Armistead Maupin's Blog, page 33

Tales of the City

The iconic novels finally get their musical due.

Mon May 23 2011    

Though it's certainly poised to make a run at Broadway, diehard fans will have to charge San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater this summer to catch the long-awaited stage adaptation of Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin's famous serialized novels. With Tony-winning Avenue Q playwright Jeff Whitty and Avenue Q director James Moore onboard, and Scissor Sisters front man Jake Shears and John Garden writing the score, hopes are Golden Gate Bridge high. Fortunately, the creators have secured an impressive cast, with Wesley Taylor (left) and Josh Breckenridge (right) taking on the roles of Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver and Jon Fielding, one of literature's most memorable gay couples. On a break from rehearsal, Whitty and Shears discuss how they first discovered the Tales books, the difficulty casting the show, and the musical's filthiest moment.

Jake Shears: When did you first read the Tales books?

Jeff Whitty: I read them when I moved to New York City in 1993 and didn't know anybody. My sister gave me the first three, and I tore through them in just a couple of weeks, and it felt like the characters became my temporary New York friends. It was like my dream'to fall in with a group of people like that.

Shears: When did it dawn on you to write the musical?

Whitty: I was on a plane trip back to London, watching the Tales [PBS] miniseries. This was April 2006.

Shears: I still haven't watched the miniseries.

Whitty: You haven't?

Shears: Not since I was a kid. I wanted to steer clear since we started this show.

Whitty: Yeah, watch the miniseries. My partner encouraged me to watch it. How did you first experience Tales of the City?

Shears: I was probably about 13 or 14 (it was before I was out), and these two guys, Larry and Sean, introduced me to it. I know Larry has since passed away, but I always wondered what happened to Sean. He worked at the gas station, and there was a video store there, and I would come in and yap my head off. And I think they spotted a young gay teenager. Sean gave me a copy of TOTC and told me it was fantastic and I should read it. I remember completely falling in love with it. I was so impressionable, and it was just a perfect time for me to read these books. There's a real universality to those characters even now.

Whitty: Totally. I still think it could be relevant to a small-town boy somewhere else in 2011. The characters are so distinct, and whether you know them or not they have to be played by singular actors. Josh Breckenridge (Jon) has been with us for all of the workshops since New York Theatre Center. I was surprised that Mouse was so hard to find. I thought we'd have this embarrassment of riches with actors. There are two sides of Mouse. One is very open and vulnerable and trusting. But then there's also this wonderful irony he has that's a little dark. Actor after actor would come in and not quite hit both those levels until Wesley walked in. It was one of those auditions where he left the room and I knew we'd found our Mouse.

Shears: Yeah, my inspiration for writing the songs came straight from the characters. I didn't want to make a period pastiche with the music. Yes, the books are set in the '70s, and there are constant references to things in 1976, but the story has stood the test of time.

Whitty: Yeah, it's not really comparable to anything. The only slim comparison would be Into the Woods with its interweaving story lines, but that show has the advantage that they're well-known fairy tales. When Rapunzel appears onstage you already know her backstory. The challenge has been to introduce an audience member who doesn't know TOTC to these characters and get them onboard for a story this epic.

Shears: How many scenes does the show have?

Whitty: There are 60 locations and 120 scene shifts. There are like 50-odd characters and more than 250 costumes. It's huge.

Shears: What is the gayest moment in the show?

Whitty: You pick yours, but mine is when we go from seeing the real Anita Bryant to an incredibly over-the-top drag version of Anita Bryant singing a disco song at the Jockey shorts competition.

Shears: There's also the song 'Homosexual Convalescent Center.'

Whitty: Oh, my God! Absolutely! I take that back!

Shears: It's the very snooty upper echelon of the San Francisco gay world singing a song about where they're planning to retire and how they see their future. It's really filthy, too. It's like 'Delta Dawn' meets Blueboy magazine. One line in the third verse goes, 'My saving grace/ Will be a slower pace/ And a parking space/ On the end of my face.'

Whitty: I think that's the moment where the gayness is turned up to an 11 in the show. There's always a steady drumbeat, but that's when the brakes go off, and the car falls over the cliff.

WESLEY'S HOT LIST
1. 'Sunshine. I'm from Florida, so summer and sunshine feel like home.'
2. 'I'm excited about rocking' my 'stache for the show' and scaring my friends and family with it.'
3. 'So You Think You Can Dance. Guilty pleasure.'
4. 'Nudity. Not really, but I'm a fan of wearing fewer clothes than I need to.'
5. 'The Dark Knight Rises. Pumped!'

JOSH'S HOT LIST
1. 'I'm excited to explore San Francisco and Napa and Alcatraz.'
2. 'The iPhone 5. It's time for me to join the rest of modern culture.'
3. 'Sporting my mini-afro, sideburns, and goatee around town.'
4. 'X-Men: First Class. I love a big blockbuster with a big Diet Coke and a big ol' bucket of popcorn!'
5. 'The premiere of a new indie film I did called Finding Me: Truth, which started in the festival circuits in late spring. Can't wait to see it!'

http://www.out.com/detail.asp?page=1&id=30248

Judy Kaye takes role of Mrs. Madrigal in 'Tales'

Leba Hertz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 22, 2011

Judy Kaye has starred on Broadway in such shows as "Ragtime" and "On the Twentieth Century," as well as performing on national tours in almost every iconic role, including Rose in "Gypsy" and Julie in "Carousel." She won the 1988 featured actress Tony award for her work in "Phantom of the Opera." And she has been nominated two other times for roles she took on in San Francisco: Rosie in "Mamma Mia," and in American Conservatory Theater's production of "Souvenir."

Kaye, who also played Mrs. Lovett in ACT's "Sweeney Todd," returns to the repertory theater to star as the nurturing and mysterious Anna Madrigal in the world premiere musical "Tales of the City." The always down-to-earth Kaye, 62, took time out from her busy rehearsal schedule to talk to The Chronicle.

Q: How did you get involved with this production?

A: I read the script last fall. I got a call about the possibility of doing it. Then I got a call saying no, it wasn't going to work. Then I went off to Arizona to do "Lost in Yonkers." I was on a golf course at the end of March in Tucson when I got the offer to do it. I had met with Jason (Moore), our director - we had a lovely hour together just chatting and reading the script just a little bit without any expectations. Although as soon as I read it I thought, "Oh my God, I would love to play this part." There are not many parts at my tender age that a woman reads that: (a) I'm right for this. I'm really, really right this, and (b) it's so well written. So complete.

Q: Why do you think you're right for this role?

