Fans of hunky accused CEO-killer Luigi Mangione are clearly dying to see Luigi: The Musical, opening in June at the Taylor Street Theater, as opening night pretty much instantly sold out for this audacious original comedy-musical.

It’s no secret that Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of the United Healthcare CEO, has become a cult-hit heartthrob among those who loved seeing some vigilante justice (allegedly) metered out toward the unscrupulously profitable US healthcare system. And Mangione has his fans here in San Francisco. Some people are such fans that KRON4 reports there will be a Luigi Mangione musical opening in San Francisco in June at the Taylor Street Theater, aka the former EXIT Theater.  

While the show will open on Friday, June 13 — yes, Friday the 13th — we already have some Instagram embeds to give you a taste of the McDonald’s-inspired events that make up this musical.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Caleb Zeringue (@caleb.meringue)

“Luigi: The Musical is a wildly irreverent, razor-sharp comedy that imagines the true story of Luigi Mangione, the alleged corporate assassin turned accidental folk hero,” the show declares on its website. “With real-life cellmates Sam Bankman-Fried and Diddy by his side, Luigi navigates friendship, justice, and the absurdity of viral fame.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @luigithemusical

Yes, it is true that crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and accused sex trafficker Sean “Puffy/Diddy/Daddy” Combs are also locked up at the same Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York where Mangione is awaiting trial. And that was the apparent inspiration for this musical.

The show’s producer and co-writer Caleb Zeringue tells the Chronicle that the idea was hatched at the SF Eagle, when director Nova Bradford told him, “Did you hear that Luigi’s in the same prison with Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried? I wanna write a musical about that.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @luigithemusical

The show is clearly shaping up to be a huge hit. As of press time for this post, the June 13 opening night is already sold out, the next night has only two tickets remaining. There will be five performances between June 13 and June 28.

This show will inevitably stir outrage for supposedly “celebrating a murderer.” Though much of this criticism will come from people who celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny for killing someone.

“We’re not valorizing any of these characters, and we’re also not trivializing any of their actions or alleged actions,” the director Bradford told the Chronicle. “When people interact with these systems that they’ve lost trust in, it creates such a sense of isolation, and comedy inherently is connective.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @luigithemusical

Maybe it makes sense for this musical to open in San Francisco, as Mangione has San Francisco connections, and Bankman-Fried had his house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto. But given how much national attention this show is getting, you can’t deny, delay, or depose that the Luigi Mangine musical may be playing in other cities someday, too.

Luigi: The Musical runs Friday, June 13 through Saturday, June 28 at the Taylor Street Theater. $30, Tickets here

Related: Latest Proposed California Ballot Measure Named After Luigi Mangione [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

The acclaimed LBGTQ musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie finally gets its San Francisco run at the Victoria Theatre, with Katya Smirnoff-Skyy in a hilarious and crowd-pleasing Pride Month production.

When you see that Ray of Light Theatre’s just-opened production of Everybody's Talking About Jamie (playing through June 23 at the Victoria Theatre) has longtime SF drag icon Katya Smirnoff-Skyy in the cast, you simply assume that Katya is going to steal the show. After all, surely these lesser-known cast members will not be able to match the onstage magnitude of Ms. Smirnoff-Skyy, who’s been doing smash-hit residencies at Martuni’s and Feinstein's at the Nikko for decades. One assumes Katya will stand head, shoulders, and giant wig above the rest of this cast.

But that’s not what happens. Notably, actor Romelo Urbi is a surprising and highly charismatic powerhouse in the titular role of Jamie, a British teenager who aspires to be a drag queen. Urbi makes this production his own vehicle, and there will be no stealing of this show by any of the supporting cast, thank you very much.

And the real sparkle of this show is not the cheeky drag humor, but the emotional family drama that plays out. Jamie’s mother Margaret (Anne Elizabeth Clark) and somewhat co-parenting friend Ray (Jill Slyter) deliver many of this production’s most compelling moments, including Clark’s second-act rendition of “He’s My Boy” that stands out as this show’s high-water mark.

