo Laine. and saxophonist John Dankworth. For schedule information or tickets, call (415) 943-7469. One of the most appealing spaces within the center is the wedge-shaped Bedford Gallery. The current show, The Goddess of Democracy, features a 9-foot-high bronze re-creation of the famous plaster figure that became the rallying point for the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration, as well as photographs of the students' protest and their writings. (The statue will be moved to a permanent pedestal in San Francisco's Portsmouth Square on February 24.) Gallery hours are noon to 5 Tuesdays through Sundays (until 8 on Fridays and Saturdays); admission is free. The center's entrance is at the corner of Civic Drive and Locust Street. Parking is available in a garage next door on Locust; the Walnut Creek BART station is three blocks north. Several restaurants are within walking distance on N. California Boulevard, Locust Street, and N. Main Street. Mountain View unveils new performing arts center this month The opening of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts caps the extensive renovation of Castro Street, the South Bay community's downtown hub. Designed by William Turnbull Associates of San Francisco as a complement to neighboring City Hall, the cupola-topped center houses two performance spaces: a 625-seat balconied main theater, and a smaller, octagonal theater with flexible riser seating. Behind the building, an outdoor amphitheater facing Pioneer Park has lawn seating for about 300 people. Taiko drummers, modern dancers, a cappella vocalists, and a storyteller are among the California artists who will perform on all three stages during a gala opening celebration on the evening of February 2; tickets cost $35. More than 120 theater, music, dance, and family performances, many of them reflecting Mountain View's ethnic diversity, are also booked from February through June; included are appearances by jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Brazilian vocalist Milton Nascimento, and the L.A.based Lewitzky Dance Company. Local arts groups, including TheatreWorks from Palo Alto, will also stage performances at the center. For a schedule of events or to order tickets, call 903-6000. A cafe is expected to open in the center this spring, but there are plenty of other restaurants-offering almost every imaginable ethnic cuisine-within easy strolling distance on Castro Street. In warmer months, you can take advantage of outdoor seating set up by some restaurants along the widened tree-lined street. Park free beneath the center, which is at Castro and Mercy streets (a few blocks north of El Camino Real). Or take CalTrain to the Mountain View station and walk south four blocks on Castro.