A: I'm the right age. Vocally, it's perfect for me, speaking in technical terms. And I immediately felt a kinship with this character, and frankly who wouldn't? She's so open-hearted. She' s so loving and inclusive in her circle of friends, and encouraging to these kids she kind of mothers. And she's got a secret. Every human being on the planet has a secret of some sort. And that's what I was drawn to. This great open-hearted character who goes through a change. She learns something and becomes a better person and has a fuller life because of it.

Q: How has it been working with the younger cast?

A: These are all glorious professionals. To say they are talented is a real understatement. They are all powerhouses. And because of the many stories in this piece, we need fantastic people to play all these major, major parts - iconic parts. And every one of them is so fully realized. Pow! Wow! We really have a deep bench here. I'm in awe.

Q: How familiar were you with "Tales of the City" before this show?

A: Not hugely. I knew it existed. I knew generally what it was about. And I have not read the books. In some ways, that's good, because I come to this completely objective. I have no preconceived notions about any of this. I bought the book and I started to read, and I thought you know, I'm not going to do this right now. My bible is this script, because that's the story I have to tell. Once we're up and running, and trotting along, I'll pull them out and start reading them again. I was really enjoying what I was reading. I was almost enjoying it too much.

Q: How about the TV series?

A: I'm glad to say I never saw it. I will see it eventually, because now I really want to, but I don't want to be swayed. I started to watch - it wasn't a scene that my character was in - and I fell right into it. I mustn't do that. For in order for me to be effective, I just have to try and inhabit this.

Q: Did you know the secret of Anna Madrigal while you were reading the script?

A: I actually went to the end.

Q: What did you think?

A: The whole thing blew me away.

Q: How's the score?
A: Fabulous!

Q: And how's the score compared with other scores you have performed?

A: It's fabulous!

I'm serious. Everyone keeps pinching ourselves. Is this score as good as I think it is? I haven't heard a score like this for a show in I don't know how long. I don't remember hearing a new show in recent memory that was this good. It's fun, uplifting, beautiful in places. Absolutely breathtaking. I had never heard of the Scissor Sisters. I'm old, you know. (laughter) I went to see them the other night. It was glam-rock fun party music. It did not prepare me for what the score sounds like. It can be that, but it can also have great depth, wonderful harmonic structures. There's very surprising melody turns and very good lyric writing.

Q: How has the score been for your voice?

A: That was the crazy thing. This was not written for me. I didn't come along until very late in the game. And I was saying to Jason the other day, this thing is sitting in the meat of my voice. How did that happen? It feels really, really good for me. And I got some great stuff.

E-mail Leba Hertz at lhertz@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page P - 17 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/20/PKC61JFFCR.DTL

'Tales of the City': ACT puts on final touches

Steven Winn, Special to The Chronicle

Sunday, May 22, 2011

San Francisco audiences are about to enter a theatrical time machine with the dial spun back 35 years. Where they land, in a warmly awaited musical "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City" that opens June 1 at the American Conservatory Theater, will feel very familiar to many, including some who weren't even born in 1976.

First serialized in The Chronicle, Armistead Maupin's buoyant and bittersweet novel "Tales of the City," set in San Francisco, drew an indelible new map of the city for readers here and everywhere. With its interlaced stories of dewy-eyed newcomers and dissolute social climbers, gay coming-out stories and paisley-clad hippies, "Tales" captured the mid-'70s San Francisco of disco and drugs, fern bars and pickup night at the Marina Safeway, a fog-scrimmed age of hope, heartbreak, horniness, innocence and laughter.

The book established 28 Barbary Lane - where Russian Hill landlady Anna Madrigal offers marijuana, maternal love and wisdom to her improvised family of tenants - as one of the most beloved addresses in modern American fiction. It spawned a series of sequels and a much-loved 1993 TV miniseries that starred Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney. The novels continue to find ardent new readers.

Now, with two of Broadway's bright young names as writer and director, and two musical theater novices from the glam-rock band Scissor Sisters signed on to write the music and lyrics, "Tales of the City" is finally getting the musical treatment that's proved elusive over the years. A previous attempt ran aground a decade ago.

This time a "Tales" musical has plenty of tailwind. The ACT production, aimed at Broadway but with no up-front commercial backers or specific New York plans at the moment, is a big-budget undertaking at $2.5 million. Jeff Whitty, author of the ebullient "Avenue Q," wrote the book. Fellow "Avenue Q" alum Jason Moore ("Shrek: The Musical," an early collaboration on "The Book of Mormon") is directing. The set, which features a lofty set of stairs and landings at 28 Barbary Lane, is by Broadway vet Douglas Schmidt. The cast includes plenty of names with major theatrical street cred. They include Judy Kaye as Anna Madrigal, Betsy Wolfe as Cleveland transplant Mary Ann Singleton, Wesley Taylor as the book's gay lead Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Birdsong as bisexual Mona Ramsey.

ACT artistic director Carey Perloff committed to the project after attending an early workshop. "I loved Armistead's book so much," she said. "There are so many Mary Anns who come here from Cleveland and everywhere else and say, 'This is my story.' "

Led by an anonymous lead gift, ACT assembled a circle of individual and corporate donors to bankroll the show. "We've done big musicals before," said Perloff, "so we knew what the band would cost and what the scenic costs would be. Not that there aren't surprises." Perloff praised director Moore as a "pragmatic and flexible collaborator. If he has a great idea and we can't afford it, he comes up with something else." Perloff is hoping for a summer-long extension of a show that's had a long but steady gestation period.

Whitty, 39, had what he calls his "lightning-bolt moment" when he watched the "Tales" miniseries on a plane to London almost five years ago. "This is how a musical begins," he said of the book's opening, in which 25-year-old Mary Ann arrives in San Francisco. "You put a character into a new environment and see what happens to her." Director Moore, 40, agreed, comparing the story's musical-friendly premise to that of "My Fair Lady" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

The 1970s San Francisco that Maupin evokes with such bright, deft strokes is another intrinsic asset. "There's this idea of the city itself as a force that brings people together, pulls them apart and transforms them," said Moore, who first encountered the novel during his gay coming-out phase in college. "That became a unifying principle for us."

But if "Tales" seemed like a musical theater natural in some respects, it also posed substantial challenges. One of them has to do with the book's multiple, overlapping storylines and large cast of characters. Whitty decided that all of the musical's narrative threads would lead to 28 Barbary Lane and/or to the Halcyon family, a wealthy clan with plenty of problems that money can't solve. To make his stories play out, Whitty had to draw on the next novel in the series, "More Tales of the City."