Yes, there is obviously drag humor in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and plenty of it. Katya, billed in the program by real name J. Conrad Frank, plays the sort-of dual role of drag apparel shop proprietor Hugo and the drag alter-ego Loco Channelle. (Bianca del Rio played the role in previous UK and Los Angeles productions). And there is more wigged-out zaniness from a trio of other drag queens that occasionally turn up: Sandra Bollock (Rahni NeverMore), Laika Virgin (Steven Ennis), and Tray Sophisticay (Samuel Prince).

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie had not yet had a San Francisco run, though it premiered in Sheffield, England (where the play takes place) back in 2017 and moved on to the West End. It’s based on the real-life 2011 BBC documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, and a film version from 2021 pretty much went straight to Amazon Prime, likely because 2021 was a terrible time for business at movie theaters.

But if Saturday’s Opening Night audience was any indication, this thing has developed a strong cult following. The crowd very much knew the numbers and lyrics, and their whooping and hollering gave this show an infectious Pride Month exuberance.

It sure helps that Tom McRae’s incisive and brilliant lyrics to the musical numbers are a nonstop parade of clever and uproarious one-liners. Say what you want about the 116-year-old Victoria Theatre, and its hardly state-of-the-art aesthetic, every lyric in this musical can be heard crystal-clear. And for that, Ray of Light Theatre’s sound engineers Kira Sedayao and Gaby Gerson deserve to be commended.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has an incredibly simple plot. A high school boy wants to wear a dress to prom, that’s pretty much the story here. There are classmate subplots, and family subplots, and “chosen family” subplots as Jamie finds his drag mother. But it’s a coming-of-age and coming-out story, exploring the bigotry and bullying that comes with that, and supporting cast members are forced to decide whether they’re going to be supportive in the face of community blowback.

This is territory that has already been well-covered by Dear Evan Hansen, and Book of Mormon, two far more awarded and decorated plays. So Everybody’s Talking About Jamie does not feel particularly revolutionary. But this production at the Victoria Theatre is a delightfully fun and quite affordable Pride Month night out at the theater, and finally, a chance to see an awfully good musical that theater fans in New York, the West End, and London have certainly been talking about for awhile.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie plays through June 23 at the Victoria Theatre (2961 16th Street, at Mission Street) Tickets here

Related: 'Funny Girl' at the Orpheum Is Carried By the Star Power of Its Very Talented Lead [SFist]

Images: Ray of Light Theater

“Dangerous Liaisons but it’s teenagers” gets a 1990s jukebox musical reboot with Cruel Intentions: The 90’s Musical, whose spectacular sets and occasional nudity serve a memorable feast for your eyes as well as your ears.

The 1782 French sex novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses begat a 1987 Tony-winning play of the same name, which begat the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons that won three Oscars. That story was rebooted yet again in the 1999 Sarah Michelle Gellar-Ryan Phillippe movie Cruel Intentions, a low-budget smash hit that launched the film careers of Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair.

And this sex-drenched franchise has banged out yet another incarnation with Cruel Intentions: The 90’s Musical, an off-Broadway hit now playing at the Victoria Theatre through October 1. It’s a Ray of Light Theatre production, the musical theater troupe that’s previously transformed the, erm, well-aged 115-year-old Victoria Theatre stage with electrifying sets in productions like Kinky Boots and their all-female Jesus Christ Superstar.

And they’ve done it again with Cruel Intentions: The 90’s Musical, a satirical sex comedy about insanely privileged private high school sexpots and virgins, with the former scheming to seduce the latter into their camp. Set designer Matt Owens’s impressive LED-lit Roman arches with window columns will surely draw comparisons to the opening credits of The Muppet Show. Yet the actors are positioned intermittently through different arches in a way that keeps this set fresh and fascinating through the whole nearly two-hour show, and there are other dazzling visual effect goodies sprinkled into the performance.

