Say it isn't so, Marga. "I am pretty sure Latin Standards will be the final solo theatrical performance from me," said local treasure Marga Gomez, who has been entertaining audiences for decades with her standup comedy and a series of autobiographical solo shows. Her latest solo outing will have a short shakedown run at Brava Theatre Center on Nov. 4-6 before its official debut in New York in January.
"I'm approaching Latin Standards as if it is the last thing I ever get to share," Gomez said recently. "I can't imagine there will be anything left to say about myself once it's finally complete." Besides, she added, it will be her 12th solo show. "Being the superstitious person I am, I wouldn't even try to do a 13th solo show."
Gomez mines autobiographical details for all her shows, finding the absurd in her various adventures through gay romance, showbiz, and family life. She has explored the latter category in several shows, and it is the focus �" with an adjusted lens �" of Latin Standards .
A second-generation performer, Gomez grew up in Manhattan, where her volatile, self-obsessed parents were celebrities in the Latino community. Her father was a Cuban-born comic whose stage name was Willy Chevalier, and her mother was an exotic dancer from Puerto Rico known as Margarita. She dove most deeply into this world 10 years ago in Los Big Names, wryly and poignantly exploring it from the perspectives of both a confused child and an adult still dealing with the consequences.
"I feel like I have lived 100 years since then," she said of Los Big Names. "I am now the age my father was when he passed. I feel ready to write about him as a peer rather than as the baffled child. I'm that guy."
Again working with David Schweizer, who directed Los Big Names, Gomez will officially debut Latin Standards at an off-Broadway theater festival in January. The plan is then to bring it back to San Francisco in the spring for a regular run. "It's a memoir presented as a farewell concert in a series of farewell concerts, like when Sinatra took 10 years to retire," Gomez said. "But I promise not to sing �" at least not more than two minutes."
Tickets are available at brava.org.
Moon enters new phase
42nd Street Moon not only starts a new season on Nov. 2, but it is also introducing a new leadership team. The Sherlock Holmes musical Baker Street, part of the final season chosen by Founding Artistic Director Greg MacKellan before retiring to Southern California, will be the first under the leadership of recently appointed Executive Directors Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas.
Carollo, who has worked with numerous Bay Area theaters, and Thomas, a Bay Area native whose major credits have been in Southern California, have assumed the leadership of all artistic and administrative operations. Co-founding Artistic Director Stephanie Rhoads will remain on the board of directors, while Managing Director Joe Mader has left the company.
Baker Street arrived on Broadway in 1965 in a ballyhoo cranked up by producer Alexander H. Cohen, a savvy promoter with a dubious commercial record. To hype the event mentality, he announced that men would not be admitted unless they wore jackets and ties, while women would have to wear dresses. The mixed reviews quickly undid this dress-up policy, but no matter what audiences wore, they did not arrive in sufficient numbers to make the show profitable. It has been rarely produced since then, which makes it a prime candidate for Moon's mission of reviving often-neglected musicals.
Librettist Jerome Coopersmith combined elements from several of the series of novels that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his fictional detective, and Broadway newcomers Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessell provided the score. Josh Logan, the intended director, was replaced by Hal Prince early on, who then called in Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock (Fiddler on the Roof ) to add several songs for which they did not take credit.
Cyndi Goldfield is directing and choreographing Moon's production at the Eureka Theatre, with Moon regular Dave Dobrusky continuing in his role as music director. Michael Monagle heads the cast as Holmes, with Dan Seda as his loyal assistant Mr. Watson, Michael Barrett Austin as archenemy Professor Moriarty, and Abby Haug as love interest Irene Adler.
Baker Street will run at the Eureka through Nov. 20. Tickets are available at 42ndstmoon.org.