Even with a number of characters and episodes excised, his initial draft came in at an unwieldy 180 pages. A first reading took place at Moore's apartment in 2008. Subsequent workshops at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut and at ACT helped winnow and refine the libretto. Whitty's sustaining intention was to avoid a "bell-bottom period piece" and instead capture "an amazing time of longing and a sense of people really searching, whether it was through est or smoking pot or sex."

For Moore, "Les Miserables" and "Rent" were touchstones for his staging. Both shows employ multiple story lines and are "about community." He knew he wanted to keep the set light and suggestive, "so one scene could bounce to the next. I'd be a fool to represent San Francisco literally in San Francisco," he said. "I'd rather evoke it." Costumes and the choreography, which draws on everything from the Cockettes and disco to roller-skating and drumming circles, would have to carry a lot of the period flavor.

Songwriters Jake Shears, 32, and John Garden, 36, said they jumped at the chance to write their first musical. "Especially this one," said the voluble Shears. "I read the book when I was 13, before I even knew I was gay, and loved it." He and Garden got to work right away, writing "Tales" songs between Scissor Sisters shows in London, New York, Berlin and elsewhere. The first number they wrote, "Plus One," is still in the show.

"Then when we started getting into it," said Garden, "there was so much to explore in terms of musical styles from the period."

"But we didn't want it to sound like a '70s pastiche," added Shears. "The book is timeless, even though the time when it's set in is important." Garden, who shares an enthusiasm for "The Who's Tommy" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" with Shears, said there's everything from Elton John to Debussy in the spectrum of the "Tales" score. "Not that you'll necessarily hear any of it overtly," he noted.

For a rehearsal visitor, the warm-hearted, crowd-pleasing character of the show comes across immediately. Working in a cramped space in the ACT complex, the company was polishing a big ensemble number that came right on the heels of a tenderly liberating love scene for Anna Madrigal (Kaye) and her secret suitor, Edgar Halcyon (Richard Poe).

"Is there anybody alive without paper faces?" sang Wolfe's plaintive Mary Ann, the cast fixed in a frieze around her. Soon they joined her in a rueful anthem: "This is how people survive - behind paper faces." Moore stepped in when they were finished to restage their exits from the staircase. A prop master took note of the fact that someone needed a martini glass.

Moments later, the mood shifted, first to a defiant Anna leading the way in "No Apologies" and then to a rousing, skin-baring jockey-shorts competition at a gay bar. "Defending My Life" came off as a kind of disco-beat answer to "I Am What I Am" from the Broadway hit "La Cage aux Folles." The musical "Tales" seems poised to strum a lot of heartstrings.

"I get real teary in rehearsal," Shears said. "I don't know if that's my big gay heart or what."

Freely as the feelings may flow in ACT's big season-ending musical, the show has been rigorously and sometimes ruthlessly managed along the way. Songs that Garden loved but called "too vague" or musical interludes that were "too heavy" were cut as Whitty pruned his 180-page script down to something that would seem fleet and light-footed onstage. Musical reprises, traded freely from one character to another, stitch the story lines together.

"The hardest part was getting the flow," Whitty said. "I see this as one 2 hour and 40 minute song." It remains to be seen whether "Tales of the City" will take flight as a musical.

But this much is guaranteed: A big part of the audience will come in humming the story when they take their seats. {sbox}

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City: Previews end next Sun. Runs June 1 to July 10. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. $40-$127. (415) 749-2228. www.act-sf.org.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?type=gaylesbian&f=/c/a/2011/05/20/PK9K1JEUCD.DTL

This Week: Tales of the City

Thirty-five years after Armistead Maupin's iconic newspaper serial Tales of the City, the eccentric residents of 28 Barbary Lane are back in an ambitious new musical making its world premiere. Learn how Maupin's Tales inspired the creative team behind this adaptation and catch a preview of some of the songs from members of the glam-rock band Scissor Sisters. The play runs until July 10, 2011 at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

From KQED, with thanks to Lori Halloran, Segment Producer, KQED-TV San Francisco

Visalia's Betsy Wolfe stars in 'Tales of the City' on San Francisco stage

6:50 PM, May. 18, 2011  | 
Written by
Choices

Visalia's Besty Wolfe will get a chance to shine in the spotlight when the musical "Tales of the City" makes its world debut at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.

A 2000 graduate of Golden West High School, Wolfe will star as Mary Ann Singleton, a Midwestern transplant who moves to 1970s San Francisco, where she meets an eccentric assortment of characters and finds romance. The musical is based on Armistead Maupin's best-selling books. ("Tales" famously first appeared in 1976 as a serialized novel in the San Francisco Chronicle.)

"Tales" is now playing in previews and officially opens May 31. It is scheduled to run through July 10.

The musical features a score and lyrics by Jake Shears of The Scissor Sisters, a book by Jeff Whitty (a Tony Award-winner for "Avenue Q") and is directed by Jason Moore ("Shrek the Musical" and "Avenue Q").

Choices wasn't able to connect up with Wolfe to talk about the show — ACT public relations representatives said she wasn't availble for interviews because of rehearsal schedules — but did talk to Wolfe about "Tales" back in January when she was in town preparing for a fundraiser concert.

For the last several years, Wolfe and the creative team behind "Tales" have been developing the show in theater workshops, she said.

"I'm just thrilled it's going to finally get a full production," Wolfe said back in January. "And to have the show debut in San Francisco is just going to be magical."

During the grueling early "Tales" audtion process two years ago, Whitty said Wolfe was "electrifying" and left the creative team with an "A ha!" moment.

"She's not only a wonderful actress, funny and intelligent, but can break your heart too. And as we always say, Betsy 'sings her face off' — her rangy, expressive voice is to die for," Whitty said. "Her Mary Ann Singleton is, for me, definitive."

In addition to Wolfe, the cast will include Tony Award-winner Judy Kaye as Maupin's iconic pot-smoking landlady Anna Madrigal, Mary Birdsong as Mona Ramsay and Tony Award-nominee Manoel Felciano ("Sweeney Todd") as Norman.

Fans of PBS might remember the 1993 television adaptation of "Tales," which starred Olympia Dukakis as Madrigal and Laura Linney as Mary Ann.

The big question with "Tales" is if the show is a hit in San Francisco will it move to Broadway? Shows frequently open outside of New York City to work out tweaks in plot and music before moving to New York. "Wicked," for example, had a 2003 pre-Broadway run in San Francisco.

Does Wolfe think "Tales of the City" will make it to Broadway?

"I would think with all the talent behind the show, it will," said Wolfe back in January. "But right now I'm just focusing on the show in San Francisco and where it goes from there we'll see."

