A.C.T. (San Francisco, CA)
American Conservatory Theater presents John Guare's Rich and Famous. This twisted, surreal musical comedy by the acclaimed author of Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves explores the travails of prolific but unsuccessful playwright Bing Ringling on Opening Night of his 844th play.
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The last date listed for Rich and Famous was Sunday February 8, 2009 / 2:00pm. (view all dates)
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A very disappointing production-- I expected more from the team that created URINETOWN on Broadway..
The 1st scene looks promising - the story opens with a good song..
but the on going joke with the story soon falls flat -- and the 90 minutes
seems long and drawn out.. even with a one act - people were walking out after 30 minutes into the production,,
- Great set and some good songs - but not enuf to recommend this
production - Vmedia Berkeley
This was an obscenely overproduced minor early effort by a playwright whose work I otherwise have admired greatly, structurally unbalanced and thematically scattered all over the map. It should have been left in the drawer. The many inside jokes would have been lost without the program notes. The funniest joke--"Dead Girls Don't Say No"--was a T-shirt I saw once, and I'm not sure if it was the chicken or the egg, but it doesn't matter. Save your money for the upcoming revival of "The Landscape of the Body," a very fine Guare play. Not Recommended.
Read the other reviews with one or no stars and there you go...
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The Geary Theater, built in 1909, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a San Francisco City Landmark. The theater's neo-classical brick and terra cotta facade on Geary Street opens to a monumental 1,500 seat auditorium trimmed with ornamental stenciling and gilded plaster.
Website: http://www.act-sf.org/089/richandfamous/index.html
<p>Playwright Bing Ringling yearns to savor the sweet taste of celebrity, and he's hoping play number 844 will be his lucky break. But on opening night, Bing slips into a nightmarish phantasmagoria that shows him just how wrong things can go. From the ingenious mind of John Guare, who brought Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves to the American stage, Rich and Famous springs to life with twisted humor, rapid-fire dialogue, and outrageous songs scribed by Guare himself.</p> <p>John Rando (A.C.T.'s Urinetown, The Musical and Broadway's The Wedding Singer) directs this newly revised, delicious dark comedy in its first major revival since its 1976 New York debut. Brooks Ashmanskas, who was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and has appeared in The Producers and Gypsy, takes on the role of Bing, starring alongside Mary Birdsong (Reno 911! on Comedy Central, Hairspray on Broadway), Stephen DeRosa (Hairspray and Into the Woods on Broadway), and A.C.T. core acting company member Gregory Wallace ('Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Government Inspector).</p>
