Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

Sarah Farrell (center), with (from left) Mikey Tongko, Joven Calloway, Mike Triolo and Alex Rodriguez sing and dance their way through L. Jay Kuo’s Insignificant Others at Theatre Pier 39. Photo by Edward Casati, Unbound Photography

The homegrown musical that has been called “Will & Grace meets Sex in the City” has reached a milestone.

L. Jay Kuo’s Insignificant Others celebrated its 100th performance on July 19 at Theatre Pier 39.

The show began life in May of 2005, and after numerous workshops, opened at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in July of 2006. That run garnered the show a best musical award from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. From there the show moved to the Zeum Theater at Yerba Buena in San Francisco and then transferred to Theatre Pier 39 last February.

It looks like Insignificant others, which follows five friends who move to San Francisco from the Midwest as they adjust to the big, much less repressed city, is becoming a significant show in the San Francisco cultural scene.

Here’s creator Kuo describing the evolution of the romantic comedy in a piece from last summer:

Insignificant Others is at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays with Sunday matinees. Tickets are $39-$46. Visit www.isomusical.com for information and to hear musical samples.

Opened July 23, 2008 at the Orpheum Theatre
 

The cast of The Drowsy Chaperone joins stage star Janet Van De Graaff (Andrea Chamberlain, center, leg in air) in the show stopper “Show Off.” The Tony Award-winning musical is at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. Photos by Joan Marcus

Shadows hover over daffy, delightful `Drowsy’
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Musicals don’t come much sweeter than The Drowsy Chaperone.

The little Canadian musical that began life as a wedding present and then blossomed in to a 2006 Tony Award-winning hit is on the road and is now at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre as part of the SHN/Best of Broadway season.

For a frothy musical, it’s fairly high concept. A nameless man in a chair (a completely charming Jonathan Crombie, below) attempts to stave of his miserable life for a while by listening to a favorite original cast album.

“I hate the theater,” he mutters in the darkness as the show begins. He then proceeds to tell us how modern musicals are dull and dreary and overblown and that his greatest pleasure in life has been from gorgeous, silly musicals of yore. To make his point, he pulls out some classic vinyl: the 1928 score for Gable and Stein’s The Drowsy Chaperone starring Jane Roberts, the “Oops Girl” and venerable British actress Beatrice Stockwell before she was made a dame.

It’s a complete fiction, of course, invented for the purposes of this musical, but the fake show’s authenticity is half the fun as it begins to unspool in the man’s dingy studio apartment with ongoing commentary from the man, who is in musical theater heaven while the music plays, and only occasional interruptions from the ghastly real world.

Crafted in vintage ‘28 style, the musical numbers of The Drowsy Chaperone, with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, are light and airy, funny and forgettable – in other words, just right. As the Man in the Chair says, musicals should help one “escape the dreary horrors of the real world.” And this is a musical that does…to a point.

While the silliness of “Drowsy” trills and tap dances along its merry way, book writers Bob Martin and Don McKellar (two of the brains behind the brilliant Canadian TV series “Slings and Arrows”) sneak in some welcome depth through the character of the Man in the Chair. That’s not to say this is heavy going, but this is mindless entertainment with a mind.

To Read the full review, visit my www.Examiner.com site here.

Here’s a little taste of Drowsy Chaperone:

Such a busy weekend so full of entertainment treats. Here’s a quick recap.

Friday night, on a whim, I headed down to the Octavia Lounge for the official cabaret debut of homegrown diva Carly Ozard, a musical theater performer about town. Her show, Bitter and Be Gay, is all about how men she meets while performing in musical theater usually turn out to be gay. The show’s cute tag line is: “Everything she touches turns to gay.” Imagine a cabaret version of Kathy Griffin and you’ll begin to get the idea.

Ozard, accompanied by pianist Barry Lloyd and bassist Daniel Fabricant, likes to refashion lyrics to songs to suit her show’s theme, usually to good comic effect, and when she chooses to use her big Broadway belt, she can make a strong emotional connection with her audience.

Unfortunately, Ozard’s show was a one-night-only gig, but if the folks at Octavia Lounge are smart, they’ll bring her back. This was an auspicious beginning to what could be a bright cabaret career. It’s been too long since we had a brassy, belting broad on the local cabaret stage.