Wolfe is familiar with Broadway, of course. She has appeared in the Tony Award-nominated musicals "Everyday Rapture" and "110 in the Shade" with Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, who grew up in Fresno.

At least one of her biggest fans from Visalia will make the trek to San Francisco to see Wolfe in "Tales." Longtime Golden West drama teacher Mike Wilson is excited to see his former student in the production.

"I have had dozens of great performers come through our program over the past 30 years, but Betsy is the best," Wilson said. "Her work ethic was so amazing and her talent was unsurpassed."

Aside from her Broadway performances, Wolfe appeared in the national touring company of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," performed with symphonies in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit and Baltimore, sung at Carnegie Hall and was the lead soloist singer for the New York City Ballet.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20110518/ENTERTAINMENT05/110518005

'Tales of the City' a San Francisco treat

By: Greg Archer 05/17/11 4:00 AM
Special to The Examiner

Oh, these are wonderful times for Armistead Maupin — and imagine the tales he'll be telling a year from now.

But on the eve of the world premiere of the lavish "Tales of the City" musical, based on the author's seminal literary works, Maupin's emotions are, quite naturally, high.

"I'm so delighted that I have been able to create a lore that can survive; that can translate into so many different realms of art," Maupin says. "I don't know what to say. It's a tremendous tribute, not so much to me, but to the story I have been telling. This is a terrific third act of my life."

And a much-anticipated act at that.

"Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City," the musical amalgam of the first two books in his "Tales of the City" series, finally comes to life, opening in previews Wednesday at American Conservatory Theater in The City.

Already generating buzz are Jake Shears and John Garden of the Scissor Sisters, who birthed the music. But the production seemed charmed from its genesis years ago when writer Jeff Whitty and director Jason Moore, both of "Avenue Q," arrived at the helm.

Maupin first began penning "Tales" more than 35 years ago. After turning heads as a serial column in the San Francisco Chronicle, and later as an award-winning mini-series, his characters — from the naive Mary Ann Singleton to the mysterious Barbary Lane landlady Mrs. Madrigal — warmed hearts. Maupin's latest "Tales" jaunt, "Mary Ann in Autumn," in fact, met with stellar reviews upon release last fall.

"The story and the characters seem real to people and have become integral to their lives," he says. "Throughout all the works, I was merely expressing my own love for The City and the humanity that was changing my own life [at the time]."

About that, Maupin, now in his 60s, credits his grandmother as a prominent influence.

"I was about 14 at the time when she said … 'that any man that was all man and any woman that was all woman was a complete monster unfit for human company,'" he recalls with a chuckle.

"We were walking behind a very thin woman in a cloud of perfume in spiked heels," he adds. "But it was quite a radical thing to say in 1958 — to suggest that a person had elements of male and female. I think it provided a great deal of strength for me over the years, and as a writer, it really helped me."

What's what

The story: The show combines two novels: "Tales of the City" and "More Tales of the City." "I couldn't be happier with what Jeff Whitty has done," Maupin says. "He's taken a story line from 'More Tales' and made it integral to the first book and it creates greater fulfillment at the end of the piece."
The music: The Scissor Sisters' influence is notable. "'Tales' is a proper musical 'musical,'" Shears says. "It's not a '70s pastiche. The story and the books are timeless and we wanted the music to be timeless."
The surprises: Audiences' emotions may run wild — the work swims in deep waters. Bring tissue.

Who's who

Anna Madrigal: Judy Kaye, a Tony Award winner, fills the shoes of Barbary Lane's favorite landlady.
Mona Ramsey: Mary Birdsong, the comedian from "Reno: 911," plays the city hipster.
Mary Ann Singleton: Betsy Wolfe portrays the wide-eyed newcomer to San Francisco.
Michael "Mouse" Tolliver: Wesley Taylor of "Rock of Ages" takes on the iconic gay character.


Notable quotes

"The biggest challenge of the show has been just finding out how it flows. We've just been chipping away at it. I think some of us, at some point, want to move onto Barbary Lane — the sense that the family you are born into isn't the family you are meant for." — Jeff Whitty, librettist

"The interweaving of the two novels does make for an extraordinarily raunchy and funny whorehouse scene, which ... I think every good musical requires." — Armistead Maupin

IF YOU GO

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City

Presented by American Conservatory Theater

    Where: 415 Geary St., San Francisco
    When: Wednesday through July 10
    Tickets: $40 to $130
    Contact: (415) 749-2228, www.act-sf.org
    Note: A gala opening is scheduled for June 1.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/05/tales-city-san-francisco-treat

Tales Spinning

Tony award–winner Jeff Whitty tackles the musical adaptation of a modern gay classic with Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City.

By Jason Lamphier
The Advocate

"I'm scared shitless about this show," says playwright Jeff Whitty. On May 18 he is scheduled to unveil this season's riskiest, most ambitious, gayest stage production not starring a web-slinging superhero: his long-awaited musical version of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. With opening night looming and Tales fans champing at the bit, Whitty, who's been working on its libretto for four years, isn't in the mood to mince words about his anxiety. "I'm not going into this with any sort of bravado," he says. "We're not going to know what we have until we put it in front of people. That's what's exciting and terrifying about it."

Sitting in front of a plate of eggs and toast in the back corner of a café in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Whitty is a safe distance from the critical daggers he fears he'll have to dodge after the show premieres at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. His jitters seemingly in check, Whitty, 39, is detailing his vision for the project and holding forth on the legacy of Maupin's popular novels as only a true Tales lover can. "I want to write for a new audience and give them a big, crunchy epic musical," he says. "At the same time, I think of a classic like Les Miserables, which is a triumph of structure. It's so engaging on a very primal storytelling level. If they were able to pull that off, then we can pull this off. That is my hope for Tales."

Amused by the effusive, drama-geek grandeur of this declaration, Whitty does an about-face and clarifies: "I want to make sure it doesn't come off like I'm saying we're going to redefine musical theater." He chuckles before offering a comical, catty analogy: "You know, Bono said this thing about Spider-Man where he's like"—Whitty shifts his voice into an exaggerated, pretentious accent—" 'It hearkens to Walt Whitman and all these deep thinkers and ama-a-azing musicians.' I was just like, 'Oh, honey.' "

Given the precious, expansive source material, a Tales adaptation would be a daunting venture for any playwright. But if someone can translate Maupin's complex characters and interlacing plotlines to the stage, why not Whitty? This is the writer who, in 2004, won the Tony award for Best Book of a Musical for the peppy Sesame Street–inspired puppet spectacle Avenue Q, arguably the most inventive, unexpected, and relatable Broadway production of the last decade (it also netted Tonys for Best Score and Best Musical, stunning many theatergoers when it beat out that year's front-runner, Wicked). Conceived by composers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q, like Tales, featured disenchanted post-collegiates sharing a building, their dreams, and their angst against a hip, urban, pansexual backdrop. Also like Tales, Q tapped into the uncertainty and headiness of the 20- and 30-something generations but still managed to go down real easy thanks to its uplift and humor.

