"Tales of the City," The Musical: Looking Good in Previews

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, a seminal novel chronicling the misadventures, scandals, betrayals and free loves of the 70’s era cohabitants of San Francisco’s fictional 28 Barbary Lane, is one of my all-time favorite pieces of literature. From the deceptively light prose, to its beloved creations such as Mrs. Madrigal, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, Mona Ramsey, and Mary-Anne Singleton, to the practically magical, Dickens-esque coincidences that occur between them, the book is a flat out masterpiece.

So it was with more than a little trepidation that I approached a musical adaptation of such an important and beloved book.

On one hand, I’d already gone through this once with the groundbreaking 1993 PBS adaptation starring Laura Linney, Marcus D'Amico and Olympia Dukakis, and I consider the effort to be among the best examples of getting an adaptation right -- keeping enough of the story to appreciate it in its new medium while not being a slavish and staid recreation of the book.

And the stage version counts Jason Moore and Jeff Whitty of Avenue Q as their director and libretto author and (in a rather inspired idea) Jake Shears and John Garden of Scissor Sisters as the architects of the show’s musical score.

But on the other hand… Carrie: The Musical.

Fortunately, this latest incarnation of Tales gets it right… mostly.

Photo by Alessandra Mello (source)

The story begins with twenty-five year old Mary-Anne Singleton (Betsy Wolfe) phoning her mother in Cleveland to informs them that her vacation in the city would be a permanent one. When Mary-Anne searches for a place to live, she meets Mrs. Anna Madrigal (the incomparable Judy Kaye), the landlady and mother-figure of 28 Barbary Lane.

“Do you have an objection to pets?” – Mary-Anne
“Dear, I don’t have an objection to anything.” – Madrigal

Indeed, when Mary-Anne moves in, she finds a joint taped to her apartment door and a complex filled with strange and colorful characters -- Mona Ramsey (Mary Birdsong), a carefree bisexual woman still reeling from her father's long ago abandonment of her, Brian Hawkins (Patrick Lane) a straight guy happy to be among gays -- less competition for women -- yet still longing for something deeper than Continental Baths, and Michael "Mouse" Tolliver (Wesley Taylor) a gay man looking for love and romance, living out and open in San Francisco but closeted to his Anita Bryant supporting parents.

Wesley Taylor (Michael), Mary Birdsong (Mona) and Patrick Lane (Brian)

Photo by Alessandra Mello (source)

Through Mary-Anne's job, we meet the wealthy Halcyon family, including patriarch Edgar (Richard Poe), daughter DeDe (Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone) and her slimy husband Beauchamp (Andrew Samonsky).

Together, these two odd families somehow help Mary-Anne transform from naïve Ohioan to a real live San Franciscan.

The stage version ups the humor factor considerably, sometimes at the risk to the more poignant moments of the material. But, when it really matters, the production manages to step out of its own way to allow the more affecting moments to shine. As he did with Avenue Q, director Jason Moore proves he's skilled at getting great theater out of comparatively limited production and lighting design.

Those going in expecting the involvement of Scissor Sisters to yield boundary-pushing, glam-rock musical results, prepare to be slightly disappointed. The songs are almost aggressively traditional, at least in the context of modern stage musicals. But once divorced from loftier expectations, you discover that the musical numbers are mainly strong, effective and skillfully composed, which may be a more impressive feat when you truly think about how the songwriters stretched their skills and stepped outside of their comfort zone. You might not be humming songs after exiting the theater (I didn't), but you'll want to hear many of them again.

The performances are all uniformly good. Some of them are great. Kaye brings just the right touch of stage theatricality to Anna without veering into precious quirk and she has a wonderful stage partner in her scenes with Poe.

But the MVP's of the show are clearly Birdsong and Taylor.

Photo by Kevin Berne (source)

Mona's "D'orothea" subplot, wonderfully weird in the novel, is dropped as the stage version puts the focus on Mona's wildly comic self-destructive streak and her complicated past with her father. But we aren't allowed to mourn it much as Birdsong's fearlessness and sharp comedic timing ramps up the energy level every time she's on stage. She's equally adept in selling (but not overselling) the dramatic requirements of the role.