Visit Ozard’s site: carlyozardlive.com

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing two of the extraordinary Lynn Ruth Miller’s shows. The nearly 75-year-old writer/storyteller/actor is taking two shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland (they can’t get enough of her there), and she’s been working out the kinks during what are essentially open dress rehearsals.

Miller has been on a roll lately. She had a great piece written on her in the London Times: www.timesonline.co.uk and she’s been mentioned TWICE in Jay Leno’s monologues on “The Tonight Show.” Apparently Leno was intrigued by the fact that Miller does a form of striptease and is calling her the “stripping granny.”

The shows I saw, Another Side of the Looking Glass and the cabaret show Aging Is Amazing. The former is a collection of autobiographical stories that cohere into quite a moving, inspiring show. Miller has had an extraordinary life, and her take on aging, once you’ve stopped applauding her, makes you want to leave the theater and live life with Miller’s gusto.

The cabaret show is the one with the striptease, though Miller is a coy stripper. The striptease is more about the funny costume than it is about baring flesh, but she warbles wonderfully for someone who can’t sing, and she brings humor and levity to the issue of aging, which Miller seems to be doing better than any of us.

Visit her site at www.lynnruthmiller.com for a complete schedule of her performances.

The brothers do some high stepping in the Woodminster Summer Musicals production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Photos by Kathy Kahn

And finally, I made it to closing weekend of Woodminster Summer Musicals’ Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The night was chilly under the fog and stars in the Oakland hills, but the show was completely charming and just the kind of thing you want to see at Woodminster. Seven Brides will never be a classic musical (it was actually a splashy MGM musical before it was adapted for the stage), but when done right, the show has all the ingredients for a musical theater lift.

The standout of this production is Alex Sanchez’s exuberant choreography. When those seven brothers start leaping around the stage, the effect is thrilling. Whenever the brothers and their eventual brides (once they get over being kidnapped) start dancing, the stage comes to vibrant life. Among the brothers, you can’t help noticing that Joven Calloway as brother Frank is an extraordinary dancer whose lips and mid-air splits are mind boggling.

Leads Robert Robinson as Adam and Mindy Lym as Milly (right) bring gorgeous voices to the Johnny Mercer- Gene de Paul score (with additional songs by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn).

The Woodminster season continues with Seussical Aug. 8-17 and The Pirates of Penzance Sept. 5-14. call 510-531-9597 or visit www.woodminster.com for information.

Producer Randy Taradash announced today that the off-Broadway hit bare will have its Bay Area premiere in 2009 in a San Francisco theater to be determined.

“I’m thrilled that Bay Area audiences will finally get to see one of the most exciting and moving musicals in recent years,” Taradash said in a statement. “bare’s crackling pop- and rock-based score, as well as its incredibly relevant and emotional story, is made for San Francisco audiences.”

With music by Damon Intrabartolo and book and lyrics by Jon Hartmere, bare is set in a co-ed Catholic high school and explores the realities today’s teens are faced with: sexuality, coming out, drug abuse, body image issues, acceptance by their peers, the church and their family.

The show began life in Los Angeles in 2000 then sold out its five-week run off-Broadway and there was talk about heading to Broadway, but the transfer never happened.

Since its inception, bare has developed a legion of followers who keep their love for the show alive virally on sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. Last year, a studio recording, “bare, the album,” was released and sold out the first day it was available on www.barethealbum.com. The recording was released on iTunes this month.

“We are building the bare-sf.com website as an interactive hub so that audiences can be a part of the exciting process of creating the San Francisco production of bare from the ground up. From casting to set designs artist blogging to rehearsals and beyond, the many fans of bare that have been waiting for a large-scale production will have a front-row seat to the experience through bare-sf.com. The best way to keep up-to-date is to sign up at www.bare-sf.com for announcements on all things bare.”

The San Francisco production will be directed by Stafford Arima, who helmed the still-running off-Broadway hit Altar Boyz. He also directed Ragtime in London’s West End and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide for the San Francisco Symphony.

For information about bare, visit www.bare-sf.com.

Continues through Sept. 20 at SF Playhouse

Lauren English dons a brunette bob wig as Sally Bowles singing the title song in the SF Playhouse production of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. Photos by Zabrina Tipton

Intimate theater puts new spin on an old musical chum
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Bay Area audiences have had plenty of opportunities to come to the Cabaret.