In the Ryan Phillippe (Sebastian) role, Jake Gale shows he can play a loathsome narcissist every bit as charmingly as he played the aw-shucks hero in Kinky Boots. Chelsea Holifield makes the Sarah Michelle Gellar (Kathryn) role viciously and deliciously her own. But the most comically gifted cast member is Anne Norland in the clumsy ingénue Selma Blair part (Cecille), though her role is regrettably reduced in the second act.

And it’s PG-13, people, because we do see a little ass in this show.

But about this “90’s Musical” business… it’s more of a “90’s Bubblegum Pop Musical.” The 1990s were a musically glorious period where the underground stormed the mainstream — with greats like Nirvana, Alanis Morissette, and the Pixies/Breeders, and hip-hop breakthroughs like the Fugees, Notorious B.I.G., and the Wu-Tang Clan. You will hear no such greatness in this jukebox musical score.

You will instead hear the disposable ditties of Christina Aguilera, No Doubt, and Jewel. A couple numbers are delivered here with a healthy sense of irony and mockery (NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” and TLC’s “No Scrubs” are especially funny). The score elicits a number of spontaneous audience sing-alongs, but just as many groans.

Maybe that’s the point, as Cruel Intentions: The 90’s Musical is just tongue-in-cheek silliness throughout. But it’s a three-star show that could have been a four-star show, because it chooses to serve up cotton candy when it could serve filet mignon.

At critical points in the plot, particularly the climax when the anti-heroes have their changes of heart and comeuppance, there is never any emotional exploration of why the characters had second thoughts. The script just shoehorns the actors into another somewhat-thematically connected 90s pop number, opting for sing-alongs rather than character development.  

It’s great fun, but not memorable, as the book by Roger Kumble (who directed the 1999 film) avoids any attempt at character depth. Emotionally, this stage musical reboot of Dangerous Liaisons chooses to play it safe.

Cruel Intentions: The 90’s Musical runs Wednesdays-Saturdays through October 1, 8 p.m., at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St., $20-$70, tickets here

Related: 'Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical' Begins Its Exuberantly Nostalgic Pre-Broadway Run at A.C.T. [SFist]

Image: Cruel Intentions cast by Job Bauer, via Ray of Light Productions

A dazzling and kinetic Tina Turner musical biography goes for nearly three hours at the Golden Gate Theatre, but the musical stylings of a ten-year-old playing a young Tina are simply the best moments of the show.  

The jukebox musical Tina - The Tina Turner Musical, playing through August 27 at the Golden Gate Theatre, is not some rush job that was hastily put together after the singer’s death this past May. The show premiered in London in 2018, and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith won the Olivier Award for his portrayal of Ike Turner in that production. It hit Broadway in 2019, where Adrienne Warren won the Tony Award for Leading Actress for her performance of Tina Turner.

So this is proven award-winning material, but if anyone’s winning any national awards in this production, it will be ten-year-old Ayvah Johnson for her remarkable singing, dancing, and presence as the little girl version of Tina Turner (technically, Anna-Mae Bullock, prior to the singer’s name change).

We meet Johnson early as Young Anna-Mae, in a version of Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” that shows this musical is going to use several of these hit numbers to express plot points, not just as big production numbers. The visual backdrops for these plot-point numbers achieve stunning effects, like the cotton fields seen above. And the first half of the show is a memorable musical treatise on race relations and sexism in 20th Century America.

And of course, domestic violence. The adult Tina Turner will alternate by night between Naomi Rodgers and Zurin Villanueva. We got Villanueva Wednesday night, and she’s definitely up to the task of the challenging choreography, a demanding vocal role, and a character working through a deep amount of personal pain. (Though some of the wigs are, well, unconvincing). The pompadoured savior-turned-abuser Ike Turner (Roderick Lawrence) gives a convincing and very human study of emotional manipulation and drug addiction. Interestingly, the stagecraft of domestic violence scenes is structured so the actors’ bodies are always blocking your view of the actual strike, so the audience never directly sees someone being hit.