 Whitty first discovered Tales of the City in 1993, three years after the Coos Bay, Ore., native came out to his family. He'd just graduated from the University of Oregon and decamped to New York City, where at 22 he moved into a tiny studio apartment on the Lower East Side. He hadn't yet begun his studies in New York University's graduate acting program and was waiting tables at the popular theater district restaurant Joe Allen. Alone but starry-eyed, he found solace in Maupin's novels. "Those characters became my temporary friends because I didn't know anyone here," Whitty recalls. "I wasn't in school yet. I didn't have any way of meeting people, so Mary Ann and Mouse and all those folks became my buddies when I tore through those six books."

He devoured the collection in a month, but when the first novel was made into a television miniseries — produced by Channel 4 in the U.K. that same year, then picked up by PBS in the U.S. in 1994 — he refused to watch it, not wanting to taint his own mental picture of 28 Barbary Lane. Showtime eventually coproduced and aired More Tales of the City in 1998 and Further Tales of the City in 2001, but Whitty continued to ignore the persistent efforts of his longtime partner, writer Steven Schmersal, to get him to watch the show, which included career-defining performances by Laura Linney, in her breakout role as Mary Ann, and Olympia Dukakis, who played pot-growing trans matriarch Anna Madrigal.

It wasn't until April 2006 that Whitty's Tales remake began to take shape. After completing Avenue Q, his first musical libretto, he was reluctant to jump back into writing, underwhelmed by the new offers coming in. "Avenue Q was truly a draining, exhausting experience," he says. "I took a ton of meetings and said no to everything because there was nothing that felt worth the struggle to write a musical." Then one day, on a plane ride to London to cast the West End production of Avenue Q, he popped in a DVD of the first Tales installment. "It's Mary Ann on the phone to her mother saying, 'I'm not coming back to Cleveland. I am embarking on this exciting new journey,' " he says, remembering the opening scene, in which the naive heroine arrives in San Francisco's Russian Hill. "I thought, That's how a musical starts — you plunge someone into this new world. They're bringing their old way of living into this new environment."

Upon landing, Whitty checked on the rights to the story (Maupin has collaborated on several smaller Tales-themed musical projects) and found they were available. By July he was on a flight to San Francisco to pitch his idea to Maupin. "I was super nervous to meet him for the first time," Whitty says. "But when I got to Armistead's he said, 'Do you get high?' We got baked and laughed for a few hours, and I don't think I got all the way through my presentation. How could I say no? It was like being asked by Mrs. Madrigal herself!" After that, his Tales musical was a go. Though Maupin has made a few suggestions, contributing some of the show's song titles, the novelist has taken a mostly hands-off approach to the production.

The stage version of Tales reunites Whitty with gay Avenue Q director Jason Moore and features a score by Scissor Sisters front man Jake Shears and the band's touring keyboardist, John "JJ" Garden. Divided into two acts and clocking in at two hours and 45 minutes, it primarily mines the first Tales novel, originally published in 1978, while also touching on a few choice moments from its 1980 sequel, including the memorable scene in which Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, now played by actor Wesley Taylor (The Addams Family, Rock of Ages), comes out to his mother in a letter. For Whitty, telescoping Maupin's work was a difficult but necessary decision. "Most musicals have the A story and the B story. This has the F story and the G story," he says. "But we've done a ton of slenderizing because people don't want to sit through a 17-hour musical."

 Though Tales follows a recent spate of gay-themed adaptations and revivals — Priscilla Queen of the Desert, La Cage aux Folles, Angels in America — Whitty insists he isn't simply waxing nostalgic or cashing in on a trend. For him, the themes and underlying message of Tales couldn't be more relevant today. "From a gay perspective, it's shocking how little has changed," Whitty says. "Act 2 of Tales of the City opens with Anita Bryant giving a speech to the audience, and the things she says are the same arguments that Maggie Gallagher is pulling out now. And I think there's something universal about characters who want to find family, manifest who they are, and be open and free. That's the struggle of most of the characters in this show."

Shears, who discovered Tales while in his early teens, agrees: "It's timeless, like a Greek myth or something. The characters are so ingrained in your psyche; they're so strong." Since jumping on board when Whitty told him about the project four years ago, the musician has composed more than 20 tracks for the production. (Whitty describes the songs as "the 1940s via the 1970s via now.") Shears exhibits a particular fondness for Anna Madrigal, one of the first positive portrayals of a trans character created for a mainstream audience. He's so enamored of the character that he wrote "Next Time You See Me," a revelatory, roof-shaking ballad for Madrigal (played by Judy Kaye) to close the first act.

While Tales revolves around the self-discovery of Michael and San Fran newcomer Mary Ann (played by Betsy Wolfe in the musical), Whitty also has a soft spot for Mrs. Madrigal — and these days, for trans characters in general. "I think transgender people haven't had their turn yet in the public eye in the way they deserve," he says. "I guess part of me is just so bored with gay people. I'm all about transgender people." The playwright's recent musical Bring It On, based loosely on the 2000 cheerleader film and set to start its national tour in the fall, also features a trans character, a fierce queen bee of an inner-city high school named La Cienega. She seems different from her peers, but she never explicitly addresses her gender. "I saw her most often as the 'straight woman,' the voice of reason amid the more eccentric characters around her," Whitty says. "I didn't want to go in the 'sassy black' direction because it's been done, done, done."

When Bring It On premiered in Atlanta in January, Whitty says the performance was met with glowing reviews: "Her curtain call always got one of the biggest ovations. The audience completely loved her throughout the show and appreciated that we weren't sermonizing about it. For once we weren't getting a sob story. There was something utopian about it."

This time, Whitty doesn't backpedal or try to tone down the grand idealism of his statement. "That's the world I live in," he adds. "You're not always explaining who you are. You just are."

http://www.advocate.com/printArticle.aspx?id=202600

Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and John Garden Talk About Musicalizing Tales of the City

By Adam Hetrick
16 May 2011

Somewhere between the Bee Gees, Elton John and Peaches you'll find the Scissor Sisters, the glam-pop band with downtown New York City roots, whose songs "Take Your Mama," "Filthy/Gorgeous," "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" and "Invisible Light" have grabbed fans' ears with their insistent hooks since their self-titled debut album was released in 2004.