The Kander and Ebb musical has been done at TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players and Best of Broadway (the touring version of the 1997 Broadway revival, once with Joely Fisher in the lead, once with Andrea McArdle), to name a few.

Now SF Playhouse is whisking audiences back to Berlin circa 1930 and into the sleazy confines of the Kit Kat Klub. And I do mean confines. SF Playhouse set designer Kim A. Tolman has turned the small theater into a facsimile of an actual cabaret dive. The first two rows of seats have been replaced with small cabaret tables, and the Kit Kat Girls from the show serve drinks before the show actually begins.

There’s as much stage as there is audience, so this is an immersive experience to say the least. Director Bill English turns the show into a musical play. It’s a small cast for a musical (13 people), and most of the cast members serve time the orchestra. For instance, Tania Johnson, who plays Fraulein Kost, is a mad woman on the accordion – she actually makes it sexy in sort of a raunchy-dirty sort of way.

And Brian Yates Sharber(below with the Kit Kat Girls), who gives the role of the Emcee a rather enigmatic spin, wails on a sassy red clarinet. The most actively musical cast member is Will Springhorn Jr., who plays Nazi Ernst Ludwig and then dashes back to the cramped orchestra pit to play various saxophones.

The multiple duties yield strong results. The band (which includes Martin Rojas-Dietrich on piano, and who also plays club owner Max, and drummer Alex Szotak, who looks all of 14, and Kristopher Hauck on trombone) sounds appropriately rag tag and debauched. It sounds like they’re playing music, but their minds are on something much more deviant.

English has chosen to produce a version of Cabaret that isn’t quite the original and definitely isn’t the revival, which includes the songs (”Maybe This Time,” “Mein Herr”) from the movie. This version is closer to the 1987 revival. “The Telephone Song” is gone, as are “Why Should I Care” and “Meeskite,” but a song for the Emcee, “I Don’t Care Much,” is in. Unlike the original production, Cliff is presented as a bisexual (an invention from the movie), and like the revival, the number “Two Ladies” is performed by the Emcee and one actual lady and one chorus boy dressed as a lady. Lewdness follows.

To read the full review, please visit my Examiner.com site here.

Cabaret continues through Sept. 20 at SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter St., San Francisco. Tickets are $40 regular, $55 for cabaret seating. Call 415-677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org for information. Note: English leaves the role of Sally Bowles Aug. 23 and is replaced by Kate Del Castillo beginning Aug. 27.

Opened July 9, Curran Theatre

The national tour of A Chorus Line features a cast that can dance,
but the singing and acting is, to say the least, spotty. Photos by Paul Kolnik

On second thought, maybe `Chorus Line’ is past its prime
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I didn’t experience one singular sensation at A Chorus Line now onstage at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre. Not one.

This leads me to think that the landmark 1975 musical, with its Tonys and Pulitzer, hasn’t aged all that well after all. Either that or it’s a show that just doesn’t stand up to multiple viewings.

Almost two years ago, the Broadway-bound revival of A Chorus Line had its world premiere in San Francisco, and that was thrilling. The young, talented company felt the weight of expectations and, for the most part, rose to the occasion. The show moved to Broadway, recouped its investment and is about to end a respectable run.

Now we have the national tour, here under the auspices of SHN/Best of Broadway, and it’s a far cry from the 2006 production, which many said was a far cry from the original.

I have a theory that Chorus Line is a first-time show. You’ll always love the first cast you saw, and you’ll be so pulled in by the show’s pre-reality TV reality mechanism that you won’t notice how creaky and dated it is. The emotions of the dancers, the actual excitement of finding who makes the cut at the end of a grueling audition is palpable the first time you see the show.

Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Edward Kleban and Marvin Hamlisch created a beautiful show that explored the very human need to be chosen, to be special and to find work you truly love. They chose the high-wattage world of Broadway performers, but there’s universality in their story.

Though I had seen various productions through the years (not the original or any variation of the original on Broadway), I loved the revival because it overcame the mid-’70s world of the show to find those universalities and connect with a modern audience. I got chills the first time the cast sang, “God, I hope I get it.” And the horn blasts during “The Music and the Mirror” made me quiver. I was a mess during the “One” finale and swore the advertising campaign was right: “The Best Musical. Ever.”

Well, now I’m not so sure…
TO READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW PLEASE VISIT MY EXAMINER.COM THEATER PAGE HERE.