There are a number of great comical notes for the background dancers, though it does feel a lost opportunity that the Phil Spector character (Geoffrey Kidwell) isn’t played more villainously, and comes across as just a garden-variety show business sleazebag. And despite an absolutely soaring first act, the second act portraying Turner’s 80s comeback lacks anywhere near the drama or interesting characters we see in the first half of the show.

But Tina - The Tina Turner Musical has many spectacular moments over its two hours and 45 minutes, including a sort of gay disco scene in the rousing finale numbers. It doesn't cover a ton of ground that wasn’t already covered in the 1993 Angela Bassett vehicle What's Love Got to Do With It. But it does cover that ground with top-notch stage effects and choreography, plus one of the most memorable performances by a ten-year-old that you’ll ever see onstage.

Tina - The Tina Turner Musical plays through August  27 at the Golden Gate Theatre. Tickets here.

Related: 'A Chorus Line' Delivers Some Classic Broadway Dance Delights at SF Playhouse [SFist]

Top photo: Naomi Rodgers as Tina Turner in the North American touring production of TINA THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.

Ray of Light Theatre’s new production of the Tony-winning Kinky Boots is one of the best shows the Victoria Theatre has had in years, with boot-strapped but ambitious sets that take that stage to new heights.

The 2013 Tony Award-winning Best New Musical Kinky Boots is actually a shockingly G-rated show for a musical that has the word “Kinky” right there in the title. But in the nearly ten years since it was released, one completely innocent aspect of the show is now the center of a right-wing culture war jihad — that children are comfortable with and intrigued by drag queens. Kids enjoying the antics of drag queens is regularly spurring death threats and hate crimes these days, and it is against this backdrop that Ray of Light Theatre’s new production of Kinky Boots (running through October 8 at the Victoria Theatre) arrives with two kiddos front and center in the cast of a drag queen-centered show.

This version of Kinky Boots is a completely faithful interpretation that does not shy away from  putting those two youngsters (Austin Engwerda and Tenzin Forder) in the critical opening and closing moments of the show. But what you’ll remember about this exhilarating and very, very good production is that the stage of the Victoria has rarely ever looked this good. The wildly ambitious sets do not contain any rotating scenery or the big-budget stuff you see at the Orphuem, but it achieves amazing effects on an, if you will, “shoestring” budget. It switches seamlessly between a glum British factory and a nightclub, and does a remarkable job with a certain conveyor-belt musical number (we saw the same effect attempted in 2016 at the Golden Gate Theatre).

Your standout performer is of course the “Lola” character played by Marshall Forte, a talented soloist with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus. Both Jake Gale (“Charlie”) and Chanel Tilghman (“Lauren”) absolutely bring down the house with their own confessional solo numbers in the emotionally contentious second act, which contrasts from a mostly feel-good first act.

We should note that at last weekend’s Opening Night, plenty of audience members complained it was too warm inside, fanning themselves with their programs throughout. And folks, the Victoria Theatre is 113 years old, it’s all they can do to keep the lights working, let alone air-condition the place. And there is, well, a drag on the show that the old place’s acoustics do not provide an ideal sound for the live band’s rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s Tony-winning score.  

But none of this will stop you from absolutely adoring this version of Kinky Boots, one of Ray of Light theatre's best productions ever, and one of the greatest triumphs on the Victoria Theatre stage in quite some years. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll actually cry like five or six times. It’s an inspiring revue about facing reality, and how to make filet mignon when life serves you a shit sandwich (and a separate subplot about a condominium conversion hits very close to home at this Mission District theater). At a time when an agenda-driven stigma is being pushed on kids’ curiosity toward drag shows, this Kinky Boots production proudly owns the idea. Plus the show is a real kick, to boot.

Kinky Boots plays Wednesdays - Mondays, though October 8, at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street (at Capp Street) $30, Tickets here.

