Tales of the City: The Musical in San Fran — Page 5

Eric, how was the Kylie concert?

(Somewhat on topic, since she's recorded a couple of Jake Shears tracks!)

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Glad the Kylie show was great - I loved it too!

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No, I saw her back in March in Europe. Once wasn't enough.

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Yeah, I was wondering why the American leg was re-named...I figured it might be toned down a bit. The waterworks were amazing live - I kept myself in the dark before seeing the show, so I was really bowled over. I guess the 'splash zone' should've given me a hint though...but you're right, I'm sure the increased intimacy made up for it.

Did she perform Too Much in the US? One of my faves from the record. Okay, enough Kylie...back to Tales in SF...which I'd love to see.

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Just got back from SF today, saw "Tales" on Tuesday night (with the audience talk back afterward).

For being a long show, I wish it went on longer.

I was at first unsure about Wes Taylor's casting as Mouse (I loved Marcus D'Amico's version in the first book's miniseries, Paul Hopkins not as much in the other two minis), but he ended up being a charming mixture of the two, with his own spin.

The songs I really enjoyed (and could definitely tell they were written by Jake Shears), but I felt it was a touch ballad heavy at times. I think they needed one more comedy type number.

I thought the set was interesting, though I did miss seeing Brian a few times because of the sightlines. Wes I believe said that the director kinda liked it because it was a lot like San Francisco, where things can look different from any angle you look at the city scape from, and that he actually liked that you couldn't see things all the time, which made it even more "voyeuristic".

I agreed that poor Mary Ann was kinda boring, and kinda relegated to the background halfway through act one. I think that if done right, her character should be more of a link to the show if this show starts playing outside of San Fran, because we are all technically strangers to that world but by the end, want to be included in that world. I don't know how to fix Mary Ann's current state of her character in the show though.

Jon and Beauchamp (and I always thought his name should be pronounced the French way "Beau-schamp", but everyone kept calling him "Beeachum" in the show?) were almost like cameo characters. Jon needs to be in the show more, and Beauchamp I'm not sure what to do with.

Oh, and to anyone curious about the D'orthea thing, the Artistic Director who was moderating the talkback, mentioned D'or was in early versions of the show, but was cut out by the time rehearsals for the show started.

I'm sorry if my thoughts are scattered (I was just in DC last week to see "Follies", and then was home for two days before rushing off to SF to see "Tales"). I'll try to get them more organized for a proper discussion soon.

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Saw the show last night---loved it! Wish they had the souvenir program in stock that was listed as "coming soon" though.

choitoy -- loved reading your thoughts (and I too m jealous you saw Follies--seems like a good period of theatre trips for you).

I think I pretty much agree with everything you said. Re the sightlines--where were you sitting? We were in the center of the orchestra, but the very last row (which I was worried would be too far away, but actually the theatre is so small it felt pretty close up to me). I had read online some comments about being uncomfortable in the mezanine, and I'm very tall, so we opted for the best last minute seats we could get in the orchestra (which were on the aisle which was nice). Anyway, from there I don't remember any real problems with the sightlines.

Thanks for clearing up the D'orthea thing--

I agree that for a long show, it really flew by. And as much as I loved the music, I do think there were a couple too many ballads that didn't really go anywhere (my friend the musical theatre novice admitted he was a bit antsy during one of Anna's, as great as Judy is).

It's true Beauchamp (as a French speaker I actually never knew how to say his name until I saw the miniseries--which confused me) kinda fades away after the first 1/3 or so, but I didn't see that as a huge problem, he kinda does in the books too (though of course he comes back). Although without much of him, and no D'or, that also leaves Deedee a bit high and dry later on. I don't envy the people writing this show--it's pretty close to impossible to evenly juggle all the characters.

Jon prob should have been used more, but it didn't bother me too much either--I thought his relationship with Mouse was sufficiently explored. But yeah, there's the Mary Ann problem. I'm sure the creators are aware of it, but I also don't really know what can be done (one critic said to just cut the whole Norman subplot--which didn't work for me as I said, but it's tied into too many other things for them just to drop it without writing something else).

Anyway, nice to read your thoughts!

Updated On: 6/10/11 at 07:13 PM