Thrillpeddlers Present Pearls Over Shanghai at the Hypnodrome
Hypnodrome (575 10th street San Francisco, CA 94103)
- Full Price:
- $30.00 - $69.00
- Our Price:
- $15.00 - $34.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for Pearls Over Shanghai have expired.
The last date listed for Pearls Over Shanghai was Saturday March 12, 2011 / 8:00pm.
Most Popular Theater Event Nearby:
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- Full Price:
- $20.00 - $45.00
- Our Price:
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Set during the rural economic slowdown of the 1970s, playwright Sam Shepard's universally acclaimed Buried Child resonates as strongly today as it did when it launched Shepard's career in 1978. A Pulitzer winner for drama, Buried Child makes for a fierce, forceful and unforgettable portrayal of the realities of the American Dream. The realistic masterpiece mixes comedy and drama, keen commentary and deep emotion in a squalid farm home occupied by a clan filled with suppressed violence, apparent unhappiness and dark secrets. Kenneth Kelleher directs this San Jose Stage Company production. Learn More
Goldstar Member Tips
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Mike on Where to Park
Street parking is easy
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Jane Super on What to Wear
Go in costume if you feel so inclined! You will not feel out of place.
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Jane Super on Where to Eat
They have beer & wine for a donation.
Goldstar Member Reviews
Starcat
Truly, one of the most unique experiences I have had in theater. Cast of 20, fantastic costumes, outrageous story-line, sexy, campy, funny and musically entertaining, "Pearls over Shanghai" is not to be missed.Written on Apr 11 2010
I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe a splashy frothy drag show (not that there is anything wrong with that!), but what I got instead was a show with real production value and an all-original score sounding like it was taken from a MGM musical, and a faster pace than some shows I have seen on main stages or elsewhere. The music, a pastiche/homage to old musicals of the 30's/40's, with a story-line pasted together from Hollywood's idea of the dangers and intrigue of "the Orient" crossed with pulp fiction novels that you might have found in a locked drawer in your gay uncle's steamer trunk from the war.
Flashes of nudity, extreme sexuality played for laughs, white slavery, campy and un-PC depictions of Asian culture, Opium use, masturbation... If any of those words frighten or offend you, this is not the show for you. Go see "Wicked" instead. But if you are like my friends and I, and want to experience something you will remember and want to to share with others, do not miss it. Take open-minded out of town guests who want a taste of the drag/camp/gay/fun side of San Francisco! They will be talking about it for MONTHS. I absolutely loved it. You will too! Just go.
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Rebecca Maroney
Fabulous! This is the third production I have seen by Thrillpeddlars and, in my opinion, their best yet.Written on Nov 23 2009
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Goldstar Member
Great costumes, singing, music, and general silliness. The venue is truly unique. There is nudity that will make some uncomfortable.Written on Aug 17 2009
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Kevin
This event was one of the best Goldstar has offered in a long time. I am thinking about returning to see the show in early Spring. Great job!Written on Dec 13 2010
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More Information About Pearls Over Shanghai
Quotes & Highlights
- "Minute for minute, you won't find a more joyously zany show in San Francisco." --SF Weekly
Description
Thrillpeddlers is proud to announce its production of Pearls Over Shanghai, an original musical by Link Martin and Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn. This show's centerpiece is The Cockettes, a gender-bending theatrical troupe who not only originated this show, but also exerted a profound influence on the culture of our times, from the phenomenon of midnight movies to glitter rock stars and their outrageous fashions.
Link Martin parts the bamboo curtain, his politics swept aside by his love of the mystery and intrigue of the Orient. Placing his story at the crossroads of good and evil, his exotic “old sin town” is filled with singing sailors, witty whores, foolish immortals, handmaidens and henchmen, all taking their places in streets teeming with a mix of foreign aristocrats, opium addicts, and gangland slave-trade czars.
Originally produced as a Nocturnal Dream Show and performed at midnight at the old Palace Theatre in Chinatown, Pearls Over Shanghai was the fabled and fabulous Cockettes’ first and best original showpiece. This musical became the crown jewel of The Cockettes repertoire, enjoying three revivals in two years, including a notorious and infamous run at New York’s Anderson Theatre in 1971. Although Pearls Over Shanghai had long been germinating in the fertile mind of Link Martin, it struck the trend-setting, gender-bending theatrical troupe as extremely fortuitous when the real Peking Opera played the same stage at the Palace Theatre.
For the Thrillpeddlers production, original Cockettes Tahara and Billy Bowers will lend their considerable talents to resident costume mistress Kara Emry in order to create original designs reminiscent of the opulent 1930s Orient as well as the psychedelic splendor of 1960s San Francisco.
The cast will include original Cockette Rumi Missabu reprising his role as the evil Madame Gin Sling. Connie Champagne, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and Leanne Borghesi will alternate in the role of Petrushka, first created by disco diva Sylvester in the original productions. With a supporting cast of twenty, costumes a-plenty, and a score of some two dozen songs, this production promises to be the most eye-popping and toe-tapping in the Hypnodrome’s history, with the scent of intoxicating perfume, poisonous flowers, opium, and sex oozing from every scene.
About the Ticket Supplier: Thrillpeddlers
Thrillpeddlers is the 2009 SF Bay Guardian's Goldie Award winner for "Outstanding Local Discovery" in the arts. They have been performing a unique brand of horror and fetish theatre in San Francisco for over a decade. The company is continuously engaged in translating, adapting, and producing classic plays from the infamous repertoire of Le Theatre du Grand Guignol (www.grandguignol.com) as well as developing modern works by contemporary masters of the horror genre. The Hypnodrome, Thrillpeddlers' performance venue, has the distinction of being the world's only purpose-built horror theatre. Now in its sixth year, Thrillpeddlers' annual pageant of terror and titillation, Shocktoberfest!!, has become a San Francisco Halloween tradition.