The American Conservatory Theater's world premiere production of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, the musical we reviewed last month, has turned out to be a great success for the theater and has smashed the previous records for highest grossing show and biggest advance sales. A whopping 58,000 people have seen the show so far, and it's been extended several times with current must-close date of July 31. (There are still tickets left, and deals do be had.)

Additionally, the show's opening night fundraising gala raised almost a million dollars for ACT's conservatory and expanding educational programs. Says artistic director Carey Perloff, "To create a musical this ambitious from the ground up challenged every single one of us to work at the top of our game, and we were able to do what almost no regional theater ever does anymore—namely to create a highly successful new musical without commercial partners—by galvanizing the generosity of the Bay Area community and exciting record-breaking audiences to share in the work."

There are no immediate plans to move the show to Broadway or elsewhere, but Perloff says there "many conversations" happening about the future of the play and the cast recording.

See also Christopher Isherwood's review in the NYT, in which he says the show "splashes about in the period-kitsch playground with happy abandon," and the score "more efficient than memorable."