A Week in San Francisco Theater

I spent this week in San Francisco, because my tenants moved out and I needed to rent out our San Francisco apartment. I stayed in the mostly empty apartment by myself. I could entertain myself by day with coffee trips, hilly runs and delicious food, but I knew the nights would be lonely, so I booked some theater tickets. Obviously I had to see Tales of the City, but it took some searching to find some regional plays to fill the other nights. I found the website Bay Area Theater, which saved me from sucombing to the various one man/woman shows in  my Mission neighborhood.

Tales of the City
I had read the Tales of the City books by Armistead Maupin well before moving to San Francisco. I have continued to read them as he has published more years later. The stories speak for themselves, a love of the city, but also striking out on your own, building family around you and overcoming life's obstacles. I was so excited when I heard that a Tales of the City musical was in the works, but I wasn't sure if I would get to see it. Suddenly our tenants gave notice, the show's run was extended and kismet worked in my favor.

The songs written by Jake Shears and John Gordon were the highlight of the musical (as they should be, right?). There were big self-affirming ballads, that I can just imagine the kids on Glee covering, campy disco numbers and a really sweet, slow number when Michael sings the infamous coming out letter. Those Scissor Sisters guys transitioned to musical theater nicely.

Maupin's Tales of the City is a quick read, but it's 400 pages and introduces you to a dozen complicated characters with their own overlapping storylines. It's a lot to get done on stage and it took exactly three hours. Maupin's stories always have a mystery subplot (which I always thought he could do without), and it was well into the second act when it occurred to me that the mystery had be left out of the musical. But then it showed up, with 45 minutes to go. Mary Ann dates a creepy Barbary Lane neighbor who tries to blackmail Edgar Halcyon and Mrs. Madrigal. He's also into child porn. With a book that was a little too long and complicated, they could have cut this part of the story. When your show is too long, it's always safe to cut the child pornography subplot.

Judy Kaye as Anna was excellent. She had some big belty songs and really delivered them. Wesley Taylor as Michael was sweet and lovable. I wasn't convinced of his singing, but I was convinced of his Michael. Betsy Wolfe as Mary Ann has a great voice, but failed to deliver the necessary naivete of the character. Mary Ann will always be Laura Linney in my heart, but if this show comes to New York I hope to see someone more innocent in the role. Her affect could be aided by less tight costumes and not such a bleach blond wig. However, Wolfe has been with the show through readings and workshops, so she might stick with it for a New York production. I'll just send the producers my hair and costume notes.

The Book of Liz
As a fan of David Sedaris's books, I have wanted to see the play he wrote with his sister Amy Sedaris, The Book of Liz. I think it was produced in Brooklyn last summer, somewhere small, but I missed the run. Lucky for me it was playing this month in San Francisco at the Custom Made Theatre Company. Marie O'Donnell played the sweaty, cheese ball making main character, Liz, and a team of three actors covered the remainder of the roles. It was a cute 90 minute story about when a woman leaves her cloistered community (the Squeamish) and encounters modern culture. This set up makes for lots of mix ups, along the lines on Amelia Bedelia. It was a silly story, but had some good jokes thrown in, as you would expect for the Sedaris duo.

The Pride
New Conservatory Theatre Center's The Pride is about three characters in 1958 and 2008. In both years the three characters are named Oliver, Philip and Sylvia, played by the same three actors, but they are not the same people or scenarios. In 1958 Philip and Sylvia are married, and Philip has an affair with Oliver. Phillip ends up rejected Oliver and turning to aversion therapy. The psychiatrist's description of the aversion therapy was by far the most haunting scene - Philip was to be locked in a windowless room over night. He would be encouraged to masturbate to gay pornography in the room. Each hour a nurse would come in a give him a shot that would make him vomit. He wouldn't have a toilet or bucket to vomit in, just the floor. So he would remain with the vomit and return to the porn until the nurse came back an hour later with another shot. And repeat until morning. Aversion created. Man cured. Bleh.

In 2008 Oliver and Philip are a couple just breaking up and Sylvia is their close friend. The most memorable scene from 2008 is Oliver's boss talking about how he wants more articles written about gay people and he goes on to talk about his uncle who died of AIDS when he was younger. He didn't meet his uncle's partner until the hospital and that never made sense to him.

The main point was to make an obvious contrast of gay people's lives fifty years apart in London. The point was made with memorable characters and stories. The year switched back and forth and it was sometimes hard to know which year it was, as the characters had the same names and looked the same. Sometimes the only change was the presence or absence of laptop. More dramatic period costumes would have helped - surely London fashion hasn't changed only slightly in fifty years.

June Theater Wrap-Up

The highlights of my June theater schedule were Measure for Measure in Central Park and Unnatural Acts at Classic Stage Company. I attended opening night of Measure for Measure and was excited to spot the likes of Alec Baldwin, Heath Calvert and Tony Kushner (all three are major celebrities in my mind). I found the performance to be more engaging than most productions on Shakespeare. Of course a town outlawing sex outside of marriage (reminded me a lot of Footloose) and a classic bedtrick make for a good story. Carson Elrod stole the show for me. He was my favorite lost boy in Peter and the Starcatcher and he was excellent in a totally different role in Measure for Measure. The park raccoon made an appearance, as did a dildo, so all in all it was a great night at Shakespeare in the Park.

Unnatural Acts is about the secret court at Harvard that expelled a number of students and one faculty member who were thought to be gay. The story is true and is a blemish on Harvard's liberal history. It's a very compelling story. Each man in the play had their own explanation for their association with the "gay" dorm room on campus. The explanations were not so much the cause of being closeted, but trying to save their hides, and their diplomas. The acting was great - the actors did their own 1920's version of camp with success. At the end of the play we heard of what happened in life to each of the character's and many were sad, but predictable.

In  June I also made a return trip to see The Normal Heart before it ended its Broadway run. We are all so lucky that this play was produced this spring (thank you Darryl Roth) and that Joe Mantello and John Benjamin Hickey signed on for it. A new generation of theater goers got to be affected by Larry Kramer's rage. Let us remember it.

The lowlights of June - The Shaggs at Playwright's Horizon, The House of Blue Leaves on Broadway and The Illusion at Signature Theatre.