A Chorus Line continues through July 27 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$99. Call or visit www.shnsf.com.

Not only is Pixar’s WALL-E an extraordinary movie – it’s also, in its strange way, a paean to musical theater.

You just don’t head into a computer-animated film set in the 2100s to feature tunes by the great Jerry Herman, but that’s exactly what you get. WALL-E is about a soulful little robot, one of the last moving creatures on Earth (save for his faithful and resilient cockroach friend), whose duty is to compact the mounds of garbage humans left on the planet into stackable little cubes.

How WALL-E the robot got his soul is left for us to ponder, but this adorable little guy – a cross between E.T., the robot from Short Circuit and a little bit of V.I.N.C.E.N.T from Disney’s The Black Hole – is fascinated by the detritus of humanity. When he comes across items that intrigue him, he throws them into a little cooler and takes them home to the Dumpster he lives in (and has festooned with Christmas lights). One of his favorite items is an old VHS tape copy of the 1969 movie Hello, Dolly! starring Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau. Using an old VCR, an iPod and some sort of magnifying lens, WALL-E watches two scenes over and over again: “Before the Parade Passes By” with Michael Crawford as Cornelius Hackl strutting down the street and the ballad “It Only Takes a Moment” with Crawford crooning sweetly with Marianne McAndrew as Irene Molloy.

There’s no Streisand or Matthau in sight (which is probably for the best – Hello, Dolly!, though directed by Gene Kelly, is not a great movie musical). Rather, WALL-E is attracted to the high stepping of “Sunday Clothes” and the song’s naively romantic message about joining the human race to discover wonderful things and the heart-fluttering, hand-holding romance of “It Only Takes a Moment.” The fact that the movie and the original 1964 Broadway musical are based on a Thornton Wilder play (The Matchmaker) all play into the movie’s core message about the vital importance of connection and consciousness.

WALL-E director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) understands the potent romance of musical theater – the same thing that people who hate musicals deride as silly and unrealistic. In a post-apocalyptic setting, Herman’s sweet music represents an idealistic side of humanity not visible for all the junk and rubble. That’s what little WALL-E responds to – he wants to dance and be in love like Cornelius Hackl.

There’s a scene of WALL-E trying to dance with a hubcap for a hat that is priceless. But that’s just a prelude to the robot’s actual chance to fall in love with EVE, a slick droid sent down from the mother ship (where all the too-fat humans are carried on floating chairs, eyes glued to the screens in front of their faces). Neither of the ‘bots really speaks, so the true expression of their feelings (again, why these robots have developed feelings is mysterious, but intriguing) is by touching, or holding hands, just like Irene and Cornelius do in Hello, Dolly!

Is it corny? Yes. Is it effective? Undeniably.

Stanton comes by his affection for musical theater naturally. Apparently he was in a high school production of Hello, Dolly! See what we risk losing when we cut arts programs from our schools?

And Herman, whose music is so integral to one of the best movies of the year (animated or otherwise), is getting the kind of exposure he deserves. He told the Associated Press: “I’m still blown away by the fact that two songs of mine that are close to 50 years old have been used as the underpinning of the movie.”

Herman sold Pixar the rights to use the songs, but he was unaware of just how they’d be used in the final product. He said the movie brought tears to his eyes. He told the Hartford Courant: “It really blew me away. You’re talking to someone still in a haze. I couldn’t believe how beautifully the songs expressed the entire intent of the film.”

Now it’s time for those geniuses at Pixar, who haven’t made a bad movie yet, to create a full-bore musical of their very own. Maybe they’ll get Jerry Herman to help them out.

Here are clips of “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment” from the 1969 movie Hello, Dolly!:

There they are, the five finalists in MTV’s “Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods.” They are, from left, Rhiannon, Bailey, Natalie, Lauren and Autumn. Someone please make the pink blondeness end! Photos courtesy of MTV

Could a dumb reality show be any more tear filled? Last night’s episode of MTV’s “Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods” was like musical theater crossed with Hamlet. I don’t think there was one girl who didn’t weep copiously.

So we’re down to five girls: three blondes (Lauren, Bailey, Rhiannon) and two brunettes (Autumn, Natalie). Well that all changed when the girls got Elle Woods make-overs. The blondes got blonder and the brunettes lost IQ points by actually becoming blondes. But that wasn’t the big news from the salon. No, the earth-shattering news was that Bailey WEPT because she had an inch trimmed from her tresses. Yes — tears over a change in hair length only she could possibly notice.

