Tales of the City, San Francisco
Why hello there! No, I hadn't locked myself up at Alcatraz prison or tumbled head over feet over the hills of San Francisco. I'm sorry I've been MIA on LJ. Book blog business has been taking up my time.
From the July 27 to August 8, I was with my relatives up in San Francisco. I've always wanted to visit SF and do all the glorious postcard touristy stuff. I feel so darn lucky to have relatives who live in or close to the thick of things and I get to stay with them! :)
I'll talk about my trip in other posts. This one is for the musical that I saw, Tales of the City. I must admit, I haven't heard of this musical although I am familiar with Armistead Maupin, the author of the books where this show is based on. It is such a surprise to see familiar names in the cast and crew. Actually, I've seen a good number of them live in other shows such as South Pacific and The Addams Family. But the biggest surprise for me was... CARMEL DEAN! The Idiot in me was squealing so hard when I read her name on the programme. I may have squee'd a little bit in real life. Hopefully, I didn't spook those around me. Carmel Dean was the musical arranger and supervisor for this production.
My cousin and I got almost last minute partial view balcony seats. (Believe it or not, this was the FIRST time that I've ever watched a show from balcony. But the theatre was small-ish enough that it didn't take away from the experience.) We saw it 29 July 2011 evening. The show closed on the 31st.
Tales of the City is based on a book of the same name by Armistead Maupin. It is based in San Francisco in the 70s. Think In the Heights meets Rock of Ages with Hair playing in the background set in San Francisco.
The show itself needs a lot of work. A lot of parts left me wanting more. The scenes had great build-up but the “great reveal” didn’t have that much of an impact. The acting was phenomenal. They had great timing. I loved the general gist of the story (I will definitely read the novels). But the book still needs a little tweaking if this has NY dreams. The characters are relate-able enough but it can be a little bit confusing for non-San Francisco, non-Bay Area people. I’m not and I admit, I didn’t get some jokes. Also, considering that the songs are penned by someone from the pop group Scissor Sisters, MOST of the songs lack hooks. I couldn’t remember a single song from Act 1. Act 2 fared a bit better… maybe because I liked Act 2 better than Act 1.
My favorite parts were Homosexual Convalescent Center from Act 1 (because that's the only part that I can somewhat remember), Dear Mama and Paper Faces from Act 2. Betsy Wolfe can sing her face off.
Like I said, it still needs tweaking. After all, this is just the world premiere. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this. (A full audio would be nice lol.)
From the July 27 to August 8, I was with my relatives up in San Francisco. I've always wanted to visit SF and do all the glorious postcard touristy stuff. I feel so darn lucky to have relatives who live in or close to the thick of things and I get to stay with them! :)
I'll talk about my trip in other posts. This one is for the musical that I saw, Tales of the City. I must admit, I haven't heard of this musical although I am familiar with Armistead Maupin, the author of the books where this show is based on. It is such a surprise to see familiar names in the cast and crew. Actually, I've seen a good number of them live in other shows such as South Pacific and The Addams Family. But the biggest surprise for me was... CARMEL DEAN! The Idiot in me was squealing so hard when I read her name on the programme. I may have squee'd a little bit in real life. Hopefully, I didn't spook those around me. Carmel Dean was the musical arranger and supervisor for this production.
My cousin and I got almost last minute partial view balcony seats. (Believe it or not, this was the FIRST time that I've ever watched a show from balcony. But the theatre was small-ish enough that it didn't take away from the experience.) We saw it 29 July 2011 evening. The show closed on the 31st.
Tales of the City is based on a book of the same name by Armistead Maupin. It is based in San Francisco in the 70s. Think In the Heights meets Rock of Ages with Hair playing in the background set in San Francisco.
The show itself needs a lot of work. A lot of parts left me wanting more. The scenes had great build-up but the “great reveal” didn’t have that much of an impact. The acting was phenomenal. They had great timing. I loved the general gist of the story (I will definitely read the novels). But the book still needs a little tweaking if this has NY dreams. The characters are relate-able enough but it can be a little bit confusing for non-San Francisco, non-Bay Area people. I’m not and I admit, I didn’t get some jokes. Also, considering that the songs are penned by someone from the pop group Scissor Sisters, MOST of the songs lack hooks. I couldn’t remember a single song from Act 1. Act 2 fared a bit better… maybe because I liked Act 2 better than Act 1.
My favorite parts were Homosexual Convalescent Center from Act 1 (because that's the only part that I can somewhat remember), Dear Mama and Paper Faces from Act 2. Betsy Wolfe can sing her face off.
Like I said, it still needs tweaking. After all, this is just the world premiere. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this. (A full audio would be nice lol.)