Animal Collective

Living in San Francisco, we get our fill of the various striped-stocking, burlesque, alternacircus genres with their throwback styles and vintage headwear — by God do we get our fill. But we have to give a theatrical tip of our threadbare derby (while dosing ourselves with laudanum and thrashing some mewling infants with our cane) to the organizers of the famed Edwardian Ball. Tonight, they've come up with something different. In assembling a lineup, someone must have looked at the typically roguish acts they'd accumulated and mused, "Ah, this again. How about we add some ... beasts?" The result is the Animal Masquerade, a strange hybrid show that combines groups such as Rosin Coven, the Vau de Vire Society, Vagabond Opera, and the Nekyia with a bunch of animal mayhem — and hopefully a good number of guests will have the wit to dress up in feathers and skins. Unwilling to confine such a smashing idea to a single night, tomorrow they're bringing us another show called the San Francisco Zoo!, featuring hybrid animal/human acts such as Cookie Mongoloid (Sesame Street speed metal), the Zoopy Show (animal electronic), Kitty Kitty Bang Bang (kitty burlesque), and DJ NeonBunny (a fluorescent hare with a couple of turntables). Many more performers, and surprises, await.