Though two more albums have followed to acclaim, "Ta-Dah" in 2006 and "Night Work" in 2010, the Scissor Sisters still tiptoe around the mainstream music scene in the U.S., enjoying a cult status and leagues of fans ranging from the downtown scene to Elton John, who has also collaborated on a couple singles. When they opened for Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden earlier this year, they introduced themselves by saying, "We're the Scissor Sisters and if you don't know who we are, then you're probably not gay, or not British."

That might be about to change. With a host of No. 1 hits in the U.K., platinum albums, sold-out concert tours and an ever-growing U.S. following, the Scissor Sisters' front man Jake Shears and keyboard player John "JJ" Garden have set their sights set on the realm of musical theatre.

Collaborating with Tony Award-winning Avenue Q book writer Jeff Whitty and Tony-nominated director Jason Moore (Avenue Q, Shrek), Shears (music/lyrics) and Garden (music) have scored a musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin's beloved fiction series "Tales of the City."

The 1970s-set saga — mysterious, touching and comical — centers around the inhabitants of a small San Francisco boarding house (the magical manse at 28 Barbary Lane) run by the enigmatic pot-smoking landlady Anna Madrigal.

Playbill.com caught up with Shears and Garden, who are putting the finishing touches on Tales of the City prior to its world-premiere May 18 at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

As big fan of both the Scissor Sisters and Armistead Maupin's "Tales," this project is sort of my musical theatre dream. How did it come about for you?

Jake Shears: About five years ago Jeff Whitty sent me an e-mail wondering if I'd be interested in working on a musical; we had known [Jeff] for about five years at that point. I asked him what it was about and he said it was "Tales of the City." I was in. I was thrilled. Scissor Sisters were on the road at the time and I asked John to start writing songs with me.

Were either of you fans of the book or miniseries?

JS: I had been a fan of the books, but JJ had never read them.

John "JJ" Garden: I knew the miniseries from when it aired in the U.K. but I got to discover the books for the first time as we wrote, which is exciting.

How about musicals? You guys have downtown roots, but Broadway show tunes don't strike me as something on your iPods.

JS: I've always been interested in that style of writing. I've definitely had my own kind of taste, and I don't necessarily like, or respond to, a lot of musicals. But, I've always been a fan of certain musicals and have loved the idea of telling stories and narratives through music. That's kind of a device we use a lot in Scissor Sisters music. In my head there are songs that we've written as a band that are kind of like mini-musicals unto themselves.

JG: I think it was interesting once we started the writing process, we became sort of hyper aware of musical theatre as a form we were working in, and to go discover how many shows there are that actually influenced both of us throughout our lives from childhood onwards. Also things that aren't always considered musicals, things like Bugsy Malone, Tommy and Quadrophenia, some of those things that still have the storytelling aspect to it, but haven't necessarily been staged or are associated with Broadway. I think we both made a lot of discovery of things that are in our musical DNA.

Was it a challenge to adapt your writing process — as songwriter-performers you can essentially riff on whatever inspires you — to create character-driven material that drives plot and explores character?
JS: There are certain songs that were real challenges, that we took lots of stabs at until we got it right. But when I'm writing lyrics, and songs for Scissor Sisters, I sing in character a lot of times and I write songs in character with the band. It's a device we use on a regular basis with Scissor Sisters, so it felt really natural for me to write songs as characters who provide new information and move the story along.

How do the two of you write? Lyrics first, music first?

JG: The best situation is that we are in the same room and work it out together. Sometimes Jake will come in with a whole melody already worked out and no lyrics, and just a concept. Other times lyrics first. It's really been different for every song.

JS: We have no formula. I'm still mystified as to how to write a song. We've written most of the show on piano. Tossing ideas back and forth.

What can Scissor Sisters fans expect the score to sound like? You've got a throwback groove going already, are we getting some disco?

JS: There's a bit of disco in it. I think both of us made a conscious decision not to limit ourselves to a kind of '70s pastiche. My view on the books is that they are very timeless and that's why we're making this show now. It's also why people still read them and they're still in print. It's just a timeless story. I wanted the music to feel timeless as well. Our songwriting already leans into that sort of '70s song craft as it is. So, I thought it was really necessary not to overthink that aspect, and to just set out to write songs naturally and that's what we've done.

JG: There's definitely some surprising stylistic moments that fans of the band and Jake's writing with the band will be surprised by. There's some unusual turns.

This is a really ambitious piece to tackle for the stage. It's sort of Dickensian in scale — the subplots all intertwine and the characters are all somehow connected to one another.

JS: That's a big challenge of Tales of the City, adapting it in that way. I mean right off the top, you've got to be merciless and make big decisions about what stays, what goes and what's going to be the real center of it. Those are big decisions that we had to start making off the top.

JG: There was even a moment where someone suggested that we pick one character and make the show about them, but I think we've avoided that quite well. The show still works with a kind of multiple focus. All these characters are so well loved and you don't feel that anyone of them is suffering because one character is being pushed forward.

Novelist Maupin has also been pretty hands-on in the process, I understand. Is it intimidating to adapt his work and then have him view it?

JS: He's been amazing. So helpful and open-minded. He's just so happy that this is happening and he's been a real asset to us. I don't know if we could have really done it without him. I wouldn't have wanted to do it without him. He's been a real rock and always has great insight. It's a pleasure to be friends with him and be around him and work with him. Actually, that's the thing about adapting and what's been so great about Armistead Maupin being a part of this process. There have been liberties taken. You have to do what's going to be best for the musical instead of being married to the original text. But, that said, I think we've been very faithful to the characters.

What were some of the first moments you wrote? Anything in particular that jumped out at you in the story as a first inspiration?

JS: The first song we wrote was a song called "Plus One," which Dede sings as she finds out that she's not only pregnant, but pregnant with twins. That was the first bit of the story we musicalized. It was just a matter of finding moments at first that felt like they lent themselves to song. This was before there was a script and we just took moments from the book. Other early songs were "Where Beauty Lies" and "Homosexual Convalescence Center."

"Homosexual Convalescence Center." I love that title already.

JS: It's this party of the "A-Gays," the upper echelon of homos who are singing about where they plan on spending their retirement and the rest of their lives. It's a very funny song, but it's an important song in the show because underneath it — I wanted to acknowledge the fact that this is 1976 and all these men who were singing the song about what they're going to do in their old age — in actuality, a lot of them won't reach their old age. That's something that the audience knows that the characters don't necessarily. There are some left field ideas like that and subject matters that I wanted to broach. I thought it was necessary. There are interesting little pathways that come out in the story like that.