Then the girls went to a photo shoot and had some quality time with the musical’s original (and in desperate need of a rest) Elle Woods: Laura Bell Bundy. One thing this ridiculous exercise in casting has done for me is given me a whole new appreciation for Bundy — who was terrific in the role, even at the beginning when the show had its pre-Broadway run at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. She’s mature — a real pro with dignity, comic chops, solid moves and a great attitude. Turns out finding someone to fill her shoes is a lot harder than it might seem.

When talking about playing Elle — the best experience of her life, she said — Bundy teared up — the only deserved tears of the whole evening.

After the photo shoot, Natalie won the opportunity to have a meal with Blonde cast member Andy Karl, which was supposed to give her an advantage in the audition scene the girls would go on to perform with him (he’s the understudy for the leading man in addition to playing the adorable UPS Guy and begin married to co-star Orfeh in real life). As usual, this “advantage” was a crock. None of these ridiculous “advantages” have ever proved to be worth anything.

Sure enough, in performance, Natalie (right), even with her blonde locks, was a dud and had no chemistry with Karl. Autumn rocked the audition (where has that voice been hiding?), as did Lauren. Rhiannon was a disappointment because of wonky vocals, and Bailey was like an Elle automaton.

Here’s what I hate about reality shows (not just this one): in an attempt to grab our attention, the host and the judges behave as if their duties are the most weighty and important in the whole universe. Judge Bernie Telsey, while chastising Natalie, Bailey and Rhiannon (who cried herself a river) in the casting office, came across as the chief of a parole board hearing. As if anyone outside of that room really cares at all who goes home.

[SPOILER ALERT] It was no surprise to see Natalie hit the pavement. Poor thing is a blonde now. Life won’t be easy for her. Vocal coach Seth Rudetsky had the best line of the night when, after seeing the new blondes, asked if the carpet matched the curtains. Here’s Rudetsky’s spot-on recap of the show.

For more clips and full performances visit www.mtv.com.

Opened July 4 in Dolores Park

The cast of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Red State includes (from left) Lisa Hori-Garcia, Lizzie Calogero, Robert Ernst and Adrian C. Mejia. Photos by David Allen

Great songs make Mime Troupe’s `Red State’ sing
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This Fourth of July, at the premiere of SF Mime Troupe’s latest opus, Red State, petitions were circulating to get a local sewage plant named after George W. Bush. Another group was fighting the push to charge $115 for replacement library books. Cindy Sheehan was there, so were giant dragonflies dancing over the heads of the theatergoers/revelers, and even the sun made intermittent appearances.

With the impending presidential election, this is prime time for a nearly 50-year-old lefty-loony theatrical troupe with satire on its collective mind.

Written and directed by Michael Gene Sullivan, Red State forgoes the big, easy targets and focuses on the little man. Specifically, the show is about the dying Kansas town of Bluebird, where the hospital, the public schools and the farms are all kaput.

It’s Election Day 2008, and by some bizarre twist, the results are tied, with only one district not reporting any results. Yes, little Bluebird – with its late-arriving ballot machine and dwindling population – holds the key to the nation’s highest office.

Though it bears a strange resemblance to Swing Vote, an upcoming Kevin Costner film about a regular guy who holds the deciding vote in the presidential election, Red State is sharp for most of its 90 minutes. There’s a dull patch in the last third, but things pick up by the end.

The real high point of the show is Pat Moran’s score. He has written some great songs about struggling Americans. In “How Much” a woman trying to sell her last few possessions sings, “What’s the use of memories when you can’t make enough to get through the day?”

And in the showstopper, Velina Brown (above with Robert Ernst), as Miss Rosa the librarian, sings “Leaving Town.” Soulful and with a hint of ’50s blues, the song bemoans a country where the educated are in the minority and the priority is bombs over brains. In the end, Miss Rosa sings that she’s just another over-educated, unemployed old woman whose country doesn’t want anything she has to offer.

To read the complete review, please visit my Examiner.com theater page here.

“Red State” continues its free park tour through Sept. 14 and is likely coming to a park near you. Visit www.sfmt.org for a complete schedule or call 415-285-1717.

NEWS FLASH: Show has been extended through Aug. 31!!!

