I’ve been more than a little surprised to see lots and lots of discounted tickets popping up on online bargain websites for the American Conservatory Theater’s production of The Normal Heart. Last year, A.C.T.’s lighthearted Tales of the City was a tough ticket, and its run was extended multiple times. But this season’s gay-themed mainstage production appears to be lacking buzz. As playwright Larry Kramer might say (or scream): Shame!

Kramer’s scorching 1985 autobiographical drama about the early days of AIDS in New York is a ferociously emotional and political work of theater that was “ripped from the headlines” when first produced and today might be called “ripped from the history books.” The play helped catalyze and amplify community anger over the dismissal of the burgeoning epidemic by government and the medical institutions, and begin to move our country forward toward saner policy. The Normal Heart proved that art can make a difference in American society.

Michael Berresse, left, and Tom Berklund in The Normal Heart. (Photo: Scott Suchman)

The production at A.C.T., directed by George C. Wolfe, won last year’s Tony for Best Revival of a Play. Currently in preview performances, it officially opens next Wednesday.

Do San Franciscans feel The Normal Heart will bring back too many difficult memories? In the face of Prop 8, Mitt Romney, and rising presence of AIDS among younger generations, are today’s gay men so ready to bury our heads and ignore the still urgent messages of this landmark piece of political art? Here’s a fascinating interview with Kramer, conducted in conjunction with the play’sopening in New York last year.

Man up, San Francisco, and support this important production.

Paula West and Bruce Vilanch share an eclectic bill with cast members from American Idiot

Cast members from the touring company of American Idiot will break character and break out some distinctly unpunk performances this Monday night, July 2.  Members of the stellar troupe are using their night off to volunteer on behalf of the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) in the latest One Night Only! fundraiser at the Marine’s Memorial Theater.

Among the Green team’s fellow footllghters in this crazy quilt of a benefit will be the extraordinary interpretive jazz singer Paula West—who has headlined the late lamented Oak Room at the Algonquin in Manhattan as well as our own Rrazz Room—and  Muppetoid writer/comedian Bruce Vilanch, who’s scripted quips for everyone from Bette Midler to Florence Henderson.

Expect an eclectic mix of music and laughs from this generous crew in a show that is not only a benefit but a bargain—tickets are as little as $25.

From  evidence we’ve dug up online, members of this American Idiot cast like to bust out a little country when they’re freed from their show’s rock and roll score. Video after the jump Read more…

American Idiot, the blast-furnace of a musical built around the songs of Bay Area natives Green Day  and first produced at the Berkeley Rep in 2009 has circled back  from Broadway, landing at the Orpheum for the final run of its first North American tour (Now through July 8). The rock solid cast—including several veterans of the New York production—takes the stage with an exuberant ferocity that belies the fact that this is the last stop of a long haul that began in Toronto six months ago.

After last night’s official opening, we spotted director/conceptualist Michael Mayer positively beaming at the back of the house, surely impressed at the stamina and professionalism of this remarkable troupe. You’d be hard-pressed to name another touring show with this degree of polish.

Scott J. Campbell plays Tunny (Photo: Doug Hamilton)

The show stitches all of the songs from the 2004 American Idiot album—along with numbers from Green Day’s subsequent 21st Century Breakdown record—in a loose, poetry slam of a storyline about a troika of teenage boys seeking to escape the miasma of contemporary suburbia in search of some inchoate ‘better life.’ Propulsive punk-pop songs like “I Don’t Care” and “Know Your Enemy” effectively convey the sneering, pissed-off angst of adolescence, while anthemic ballads including “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” alchemize sometimes self-dramatizing teen bathos into genuinely moving onstage moments.

The emotions and characters in American Idiotare as boldly and broadly drawn as graffiti tags: Musical vernacular aside, the show is much more akin to opera than to traditional musical theater: It invites its audience to get swept up in the music, to wallow and soar in grand percussive projections of their of their own emotions, rather than closely follow witty lyrics and clockwork plotting.

Arena rock spectacle at the intimate Orpheum
(Photo: Doug Hamilton)

American Idiot even has its own three tenors: Van Hughes as Johnny, who descends into heroin addiction; hunky Scott Campbell as Tunny, who joins the army out of aimlessness rather than patriotism; and Jake Epstein as Will, who stays behind in their hometown with his pregnant girlfriend. They’re remarkably focused actors, imbuing their loosely sketched roles with specific humanity and creating surprisingly individuated characters amidst the overall atmosphere of stomping ensemble spectacle.

A bell-clear sound system, an arsenal of well-deployed lighting and video effects, and Steven Hoggett’s frenetic full-bodied choreography help American Idiot concentrate and elevate the the pleasures of an arena rock show into something just as visceral, but much more rewarding in the intimate 2200-seat Orpheum.

Sit in the pit! A limited number of $25 Orchestra Pit Rush seats will go on sale two hours prior to each performance at the Orpheum Theatre Box Office only. These tickets are available to anyone and you must be present to purchase. Cash only with a limit of two tickets per person. Tickets will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

Video clip after the jump

Read more…

You’re doubtless familiar with the Blue Man Group. Well, take a gander at White Man Group, better known as VocaPeople, the Israel-based singing ensemble now performing at the Marines’ Memorial Theater through June 17.

VocaPeople on tour in Spain

Their musical is tied together by a thin, rather extraneous plot line about alien visitors to earth (hence the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence cosmetics and bleached out wardrobe), but its really all about spotlighting the group’s remarkable vocal talents and ingenious song arrangements and mash-ups.  The show is performed entirely a cappella, but spans genres from classical, to funk, to metal (with a dollop of doo-wop, of course). If you’re looking for a lighthearted, utterly entertaining evening out over the week ahead, VocaPeople’s got the white stuff.

Check out cool Voca video after the jump Read more…

Darren Criss, live on Sunday night (Photo: Rebecca Sanabria)

Finally slogging your way through your taxes this weekend? Why not celebrate getting it over with by supporting a great local cause, racking up a deduction for next year, and easing your pain by staring into the limpid eyes of a singing heartthrob?

On Sunday night, Glee dreamboat and local native Darren Criss headlines the American Conservatory Theater’s annual season gala. Criss, who will perform half a dozen numbers throughout the fundraiser’s original production, is an alumnus of the A.C.T. actor training program, the gala’s beneficiary. Two-time Tony winner and MacArthur fellow Bill Irwin—who stars in A.C.T.’s upcoming mainstage production of Becket’s Endgame—will also be featured in the evening’s performance. 

Meanwhile, A.C.T.’s  current main stage offering—a smartly designed production of the high concept comedy Maple & Vine—continues through next Sunday, April 22. The fast-paced play finds a contemporary couple trading in their manic Manhattan lifestyle to join a midwestern community of full-time 1950s reenactors. The sleek, period-perfect set and costume designs by Ralph Funicello and Alex Jaeger are terrific.

Gay playwright Jordan Harrison cleverly weaves pointed commentary on good old fashioned racism, homophobia, and misogyny into his portrait of the superficially idyllic Leave It To Beaver era. But he gets a bit tangled in the limits of his premise—how does a thirtysomething Japanese American in 2010 have a sister who was in a WWII internment camp? This is supposed to be about reenactment, not time travel.

Nonetheless, Maple & Vine makes for a zippy, quippy evening’s entertainment, especially at the discounted ticket prices you can find on the web for next week’s performances. It’s like seeing the world through RomneyVision goggles.

A '50s coffee klatsch in Maple & Vine (Photo: Kevin Berne)