Hypnodrome Theatre Extends PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI Thru 8/1

Thrillpeddlers is proud to announce that due to popular demand and weekly sold-out houses PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI, San Francisco's longest-running Cockettes Musical has been extended once again - now through August 1, 2010 (schedules vary - see below.) PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI will play Fri. and Sat. - April 30 thru June 26, 2010 at 8 pm. From July 10 thru Aug. 1, 2010, Pearls plays Sat. at 8 pm and Sun at 7 pm. Thrillpeddlers' Hypnodrome Theatre is at 575 10th Street, in SF. (Bryant & Division Sts.) Tickets are $30 gen. admission or $69 for "Shock Boxes" and "Turkish Lounges**" (admits two) and are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/67716 or by calling 800/ 838- 3006

2010 Additional dates for PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI are:

April (Fri./Sat.) April 30

May (Fri./Sat.) May 1, 7/8, 14/15, 21/22, 28/29

June (Fri./Sat.) June 4/5, 11/12, 18/19, 25/26

July (Sat. 8 pm/Sun. 7 pm) July 10/11, 17/18, 24/25, 31

August (Sun. 7 pm) Aug. 1 (There will be no performances July 4 weekend.)

Special performance milestones to take note of:

- Sat. May 1, 2010 performance is the 100th performance of Pearls Over Shanghai in SF.

- Sat. June 5, 2010 performance is the one year Anniversary of Pearls Over Shanghai in SF.

The program will be presented in repertory with Thrillpeddlers' newest production HOT GREEKS,
a revival of the Cockettes original musical extravaganza by Martin Worman and Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn. This show is part of our 3rd annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, which also includes continuing performances of the long-running PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI.
HOT GREEKS plays on Thurs. at 8 pm and Sun. at 7 pm from Sun., May 2 thru Sun. June 27. Opening Night (press night) - Sunday, May 2 at 7 pm.

Thrillpeddlers Theatre Company received a coveted 2009 GOLDIE AWARD
(Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery Award) from the SF Bay Guardian!
http://tiny.cc/Lafe5

The luminous cast includes original Cockette Rumi Missabu (reprising his role as the evil Madame Gin Sling). In addition, SF favorites Connie Champagne, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Veronica Klaus and Leanne Borghesi are among the local divas alternating in the role of Petrushka, first created by disco diva Sylvester in the original productions.

PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI
An original musical by Link Martin (book/lyrics) and Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn (music), PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI is the centerpiece of Thrillpeddlers' 2nd annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, and marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of The Cockettes, a gender-bending theatrical troupe who not only originated this show, but also exerted a profound influence on the culture of our times, from the phenomenon of midnight movies to glitter rock stars (such as David Bowie and the New York Dolls) and their outrageous fashions. Pearls is a psychedelic musical inspired by sin soaked Old Shanghai and Busby Berkeley movie musicals from Hollywood's Golden Age.

PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI is a comic mock-operetta about white slavery, opium dens, and miscegenation set in the colorful world of 1937 Shanghai. Link Martin parts the bamboo curtain, his politics swept aside by his love of the mystery and intrigue of the Orient. Placing his story at the crossroads of good and evil, his exotic "old sin town" is filled with singing sailors, humorous whores, foolish immortals, handmaidens and henchmen, all taking their places in streets teeming with a mix of foreign aristocrats, opium addicts, and gangland slave-trade czars.

Stage Director for PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI is Thrillpeddlers' Russell Blackwood, and original Cockette and composer Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn serves as Musical Director and accompanist. With a cast of over 20, costumes a-plenty, and a score of 24 original songs, this production is the most eye-popping and toe-tapping in the Hypnodrome's history, with the scent of intoxicating perfume, poisonous flowers, opium, and sex oozing from every scene.

Thrillpeddlers

Thrillpeddlers ( www.thrillpeddlers.com ) have been performing their unique brand of horror and fetish theatre in San Francisco since 1991. Under the direction of Russell Blackwood, Thrillpeddlers are continuously engaged in translating, adapting and producing classic plays from the infamous repertoire of Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol and producing other works inspired by the Grand Guignol. The company's SOMA performance venue, The Hypnodrome, is tailor-made for the specific needs of horror theatre, "lights-out" spook show spectacle, multi-act bills, and arts education programs for young people. Inaugurating The Hypnodrome with WELCOME TO THE HYPNODROME in 2004, Thrillpeddlers have gone on to produce wildly popular Grand Guignol bills including BLOOD BUCKET BALLYHOO, HYPNODROME HEAD TRIPS, FLAMING SIN, AUDACIOUS ARTEFACTS, THE TORTURE GARDEN (2009) and PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI in both SF and NYC's HOWL Festival. Shocktoberfest!!, Thrillpeddlers' annual pageant of terror and titillation, is now in its 10th year and has become a San Francisco Halloween favorite. Prior to that the company's production history includes the American premiere of Clive Barker's FRANKENSTEIN IN LOVE, MONDO ANDRONICUS (selected Best of the 1997 S.F. Fringe Festival), a double-bill of THE MEDIUM and A CRIME IN THE MADHOUSE (in Pretoria, South Africa). Thrillpeddlers has won the Guardian's "Best of the Bay" and, SF Weekly's "Best of San Francisco" Readers' Choice for "Best Theatre Company". Thrillpeddlers are also the purveyors of www.GrandGuignol.com the most complete source of Grand Guignol information on the Net.

**About Seating:

Pairs of patrons will surely enjoy Hypnodrome's Shock Box seats for two, which garnered SF Weekly's "Best of San Francisco 2008" for "Best Bonus Theater Experience." These themed seats include sumptuous Turkish Lounges, as well as private boxes including "Heaven and Hell,
"The Pharaoh's Tomb," and "Padded Cell," which offer the same opportunity for illicit trysting that was once a feature of the Parisian Théâtre du Grand Guignol - with added special effects as a nod to the 1950s horror movie gimmicks of William Castle.

The program will be presented in repertory with Thrillpeddlers' newest production HOT GREEKS,
a revival of the 1972 Cockettes original musical extravaganza by Martin Worman and Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn. This show is part of our 3rd annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, which also includes continuing performances of the long-running PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI.

HOT GREEKS plays on Thurs. at 8 pm and Sun. at 7 pm from Sun., May 2 thru Sun. June 27.
Opening Night (press night) - Sunday, May 2 at 7 pm.

 

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