You've been working on the piece for about five years now, right? Theatre folks are pretty used to the workshop process, but that must be a kind of new thing for you guys.

JG: The first workshop at the O'Neill [Center's Music Theatre Conference in 2009] was the first time we had heard anyone else sing the songs from the score and it was so exciting and inspiring. We started writing new material during that workshop because we also started to realize what was possible. It was sort of the first time we saw the potential for all the directions [it could go].

Are the two of you still actively writing during rehearsals?

JS: Unless there are any major surprises coming up, everything's written. Now it's just scalpel work, clarifying every little thing and going through every line. Just shaping and doing all the detail work. It's been really fun. There are still a couple lines I'm stuck on, I have no idea what the hell they'll be. But that's a fun part of it. It's gratifying because you plug stuff like that right into the show and you see it work right away.

It's also pretty special that Tales of the City should debut in its hometown. What are the chances that we'll see it in New York?

JS: There couldn't be any other way [than San Francisco] and I think there probably will be [other productions]. The goal is to make this show the best show it can possibly be for San Francisco. I will be satisfied and happy even if I never saw the show again after San Francisco. It's been such a blast and we're so proud of it. I just want it to be the best show right now. Hopefully it will go on and have a great life.

Tales of the City will begin previews May 18 at A.C.T., prior to officially opening May 31. It will play an extended engagement through July 10. The cast features Tony Award winner Judy Kaye (The Phantom of the Opera, On the Twentieth Century, Souvenir) as Anna Madrigal, with Betsy Wolfe (Everyday Rapture, 110 in the Shade) as Midwestern transplant Mary Ann Singleton, Mary Birdsong (Martin Short Fame Becomes Me, "Reno 911") as the free-spirited Mona Ramsay and Wesley Taylor (Rock of Ages, The Addams Family) as Michael "Mouse" Tollivar.

Click here to read Playbill.com's story about the Tales cast.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/150788-Scissor-Sisters-Jake-Shears-and-John-Garden-Talk-About-Musicalizing-Tales-of-the-City/pg1?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4dd0bf1d77f3a793,0

Creative team has high hopes for musical version of 'Tales of the City'

By Karen D'Souza

kdsouza@mercurynews.com
Posted: 05/12/2011 12:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 05/13/2011 05:39:18 PM PDT

Welcome back to 28 Barbary Lane.

Once again, mysterious landlady Anna Madrigal will hold court over the bohemian denizens of her iconic Russian Hill boardinghouse, dispensing equal portions of wisdom and weed as she watches over her flock of dreamers, swingers and misfits, all looking for a sense of family amid the tumult of San Francisco in the '70s.

Only this time, Madrigal and the other "fantabulous" characters in Armistead Maupin's now mythic "Tales of the City" -- from wide-eyed Mary Ann Singleton to Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and hippie-granola bisexual Mona Ramsey -- will also break into song.

"What makes a story sing?" asks director Jason Moore during a rehearsal for the new "Tales of the City" musical, which makes its world premiere at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater on Wednesday. "Love or loss or emotions so intense that you just have to break into song. In this case, it's people looking for love and trying to find themselves in the big city, trying to find their way in the world, trying to make a family for themselves."

It was lyricist Jeff Whitty of "Avenue Q" fame who first believed "Tales" -- which will continue in previews until its official opening May 31 -- was dying to be reborn as a musical.

The Tony-winner enlisted a top-notch creative team, including Moore ("Shrek the Musical," "Avenue Q") and Jake Shears and John Garden of the glam-rock band Scissor Sisters. In an email to Shears, to pique his interest in the project, Whitty described the musical this way: "From a storytelling perspective, it's 'Les Misérables' in scale, but with polyamory, drugs, joy and death."

Obviously the pitch worked, and now "Tales" is on the verge of coming home to the city of its birth, a prospect that thrills and scares the librettist.

"It's terribly intimidating to be in San Francisco but also wonderful at the same time," says Whitty, who has been working on this project intermittently since 2006. "No production will ever be as cool as this one. This is the home of the books."

Maupin, for one, instinctively felt that this valentine to the city, which began as a serial in the Chronicle in 1976, belonged at ACT, where the $2.5 million production ranks as the most expensive show in the company's history. "I have always had a lot of respect for ACT," Maupin says, "and I felt that the musical should be homegrown, just as the original serial was."

"Tales" came to define not only the zeitgeist of 1970s San Francisco as a freewheeling mecca of disco balls and sexual liberation, but also the enduring spirit of the city as a place where fabulousness is a state of mind and eccentricity trumps conformity every time. Maupin's episodic soap opera fueled the lore of the city as an oasis where quirkiness never goes out of style.

—‰'Tales' is very close to our collective hearts, and it has been a joy to watch the characters we all know and love come to life," says Carey Perloff, artistic director of ACT. "I guess you could say it's ACT's gift to our city, and to Armistead, who has given all of us so much pleasure and recognition."

Indeed, though the stories always had a pop-culture impact, they have grown in critical estimation over time. As one reviewer put it: —‰'Tales' contains the universe, if not in a grain of sand, then in one apartment house."

Maupin, 66, is quick to play down his accomplishment, even though the wildly successful "Tales" franchise now includes eight books (the first published in 1978), three hit TV miniseries starring Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis and now the ACT musical.

"I have been tremendously happy to create a mythology that has been so personal for so many people," he says. "I always wanted to create a fictional address that took on a sort of geographical reality for people, like Tara in 'Gone with the Wind.' "

(For the record, Maupin once tried to find Tara, unsuccessfully, just as many tourists try to make a pilgrimage to Barbary Lane, to no avail.)

Sitting in on rehearsals, the author says he has gotten a real kick out of watching ACT's cadre of young bucks transport his characters into the world of musical theater. He has become close pals with Whitty, and trusts him to channel the essence of his work.

"They are honoring the characters completely," Maupin says. "There's something very flattering about watching a new generation interpreting your work."

Indeed, as he ages, he finds himself identifying with the older characters in the tales, instead of the young ones.

"When I first wrote them I was young; now I know what it is like to be in your 60s and be in love," says the novelist. "I have been all of these characters at one time or another over the last 35 years."

Whitty has tried hard to remain true to the spirit, tone and scope of the book and its characters.

"There's such a love of humanity in Armistead's work," Whitty says. "That's what I want to capture. The storytelling is so rich. I think for all of us in the creative team, this has been a real labor of love."

Encompassing a campy daisy chain of nearly four dozen characters, the jampacked plot distills the action of the first book, as well as some aspects of the sequel.

