'Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City' review

Robert Hurwitt, Chronicle Theater Critic
Thursday, June 2, 2011

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City: Musical. Book by Jeff Whitty. Music and lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden. Directed by Jason Moore. Through July 10. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Two hours, 45 minutes. $40-$127, subject to change. (415) 749-2228, www.act-sf.org.

Judy Kaye is a delightfully down-to-earth Anna Madrigal, spicing her anything-goes bohemianism with tantalizing twinges of a troublesome secret. Betsy Wolfe is a bright Mary Anne Singleton, Wesley Taylor a beguiling Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, Mary Birdsong a vibrant Mona Ramsey - and that just scratches the surface of the many deftly sketched characters onstage.

The creators of "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City," the much-anticipated musical that opened Wednesday at American Conservatory Theater, haven't tried to squeeze in all the characters, incidents, secrets, coincidences and sly commentary from Maupin's first two novels. Not even the TV series could do that. But adapter Jeff Whitty and his collaborators have adopted enough of the serial's interconnected plots and people to fill two musicals. Or more.

That's too much of a good thing at times, not enough at others and just right at many points in the almost three-hour show. As seen at Tuesday's critics' preview, ACT's world premiere is a blithe, comic and pleasantly tuneful celebration of sex, drugs and all kinds of coming out in freewheeling, pre-AIDS San Francisco circa 1976.

It hits a richly rewarding high point in Taylor's poignant delivery of a lovely setting of Mouse's coming-out letter to his homophobic parents. But if it has New York aspirations, as implied by the many Broadway credits behind and in it, it needs to hone its storytelling and develop a more distinctive musical voice. The cast is fine as it is.

It's still a pretty impressive achievement. Whitty, who wrote the ever-popular "Avenue Q" (and Broadway-bound "Bring It On"), has done a great job of boiling down the many stories to a few primary ones and retaining the empathy and comic flair of Maupin's serial.

He's also rearranged incidents to enhance the central role of Kaye's Madrigal, her big secret and her romance with dying ad executive Edgar Halcyon (a crusty-buoyant Richard Poe).

Longtime "Tales" fans will miss some characters, but more get cameos than you'd expect. Director Jason Moore ("Avenue Q," "Shrek: The Musical") and choreographer Larry Keigwin keep highlighting the individuality of the many players on a many-leveled set (by Douglas W. Schmidt) that looks like a warren of Russian Hill back staircases.

But Whitty plays down the blossoming of Wolfe's central Mary Anne, making her a bit monochromatic (the too delayed appearance of Manoel Felciano as her creepy lover Norman doesn't help). He also reduces Birdsong's vital Mona to plot-connective tissue between Madrigal, Mouse and Diane J. Findlay's tough Mother Mucca (a showstopper on the brothel breakout "Ride 'em Hard"). Mouse's relationship with Josh Breckenridge's fine Jon Fielding could be better developed as well.

The songs, by first-time musical writers Jake Shears and John Garden of the Scissor Sisters, are performed with terrific verve and talent by the entire cast and music director Cian McCarthy's hot septet. A country-Broadway "Homosexual Convalescent Center," drag-show Anita Bryant protest, Birdsong's in-your-face "Crotch" and Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone's torchy DeDe Halcyon-Day numbers are particular delights.

But none of the songs are particularly memorable and some could be cut. Shears and Garden's period-pastiche approach - drawing on everything from "Hair" and disco to soul, bubble-gum pop and overblown ballads - doesn't provide the musical with a sound it can call its own nor evoke the period very well.

It's the dance styles sampled by Keigwin's choreography and Beaver Bauer's memory lane of everyday and outlandish costumes that bring back the '70s, mostly for the better. And the actors. Even when "Tales" meanders, Kaye's warm, vulnerable Madrigal and the company provide a pretty rich contact high.

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City: Musical. Book by Jeff Whitty. Music and lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden. Directed by Jason Moore. Through July 10. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Two hours, 45 minutes. $40-$127, subject to change. (415) 749-2228, www.act-sf.org.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/02/DD5S1JMOKL.DTL&type=performance