Related: Joyful 'Goddess' at Berkeley Rep Looks and Sounds Very Likely Broadway-Bound [SFist]

Images: Ray of Light Theater

Those of us who have been losing the $10 Hamilton ticket lottery every day since the blockbuster musical opened in March realize that we are quite literally down to our last shot — there is only one more lottery drawing before this production closes on Saturday and heads down to Los Angeles for its run there. But there will be more shots! Producers SHN SF announced this week that Hamilton will return to San Francisco in 2019, according to Playbill.

Details are extremely scant (These performance are two years away!), with a press release from SHN SF merely identifying the dates as being in “early 2019.” We know nothing of the length of the return engagement’s run, nor who will be cast, nor at which theater these performances will take place, nor whether us poors will be afforded a cheap ticket lottery. The release simply says, “Information regarding engagement dates and how to purchase tickets will be announced at a later time.”

We can get a little more obsessive about reading the tea leaves in this press release, as producer Jeffrey Sellers gives the quote, “We look forward to returning and staying for a long time in early 2019.” So, at least there is some intention that this return run could be lengthy?

Even for those of us who did not manage to get tickets, these last six months of Hamilton being in town have been a magical time for musical theater fans. All the social media posts of those lucky people have been delightful to scroll through, and something just feels culturally right when the hottest ticket in town is a good old-fashioned Broadway musical (albeit a highly updated one). The cast have graciously turned up at Giants games, Warriors games, and charity events. This engagement has been a really feel-good run, and fans have forgotten all about that goddamned ticket queue line nightmare that will almost certainly happen again in 2019 — and we will sign up for this enthusiastically.

If you really want to see Hamilton before the San Francisco run closes, realize there are currently four $524 Orchestra seats left for Friday’s 2 p.m. “matinee” show. However, StubHub has seats in that price range that for all five remaining performances.

Note: SHN SF is an occasional SFist advertiser, but this was not a sponsored post or directed in any way by the advertiser.

Related: Enthusiastic Castro Flier Advertises $14,000 'Hamilton' Tickets With 'Supreme Bragging Rights'

There is currently an overflowing, lovin’ spoonful of Summer of Love commemorations in San Francisco, from street fairs to outdoor concerts to retail window displays — but none of them really offers a plausible date night with comfortable, indoor seating. That’s the upside of the ACT Geary Theater’s production A Night with Janis Joplin, a two-hour-plus Broadway musical that opened Wednesday night at the ACT Geary Street Theater and runs through July 9. This show is the Summer of Love homage that brings the most legit artistic merit, a full-blown Broadway production with an eye-candy light show and high-end production values.

The risk going into a show called A Night with Janis Joplin is that it will more resemble a cover band at some Reno casino lounge than a genuine Broadway experience (the show played at Broadway’s Lyceum Theater in 2013 and 2014). But A Night with Janis Joplin fashions itself more in the mold of Hedwig or Beautiful: The Carole King Musical by interspersing rants, monologues, and gut-spilling storytelling between the numbers wherein the lead (Kacee Clanton, who was the alternate Janis Joplin in the Broadway production) brings the psychology, neuroses, romantic frustrations, and freight-train alcoholism of the subject to life.

Clanton has pretty much made a livelihood out of impersonating Janis Joplin, having also toured with both Joe Cocker and Big Brother and the Holding Company to come out and perform Janis numbers. She can nail this schtick as well as anyone alive. But the monotonous peril of a cover-band show is avoided here with a quartet of greek-chorus performers who treat the the audience to lyrical visits from Janis’ musical influences (Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Etta James and others). The show is sort of a course in ‘Women in Pop Music, Post WWII’, and Sharon Catherine Brown stands out in both the first and second acts as anonymous character called Blues Singer who produces both of the show’s vocal high points.

Ashley Tamar Davis in 'A Night with Janis Joplin', Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

As a nostalgia musical, A Night with Janis Joplin is spectacular entertainment. (People next to you will be singing and dancing like it was Mamma Mia! Get used to it.) As a biography, though, it’s pretty threadbare. We hear nothing about Janis’ conflicts with her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, their name comes up precisely once in the show’s two-hour, 15-minute run time. There are no great backstage stories or gossip about Bobby, Jerry, Wavy, or any of Janis’ Summer of Love contemporaries. And Janis’ descent into drug addiction is pretty carefully smoothed over in a way that indicates the family’s estate had a hand in the show (they did).

