Big news arrived cheek-by-jowl from the side-by-side theaters on Geary Street. At the Curran Theatre, it was the announcement of the first subscription series since reopening last year and becoming independent of the best-of-Broadway-oriented SHN. A few steps away, at ACT, a new artistic director has been chosen to replace Carey Perloff after her 25-year run ends at the conclusion of this season.
Curran Affairs
The four shows being sold as part of the Curran's subscription package are an eclectic lot, with a Broadway hit and a Broadway hopeful joined by two productions that take wildly different looks at cultural traditions. Subscriptions are now on sale, with individual tickets going on sale at a later date. Info at sfcurran.com or (415) 358-1220.
The season begins with the already announced "Head Over Heels," a mash-up musical that incorporates the songs of the Go-Go's into a reimagined version of a 16th-century prose poem. Philip Sidney's "The Arcadia" is a story filled with sexual encounters, political machinations, sleeping potions, and cross-dressing, and the idea of coupling the Go-Go's songs to a highly irreverent approach to the source material originated with "Avenue Q" Tony-winner Jeff Whitty. "Spring Awakening" Tony-winner Michael Mayer is directing the musical, and actress Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the lead producers planning a move to Broadway this summer after its April 10-May 6 run at the Curran.
At this point, any future destinations of "Soft Power" after its Curran run will be determined with the help of San Francisco audiences for this "play that becomes a musical." David Henry Hwang (Tony Award, "M. Butterfly") has written the book and lyrics, and Jeanine Tesori (Tony Award, "Fun Home") has provided the score. What starts off as a contemporary comedy about a Chinese executive who falls in love with an American leader reworks recent political history by skipping ahead a century to play it back in the form of a Broadway-style East-meets-West musical. The June 20-July 8 run at the Curran follows its premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
The singular sensation known as Taylor Mac has found a home at the Curran, and will make his third visit to the theater on Nov. 21-Dec. 1. In "Holiday Sauce," the performance artist will do to holiday songs what he wrought upon the classic American songbook in "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music," reimagining them through a provocatively skewed social, cultural, and political lens that will be adorned by indescribably outrageous costumes by Machine Dazzle, and accompanied by a nine-piece band.
The Curran's inaugural season will close with a show of the more traditional form that usually plays Broadway-touring houses. But "Dear Evan Hansen" is an untraditional traditional musical, dealing with adolescent isolation, anxiety disorders, and even suicide. It nevertheless became a Broadway hit, winning the Tony Award as Best Musical, and it's still playing to full houses since its opening in late 2016. With a book by Steven Levenson and songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it tells the story of teenage social outcast who gains a second family when he plays along with the misapprehension that he was close friends with a schoolmate who committed suicide.
When Carole Shorenstein Hayes fell out with her partners at SHN, she took the Curran Theatre out of the mix of the three theaters (which also include the Orpheum and Golden Gate) where SHN shows have played. After extensive renovations, it reopened with a mix of programming that did not have the benefit of a subscriber base that guarantees a substantial number of presold seats. That made it tough on a lesser-known show like "Bright Star," which didn't benefit from the hammock effect of being sold in a package with bigger-name shows.
Although Shorenstein Hayes' artistic choices have been edgier than what SHN offers, there is now a competitive overlap between the two organizations. "Dear Evan Hansen" is certainly a show that SHN would like to have presented. It's a rarity in most cities to have more than one entity booking major touring shows. How that plays out economically looks to be more of a challenge for the new kid on the block than for mainstream powerhouse SHN, but in the moment at least, it's a boon to theatergoers with an intriguingly increased array of choices.
New Era for ACT
Pam MacKinnon has directed multiple productions on Broadway and in major regional theaters, but she has never before run a theater. That will change on July 1 when she takes over from Carey Perloff as ACT's new artistic director. While some planning for the 2018-19 season started months ago, Perloff and MacKinnon have been working together to ensure that the upcoming season also reflects the incoming artistic director's interests, which, she says, include more new plays by young writers.
MacKinnon is currently represented on Broadway with "The Parisian Woman," starring Uma Thurman. Other Broadway credits include the musical "Amalie" (which she also directed in a pre-New York run at Berkeley Rep), the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Clybourne Park," and the 2012 revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," which won her a Tony Award.
Although the 50-year-old MacKinnon will now make her home in San Francisco, her agreement with ACT allows her to continue taking on directing jobs on Broadway. "I'm so excited to continue that strand of my career, and ACT is excited that I'm in it," she recently told The New York Times. "I've always been a freelance director, but now I feel ready to build something bigger than myself."