If there’s one thing Lamplighters Music Theatre knows, it’s Gilbert and Sullivan. So it’s not surprising that the lyricist-composer duo’s latest show — the one spoofing vampire-mania and the Twilight books and movies, not to mention San Francisco’s own Mayor Navin Gruesome — is receiving its premiere from them.
Photo by David Allen
Wait, you’ve never heard of You Can’t Bite City Hall? Really? Maybe you’re one of those old-fashioned types who expect the Lamplighters to stick to goofy policeman, incompetent pirates, and befuddled members of the peerage. Well, guess again, Edward Cullen lovers.
The new show receives its first (and probably only) performance on Nov. 7 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. It features Arthur Sullivan’s timeless tunes, but the libretto is the work of several hands, all of them steeped in W.S. Gilbert’s virtuosic wordplay. As Artistic Director Barbara Heroux happily points out, the show is a fully realized, fully costumed new musical, not the thrown-together collection of skits that are the usual fare at Champagne galas.
“We’ve been thinking for years that we shouldn’t call this a gala, because gala says people standing up in formal wear doing ‘greatest hits.’ And that’s how this started out, back in the ’60s. But it’s really changed. At this point, it’s an original book musical — though occasionally something of Gilbert’s sneaks through.” And, in fact, some of the Lamplighters’ past gala musicals have won the Best Original Show award from the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle.
For people who are not true G&S fans or who find the operettas dated, or think the Victorian language and references a little dense, this is an opportunity to see, in effect, a good translation of their works. The audience gets treated to the best of both worlds — a modern comedy that preserves the spirit and some of the style that are Lamplighters hallmarks.
“A couple of years ago we did a send-up of Harry Potter, and all these fans of the books came,” says Heroux. “We got an entirely different audience, and I think the same thing is going to happen this year. You don’t have to put yourself in this strange place to get what’s going on. It’s 2010 and of course San Francisco is completely inhabited by vampires and werewolves.”
The show takes place at a boarding house for the LGBZ (zombie) community, run by (shades of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City) Mrs. Partsong. Along comes vampire-slayer Mary Anne Rice, who falls in love with the handsome half-vampire Strephula. Among the other freaks in the house are Felix, a fussy vampire, and Oscar, his werewolf roomie, who don’t get along at all and who share a duet (with music from Patience) explaining why:
FELIX:
When I wake up at night
The room’s a FEMA site
His coat’s by the door
And his shirt’s on the floor
And his underwear’s on the light
There’s paw-prints in the hall
Hair in the shower stall
A sink full of dishes
A stink so pernicious
Because he’s marked the wall!
OSCAR:
My room’s the place I go
Where I can be me, you know
To kick off my shoes
And knock back a few brews
And to watch the Daily Show
But just as I relax
The cleaning freak attacks
By running the Hoover
And dusting the louver
And spraying coffin wax!
[New lyrics by Mike Dederian]
Don’t wince, the show is actually conceived by a committee, with individual assignments delegated to those who have interest and ability. “We get together once a month or so and bat ideas around and drink a lot of bad wine,” Heroux reports. “I backed off a little this year, because I’m not a Twilight fan. So I didn’t know how to write this gala, but then Chris Uzelac popped up, and he’s, like, 28 or something and he’s a brilliant writer and a wonderful actor.”
The enthusiasm of youth distinguishes Lamplighters from a lot of other G&S companies. The same energy that the Lamplighters group brings to the classic shows makes itself felt in the original show, only more so. “The day after this show closes,” Heroux surmises, “someone is going to say, ‘OK, next year we’re doing Mad Men.’”