 
Brandon Finch (left) is Albert, a lonely gay teen about to find love with the help of his “fairy godmother” (Scott Phillips) in the original musical Oh My Godmother: A Fabulous Fairy Tale at the Zeum Theatre in San Francisco. Photos by Justin Chin

Infectious tunes, spirit make `Godmother’ sparkle
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Once upon a time, in a little island kingdom known as Alameda, an industrious and talented man wrote a wacky musical. Beloved by all on the island, the musical found a fairy godmother who, with a wave of her lucrative wand, magically transferred the show to the emerald city known as San Francisco.

So is there a happy ever after ending for Oh My Godmother!, the musical that got its start three years ago at the Altarena Playhouse and is now ensconced in San Francisco’s Zeum Theatre?

The answer is an unqualified yes.

The creation of Ron Lytle, who wrote the music, lyrics and book, directs and choreographs, Godmother has charm and exuberance to spare. This re-telling of the Cinderella story with a modern gay spin is a throwback to the perky, snappy musicals of Jerry Herman. In fact, if you envision Herman’s La Cage aux Folles blended with Cinderella you get the idea.

Where it counts, this merry musical has what it takes. Lytle’s score has melody and hooks and abundant humor. His book, though there’s more of it than necessary, is sweet and sassy. And his cast keeps surprising with its blend of musical comedy exaggeration and genuine heart. Clearly Lytle is a man who has absorbed the world of musical theater, especially shows from the ’50s and early ’60s when tuneful enjoyment was the highest priority. His show is derivative in the way that Mel Brooks’ The Producers was – it’s so in love with shows of yore, it can’t help channeling their sounds and their joy.

Godmother’s community theater roots still show (especially in blackout scene changes that have a tendency to kill momentum), but that’s also part of the charm here. This isn’t just some slick, contrived show designed to take your money and time without thought for much else. Clearly, a lot of people have worked hard to bring this show to life, and it’s a tribute to their efforts that the show’s 2 ½ hours turn out to be as enjoyable as they are.

The clever part of Lytle’s update is the way he uses drag instead of magic. When Prince (Kyle Payne) instantly falls in love in a chance meeting, the object of his affection happens, for comically complicated reasons, to be our young hero, Albert (Brandon Finch), in drag. This sends Prince into a tailspin – how could a young gay man raised by gay parents (the very funny Steve Yates and John Erreca) suddenly be straight and in love with a young lady? Well, only in stage comedies would a reasonably intelligent man not notice the bad wig and even worse dress. Not even Prince’s sassy, queeny best friend, Payne (Tomas Theriot) notices that the lovely “lady” is clearly a handsome man in draggy drag.

But such willing suspension of disbelief is the lifeblood of musicals. Horrified that their son might be straight (but willing, as compassionate parents are, to give up their own hopes in favor of their child’s happiness), the parents hold a ball so that their son will either find his mystery woman or meet another handsome young man.

Back home, Albert is dealing with his horrible stepmother (a wry Jennifer Tice) and two psychotic stepsisters, Esther Hazy (the ever-sneering Lisa Otterstetter) and Esta Lieber (the always-eating Julia Etzel). The only light in his life comes from his “fairy godmother” (Scott Phillips), an old friend of his departed dad’s who runs a drag shop in the Castro called The Beaded Lash.

The show’s best numbers tend to be the big ensemble numbers. The colorful opening, “San Francisco, Home Sweet Home to Me,” could easily become a much-loved anthem for the city that can never have enough anthems. The rousing closer, “Old Fashioned Commitment Ceremony,” is also pleasing in all the right musical ways. Comedy numbers such as “Bitch” (the stepmother and stepsisters), “Somebody for Everybody” (the stepsisters) and “It’s a Boy!” (Prince and his parents) manage to advance the story and entertain in grand fashion.

The ballads are less successful (especially the Cole Porter wannabe “Midnight”) only because it’s harder to find the emotional pulse of a fairy tale than it is the comic. Still, there’s not a song here that’s less than easy on the ears, which is a major achievement for any new musical. And you’ll be hard pressed to find any musical, new or old, more carefree and gay than Oh My Godmother!

Oh My Godmother! continues an extended run through Aug. 31 at Zeum Theatre, 221 Fourth St. (at Howard Street), San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$35. Call 800-838-3006 or visit www.ohmygodmother.com for information.