Thoughts on Tales of the City: The Musical in San Francisco

[twosfmen]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 4:02am

Let's give the TOTC creative team our freshest ideas to turn a good SF preview into a a phenomenal show... and on to the West End and Broadway.

I've found only one other Tales thread on this site (under Broadway) - but nothing in the SF board - So I've started this thread. I've lived in SF 20 years and we hit alt least 20 big shows at ACT, Berkeley Rep, and SHN each year.

I saw the 1st preview this Wednesday and agree that the house was absolutely electric with locals who've long loved Armistead, his serial, and our city! Jake was at the bar and I wished him well and shared my excitement.

There is so much to absolutely love about this show. The talent and heart and sense of family (chosen) and honesty come through. The hard work really shows, and I'm sure they'll make it a hit - but they need help right now.

They'll have enough fans telling you how wonderful it all is - and much of it is. But it could so easily be turbo-charged and they have little time to waste. They've got their work cut out for over the next few weeks. It runs pretty long so some songs and story will have substancial cuts.... But here are a lot of simple, quick fixes that my friends and I agreed would add so much to it's success.

First the clear and major strengths - The casting and vocals are really strong. Anna (Judy Kaye), Mary Ann (Betsy Wolfe), Connie (Julie Reiber), Mona (Mary Birdsong), Michael (Wesley Taylor) and Edgar (Richard Poe) are really authentic to the characters we've loved in the books and the series -they look the part and sound wonderful.

The lead ballads touch your heart and the Mother Mucca show stoppers do just that. "Plus 1" is too well delivered and too fun to drop. They are all memorable... don't mess with those.

Mona steals the show. No changes. She's hillarious - her comic timing and confidence and rocker vocals are all right on. The show needs a bridge to better justify her decline and confusion after hearing Anna's news. It's sudden and unsupported.

Anna is the heart and an amazing vocal - It takes a good long while to let go of Olympia Dukakis, but you finally surrender to the new Anna - especially when playing off of Edgar. Anna should be older - at least some grey in that auburn hair - and we miss 3 very important things about her....

1) She needs lines that show off her sly dry wit. It came across with Olympia.

2) Barbary lane should be ablaze with the plants, vines and flowers she tended so lovingly over the years... She should have a pot plant hiding behind rose bushes and vines should climb the stairwells. The trees to the left and right don't cut it. Fly' could drop loads of greenery - we have tall Eucalyptis here... even just greener dappled lighting and hedges and rose bushes would help so much. Stark white doen't cut it.

3) Her home was a place you wanted to explore - bohemian lamps with silk scarves draped, paintings, rugs and period drapes with swag and tassles and wall papers and antiques. You need a larger set piece to push in or drop down to steep us in her world... It would support the whole Atlantis vision....

Mouse is perfect - his energy and spunk and we all held our breath and choked through the reading of his coming out letter. Amazing. He should be bare-ass in bed with Jon - if just for a moment... boxers in the 70's? The jeans had buttons for a reason.

Mary Ann's facination with Norman is sudden and unsupported. He needs to be taking notes, peering around and sneaking pictures throughout the first half while also building a friendly aliance with her. And you build no reason for her to follow him to the cliffs -especally if she's lost trust in him. I'd really focus on his blackmail side and completely dump the unsupported creepy photos she found... Maybe she's just trying to understand him.

And the really really big deal..... Where's the famous city in the title? You never see a painted lady, victorian, a bay view, a golden gate as the poster would suggest. You never locate us in the city..... unbelievable. We know this isn't Beach Blanket Babylon but around the world people will need and want to see some peeks at the city. Look up the amazing line drawings in the "Over Coffee" illustrations in the Chronicle by Paul Madonna. You need fresh non-cheesy angles on the old icons.

The apartments on Russian Hill would have gorgious bay and panoramic views. No skyline? No slowly moving scrim evoking fog? Shouldn't Mary ann be stepping off a cable car upon arrival or something?

The city is joy filled. You need to pull in a few of the best sight gags the city has to offer. You see it at our Bay to Breakers - or the stupid day parade. Armistead filled his books with brand names and period touches that popped us back into 1975. The phone should have a long tangled twist cord - Just look at the creativity you'll find on the t-shirt slogans in shops in the Castro and the clever signs at city hall rally's here. You need the Lady's of Perpetual Indulgence to do the gay nun's makeup, and they should be on skates. Mouse should work to ensure his folks only see them from the back to support his "straightening" up the house and neighborhood.

You need more color, and a disco beat should be more evident. The disco should fill the house like a scissor scissors concert.... dangle a huge mirrored ball from the rafters like the chandalier in Phantom and fill the house with a 70's light show they will never forget... There are a few times where the audience is tapping and clapping but it never takes off.. Jake needs to give us a disco blitz. And play the closing music on until the house has emptied out.

The opening party scenes were filled with hippy attire that read more Hair and woodstock than 70's clones.. tight 501's, white t's and mustaches.

Drop the references to Marin when you leave SF. No one will get that. You need better jokes.

Jon is upset with mouses contest, yet he's ok with the bath house? Make it clearer why...

The well designed white set piece needs more to bring it to life for 2-3 hours. Color and light shifting, and shifting backgrounds, Drop in neon at a bar scene, lamps shorting out at the bus stop. We want to peer into those shutters. It needs to change more throughthe show. Surprise us. We long for a set change from time to time.

We have other thoughts about the book itself. That's the real challenge of course. But these ideas can really help and are cheaper quick fixes that can add a lot. We'll be back to the show in a month and can't wait to see fresh changes.

Steve

Updated On: 5/22/11 at 04:02 AM

[sffan2]

Posted: 6/1/11 at 6:23pm

I saw Tales of the City a few days ago, I agree with everything you say. It's way too long, I'd cut much of the beginning of the show. The beginning dragged, wasn't as funny or clever as it should have been and until you get to Mona, wasn't engaging. Mona steals the show.

It seems like there are so many things they have to cover that the motivation of the characters is lost, why does Mona leave? Why does Marianne suddenly have a boyfriend? You don't know if you've only seen the show.

There are a few wonderful songs, but is it just me or is Mrs. Madrigal channeling a british ethel merman? Her voice is odd and not in an interesting way. She seems to be playing older and more conservatively than the character should be. And please give poor Mrs. Halcyion one little line to show her loneliness and motivation, not just her inebriation. Beauchamp Day needs to have some charm, you need to believe he could charm women (and men) into bed, he just comes across as crabby.

Some of the dancing isn't there yet.......the charleston? The non existent disco? And why does the poster show Marianne in shadow looking like a hooker? I always think of her with that samsonite suitcase walking on the hilly streets in a friendly way, kind of the way Doris Day did in her TV show, not the way the poster shows. It's just odd for her character and does not benefit the show. I think I could cut 30 minutes of the show easily and it would play better. It seems like most of the best parts come in the second act, best songs, acting, etc. Again, they need to find a clever and quick (welcome Marianne seemed to go on forever!) way to complete the exposition and then move on.........that's why Mona is a such a breath of fresh air, I thought, finally, someone gets back to the story. And if you want someone to be Tom of Finland.......find a Tom of Finland-like man, there are LOTS of them in SF........and while I thought it was clever to have Anita Bryant appear, maybe a short news clip would be better?

I think there is a great show here lurking behind the curtain. Avenue Q had great charm, pacing and whit, some of that is lacking so far. Keep the best, cut the rest. And by the end, there isn't a dry eye in the house, but 3 hours is too long to get there.