How often do horny septuagenarians have truly satisfying sex?
"Once in a blue pill moon," croon three ladies of a certain age in "Happy Pleasant Valley," the new musical by playwright/composer Min Kahng, now having its world premiere engagement in a TheatreWorks Silicon Valley co-production with Center Repertory Company, at Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Theater.
That devilishly clever lyric, which merges a Great American Songbook trope with modern pharmaco-poetics, isn't overemphasized or revisited as a refrain. It whizzes by just a single time. And there's plenty more where that came from. The show is funny and honest (and glancingly poignant) about sex and aging. But it never dips into crassness or camp.
"I tucked lots of little jokes and Easter eggs into the dialogue and lyrics," said the Alameda-based Kahng, during a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter. At 42, he's ready for some mischief.
Changing lanes
Kahng, grew up in a Korean-American immigrant family, where artistic expression was not top of mind. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, he majored in rhetoric as well as music, which kept law school available as a back pocket option.
But after a short post-graduate spell in the corporate world, he steered himself toward a theater career, working on the business side – marketing, publicity, casting – as he developed his craft.
Kahng's first musicals, including "Tales of Olympus" and "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon," were produced by the now defunct Bay Area Children's Theatre.
"I was working there in administration," said Kahng, "and I'll always be grateful that they gave me the opportunity to share my creative side."
Kahng's breakout work for general audiences was "The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga," which debuted at TheatreWorks in 2017, winning Theatre Bay Area and Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle awards for best new musical.
But "Happy Pleasant Valley" (which is saddled with the unwieldy subtitle "A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical") seems to mark the beginning of a new phase of his writing life.
It's the first of several works in which Kahng, who is gay, but has not previously centered sexuality, homo- or otherwise, in his writing, is featuring such matters more prominently.
"I used to be a very devoted evangelical Christian but have left the faith; and a major –though not the only– factor was accepting my identity as a gay man," he said.
"When I was starting out my theater career, I was still in the early phases of understanding who I am apart from any religious framework. I don't think I was ready to explore any of that via my work, because I was still figuring it out for myself.
"But in recent years, as I've become much more comfortable and confident in my identity, the topics of sex and sexuality have become more prominent in my work. I suppose as my perspective has solidified, I both consciously and unconsciously incorporate it into my writing."
Kahng credits Stephen, his husband of 12 years, for the emotional and financial support that has allowed him to make theater a full time career.
Among Kahng's projects in development are "Freedom Conference," a non-musical drama set in the Christian "ex-gay" conversion community, which Kahng notes is based loosely on personal experiences, and "Lot! A Biblical-ish Musical" (with collaborator Weston Eric Scott) which applies the campy glam of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genre blender
"Happy Pleasant Valley" has its origins in a news story Kahng read about a decade ago.
"It was about the fact that there was a surprisingly high incidence of sexually transmitted infections in senior living communities," he recalled. (The musical's title is becomes more, well, "catchy" when you consider its initials: H.P.V.).
"When you think about it, it makes sense. People are free to explore at that age. There's no chance of getting pregnant, you can have some privacy."
Kahng, who grew up watching "Murder She Wrote" and reading Agatha Christie whodunnits, had long toyed with the notion of a murder mystery musical, a hybrid form with little precedent (Rupert Holmes' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" is a rare example).
The newspaper report led him to realize that a senior residence provided a contained environment and circumscribed suspect pool; the ideal circumstance for a detective's investigation. The interpersonal passions and jealousies of a close-knit community provided an irresistible tangle of intrigue. And, it so happens, people are dropping dead all the time in these places.
Kahng was hot on the trail of a new project, which he developed his over the next several years, supported by TheatreWorks' writers' retreat and new play development programs along with a residency at the prestigious MacDowell Colony.
While the finished piece has all the eccentric characters, plot convolutions, and red herrings of a zany mystery, Kahng has also woven a late-in-life coming out story, gentle meditations on elders' sense of isolation, and an intergenerational team of protagonists (A Jessica Fletcher-inspired grandma suspected of murder and her vlog documentarian granddaughter).
Like the play's overlong subtitle, the combination of all these narrative elements suggests a potlucky comic genre mishmash. But the musical throughline of Kahng's bright melodies and deftly honed lyrics provides strong connective tissue and a polished overall tone. It's terrifically well-made mischief.
'Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical,' through March 30. $44-$94. Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. www.theatreworks.org
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!