"The musical really knows what it wants to be," Whitty says. "There's nothing I have cut that shouldn't be cut. All of the story lines always have to lead us back to Barbary Lane."

Some songs come straight out of the books, such as the "Dear Mama" number, which is based on the words in Mouse's coming-out letter to his family. Other songs that Whitty loved, but that didn't drive the action, had to be cut.

"I am slicing it and slicing it and slicing it," he says, "but with a scalpel, not a hatchet."

Whitty also hopes to use audience reactions to help shape the adaptation. "When I was working on 'Avenue Q,' I had no idea what I was doing, so I learned to listen to the audience and think on my feet," he says.

The Bay Area audience, in particular, comes with high stakes, since devotees of the material are likely to be out in full force. As Whitty puts it: "How do you keep things fresh and surprising for an audience that knows the story inside out?"

"There's a lot of goodwill here, but there are also very high expectations," Maupin says, "But from what I have seen, they are going to be met. I know theater folk have this superstition about talking about how well something is going, but the mood is reservedly optimistic."

"Tales" is the latest high-profile musical with Broadway buzz to be born in the Bay Area, following on the heels of such hits as "Memphis," "American Idiot" and "Wicked."

However, Maupin is not overly concerned about Broadway after the musical's ACT debut.

"Personally, I'd be more interested to see it go to the West End" in London, the author says. "I have a higher profile with the British than I do here, for some reason."

Right now, Whitty and his collaborators say all they want is to give San Francisco the "Tales" it deserves.

"We want to do justice to Armistead's creation," Whitty says. "In all honestly, even the simplest musical is impossible. They are hard to pull off. But if they can do 'Les Miz,' then we can do 'Tales!' "

Contact Karen D'Souza at 408-271-3772. Check out her theater reviews, features and blog at www.mercurynews.com/karen-dsouza.

'Armistead Maupin's Tales
of the City'

Libretto by
Jeff Whitty,
music and lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden, based on the novels by Armistead Maupin

When: Wednesday through July 10
Where: American Conservatory Theater,
415 Geary St.,
San Francisco
Tickets:
$40-$130;
415-749-2228, www.act-sf.org

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_18044078?nclick_check=1

Barbary Lane's Creator Looks Back on a Golden Age

By LAURA MILLER
Published: May 12, 2011

"We've always pined for the old days," Armistead Maupin said of his fellow San Franciscans in a recent interview. When he moved to the city from Charleston, S.C., in 1971, he used to read Herb Caen's columns mourning the 1930s, "and people now do it about the '60s and '70s. I don't do it. I really don't."

Maybe he doesn't, but for people all over the world, his best-selling and much-beloved "Tales of the City" novels epitomize those halcyon days between the blossoming of gay liberation and the advent of AIDS.

Tell people you're from San Francisco, and chances are a dreamy look will come over their faces and they'll rhapsodize about how much they love Mr. Maupin's "Tales," which originated as a serial in The San Francisco Chronicle, the same newspaper that published Caen. A fan once informed the author that her brother had asked to be buried with copies of his books.

It's surprising, then, that it has taken this long for someone to turn "Tales of the City" into a musical. The saga of Mary Ann Singleton's arrival in San Francisco and the adventures she shares with her fellow residents of 28 Barbary Lane under the aegis of the maternal yet enigmatic landlady Anna Madrigal seem ready-made for the stage. The story offers ample occasion for wistful ballads, smoldering torch songs and — above all — show-stopping anthems celebrating the giddy pleasure of unfettered self-expression.

The American Conservatory Theater has stepped into the breach at last, with a play featuring a book by the Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q") and songs by Jake Shears and John Garden of the alternative glam band the Scissor Sisters. It will open June 1.

Written for an ephemeral medium and studded with of-the-moment references (does anyone even remember who Marisa Berenson is anymore?), "Tales of the City" might seem an improbable candidate for immortality. Nevertheless, Mr. Shears, who wasn't even born when Mr. Maupin began publishing the serial in the mid-1970s, was so excited after Mr. Whitty approached him about the project that he and Mr. Garden began writing songs the same day, Mr. Garden told Rolling Stone magazine.

Certain works of fiction are so thoroughly identified with a particular place and time — the London of Sherlock Holmes, the Los Angeles of Philip Marlowe — that they become, by some strange alchemy, simultaneously local and universal.

Although there are no detectives in "Tales of the City," there are plenty of mysteries, most having to do with who the characters really are and what they really want. San Francisco has long attracted people seeking the opportunity to explore parts of themselves they couldn't embrace openly in their hometowns.

Yet however eccentric or even faddish Mr. Maupin's characters may appear, beneath the est, the Quaalude-popping and the penchant for fern bars, their desires turn out to be reassuringly familiar and eternal.

"We didn't feel the '70s were going on while we were in the '70s," Mr. Maupin, 67, said. "It was just life. I was writing a story about people going through things that people always go through: love, loss and longing — all the big L's."

Mr. Maupin, like any true lover, continues to pay careful attention to his beloved city's moods and passions.

Back in the day, he set his fictional scenes in the real-life hangouts of San Franciscans, seeking out local color at the disco Dance Your Ass Off ("Thank God I never have to do that again," he said he thought when he left) and checking out "gay night" at the Grand Arena roller rink. For the most recent "Tales" novel, "Mary Ann in Autumn" (published last fall) , he revisited his old haunts in Russian Hill and gave his heroine the same Proustian experience he had himself, thanks to a scoop of Swensen's Swiss orange chip ice cream.

To keep up with the younger generation, Mr. Maupin also has what he calls "spies." One is his 25-year-old physical trainer. "She alleviated my fear over whether or not I was missing the spirit of the times. She sounds so much like my friends from 30 years ago," he said. "It's basically still the same when you're young and new in town and trying to beat Mona's Law" — named for a major character in the series — "which is that you can have a hot job, a hot apartment and a hot lover but you can't have all three at the same time. That formula still applies."

As for the city itself, has it changed? "It's physically more seductive than it's ever been," Mr. Maupin said. He and his husband, Christopher Turner, love walking their Labradoodle along the restored shoreline at Crissy Field. Still, he understands when his younger fans say they wish they could have lived in San Francisco in the '70s.

"It was a golden era," he conceded, "and I saw it as such when I was living it. I remember standing backstage at 'Beach Blanket Babylon,' where I was a scenery pusher, and feeling that I was gloriously blessed to be feeling this freedom and living in this place."

Laura Miller is a senior writer at Salon.com, which she co-founded in 1995.

lauramiller@nyc.rr.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/us/13bcmaupin.html?_r=1