So you won’t get a riveting or revealing biography in A Night with Janis Joplin, but you’ll get the musical thrills of seeing a Janis performance if you’re say, younger than 50 years old and you never got a chance to see her live. This rambunctious musical could end at intermission and you’d still totally think you got your money's worth.

'A Night with Janis Joplin' runs through July 9 at the ACT Geary Street Theater. Tickets here.

Related:Janis Joplin Biopic In The Works With Michelle Williams To Star

Thrillpeddlers have been producing their twisted follies and perverse musical revues for nearly 20 years, and Jewels of Paris at The Hypnodrome is their latest madcap musical. When you go to the theater and you are handed a program that says “Original Music and Lyrics by Scrumbly Koldewyn”, you figure you are in for a somewhat irreverent performance. Jewels of Paris is that and more, a surreal and wacky burlesque history whose fantastic cast makes every number dazzle and pop. In fact, Jewels of Paris even delivers actual jewels, as several male cast members’ dicks are proudly on display during many of the show’s musical numbers.

Mr. Koldewyn was one of The Cockettes in their heyday, and the Cockette ethic and imprimatur are all over this show. Drag fans will be excited to see Steven Satyricon in several prominent roles, and burlesque devotees will enjoy finding that Roxanne RedMeat has a phenomenal singing voice. The Jewels of Paris cast is terrific across the board in every single number, delivering a sort of non-linear musical-comedy history of France that lasts more than two hours but never has a dull moment.

Jewels of Paris does not really have an overarching plot. It’s more like two dozen totally unconnected little musical numbers whose only common ground is that they occur in France. This is a ‘warts and all’ history that covers some heavy topics like race, oppression and bigotry. It doesn’t dwell on any of these topics in particular depth, it just brings them up in one number and then moves on to the the next number in a stream-of-consciousness, roulette-wheel fashion that is nonetheless a massively enjoyable ride.

Even when covering its most depressing subject matter, the musical vignettes of Jewels of Paris are all uplifting and delightfully delivered. A Josephine Baker number really effectively pulls your heart strings. A Marie Antoinette number contains a joke that I plan on stealing again and again for years to come. A number on income inequality features perhaps the finest Satan mask I have ever seen in an onstage production.

The make-up work in Jewels of Paris is transcendent and the costumes are first-rate. But what you’ll remember is when those costumes come off. There is substantial and full-frontal nudity in this show. At one point there are four naked dicks flopping around onstage at once. In this critic’s estimation, that’s just awesome.

I would highly recommend going to see Jewels of Paris, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to make much sense of it. Its pastiche of themes and historical events never really comes together in a unifying statement or allegory. Then again, this show doesn’t really need any thought-provoking allegories because it succeeds so thoroughly on a musical entertainment level. If you’re a fan of ‘M for Mature’ musical theater, you’ll find Jewels of Paris to be an unforgettable con-cock-tion.

Thrillpeddlers presents Jewels of Paris at The Hypnodrome (575 10th St.), Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through May 2. Tickets are available at Hypnodrome ticket page.

The nation's oldest queer theater organization, SF's Theatre Rhinoceros, is celebrating its 32nd season this year without a permanent space to call home, having left their space on 16th Street due to lease issues. They're currently roaming and calling themselves Rhino on the Road, and their current production Tick, Tick... Boom! is playing at the Eureka Theater on Jackson and Front Streets in the Golden Gateway complex.

Tick, Tick... Boom! is a little-known and not often performed work by the late Jonathan Larson, the man who wrote Rent and then died of an undiagnosed heart condition shortly before the show opened on Broadway in 1996. For this reason alone, especially for Rent-fanatics, this production is worth seeing. It's a curiosity and a charmingly melancholy piece set in 1990, and, like Rent, includes a sub-plot about AIDS.