Major productions of two contemporary comedies with gay Black lead characters are being mounted in San Francisco this month. And in an unusual coincidence, earlier stagings of both are available in polished recorded versions from Audible, giving local theater afficionados the unusual opportunity to get to know the shows prior to seeing them in person.
Already in previews, with opening night scheduled for Saturday, March 15, is "Wild with Happy," written by local theater veteran and recent Oscar-nominee Colman Domingo, at New Conservatory Theatre Center.
Performances of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Fat Ham," Philadelphia playwright James Ijames' contemporary South Carolinian spin on "Hamlet," begin at the San Francisco Playhouse on March 20. Audio versions of prior productions ($6.96) can be downloaded via Amazon or Audible.
For your ears only
Listening to an audio version of a play is by no means a substitute for the multi-sensory experience of live theater. Stage productions are perhaps the most collaborative of all art forms, and a sound recording omits many key aspects of a live performance. The contributions of costume, set, prop, and lighting designers, along with all the visual elements of acting are absent.
So too are those of the most essential collaborators –fellow audience members– whose collective engagement and simultaneous reactions adds an ineffable but ineluctable richness to theater-going.
But the creation of every production begins with a script. And focusing on the words, spoken in isolation, before seeing a show on stage, can provide a valuable baseline familiarity with the play.
It not only eases comprehension of rapid-fire live dialogue (an ability that's been eroded by the rewind and subtitle functions of streaming video) but it also allows you to more deeply appreciate the ways that the director, actors, and designers of the production you attend build upon, interpret, and enrich the playwright's work.
Get happy
"Wild With Happy" tells the story of Gil, a 40-year-old gay man comically coming to terms with himself and opening up to romance in the aftermath of his mother's unexpected death.
The audio version is entertaining ear candy, directed by and starring Domingo himself as Gil with Oprah Winfrey (who shared the screen with Domingo in "The Color Purple") as his mother, Adelaide, and Sharon Washington as his Aunt Glo.
One notable difference in the NCTC production (and all stage versions to date) is that Adelaide and Glo are both being played by the same actress (Here, Carla Banu DeJesus).
Another is that the 90-minute one-act includes rapid flashbacks and shifts of location (including a funeral home scene, road-trip vignettes that take place in a car, and a Disney World finale). In the audiobook, clever sound design does the heavy lifting, but it should be fascinating to see the same quick changes executed visually.
As funny as the script is, it also has a tender side that gets short shrift in the exaggerated almost clownish performances on the audio version, which occasionally verge on Tyler Perry territory. The talented ShawnJ West, who is directing at NCTC, has said he's scrupulously avoided being influenced by past productions, so it will be interesting to see if he opts for a bit more emotional realism.
Linguistic feast
"Fat Ham" is a magnificent linguistic feast that simultaneously serves up two rich forms of English: Black and Shakespearean. Playwright Ijames (pronounced Iams) gleefully embroiders on "Hamlet" in scenes, dialogue, and soulful soliloquies when it suits him, but freely departs from the Bard elsewhere.
Moody young Juicy, a queer man studying for an online Human Resources degree at the University of Phoenix, is due for a major attitude adjustment when his late father's ghost and his boyhood crush both show up at a backyard barbecue wedding. A melee of conflicted masculinity ensues.
Then, a surreal sexual fantasy leads to a mind-bendingly meta wrap-up.
Between the density of its cross-textual references and the ribald jokes that will have audiences laughing so hard that some dialogue will inevitably get lost, this is an ideal play for pre-listening.
The audiobook version features the cast of the 2023 Broadway production, led by Marcel Spears as Juicy (Devon A. Cunningham will play the role under Margo Hall's direction at SF Playhouse).
And while you needn't have a scholar's familiarity with "Hamlet" to have a blast at "Fat Ham," you can find audiobook versions of the Shakespeare's original online, too.
"Wild With Happy" through April 6. $25-$72.50. NCTC, 25 Van Ness Ave. www.nctcsf.org
"Fat Ham" through April 19. $20-$130. SF Playhouse, 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org
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