Mission Mission

Despite being fancy theater critics, neither of us had ever seen Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.  So when we heard that  The Cutting Ball Theater was doing a production of “one of Shakespeare’s neglected classics, featuring some of the Bard’s more experimental verse paired with some of his best poetry” we knew we had to see it. So off we headed to the TL for a night of Drama Talk & Drinks.

Photo by Rob Melrose.

Brittany: I don’t know Timon of Athens well, so it was fun to see it performed. There were some really amazing monologues and great Shakespeare insults in there. I thought the actor who played Timon (Brennan Pickman-Thoon) was really impressive. I also enjoyed Apemantus (David Sinaiko) and Flavius (Courtney Walsh), they both had such a strong command of the language.

Katie: When any of the other actors were talking though, they might as-well have been speaking gibberish. Watching a Shakespeare play sometimes feels like watching a play in another language to me, I have to focus so hard to follow along. When actors don’t have command of the language it’s difficult to stay engaged.

B: Totally, if it weren’t for the strong Timon, that would have been a total snoozefest.  Maybe it’s because the ensemble was playing so many parts, but at times it felt like they were just doing caricatures. They didn’t seem get into the language enough to fully develop their characters.  The whole armed insurrection sub-plot was kind of overshadowed by the Timon drama. Then some directorial choices I didn’t fully understand, like the overly sexual guards or some of the weird dance party bits, but I think it’s partially because of an unbalanced cast.

K: The actor (Doug Nolan)  who played the punk-rock dude and the senator drove me crazy. I hate inconsistent accents, and when he was trying to do the southern accent it kept going in and out, and he couldn’t keep up the rocker thing he was trying to do either!

B: The second he started losing his accent I was like “Katie’s going to be so pissed!”.

K: I was! Onto things I liked though, often when Shakespeare plays are set modern times it doesn’t work for me, but this concept worked for me. It added to the story.

B: Yeah, seeing Timon smoking a crack pipe on the street in a homeless tent added context to my reading of the show. The shift he made from being a super rich tech titan who throws Burning-Man-Like parties to being out on the street homeless definitely made an impression.

K: If you love Shakespeare, and want to see a less often performed Shakespeare play this isn’t a bad production. For me, unless I’m seeing all incredible actors I don’t find watching Shakespeare particularly enjoyable.

B: If you like Shakespeare, the guy who played Timon was great, and there’s some great Shakespearean insults that made me giggle. However, it was a very uneven cast and not the best show we have ever seen from Cutting Ball. Good, but not great.

The Verdict: If you’re a Shakespeare fan you will probably like it, otherwise maybe sit this one out.

The Drama Talk: Cutting Ball’s production of Timon of Athens has many things we always love about Cutting Ball shows; inventive staging in a small space, some very strong actors, impressive costumes, and a fresh contemporary feel. However, Shakespeare needs actors to really own the language, and not everyone in this cast was up to the task.

The Drinks: In honor of the extravagant lifestyle Timon led we thought we would go to a fancy place to get drinks. We hit up Market street’s newest a rooftop bar (fancy right?) called Charmaines. We probably aren’t swanky enough for it’s swanky atmosphere, and the drinks were not cheap, but it was a fun place to end a night of theater.

Timon of Athens runs through April 29th at Exit on Taylor. Tickets are between $35-$50 and can be purchased on the Cutting Ball Theater website.

We’re always up for a Saturday night of musical theater. When we heard local theater company, 42nd Street Moon, was putting on a Stephen Sondheim musical we hadn’t heard of before, called Saturday Night, we decided to check it out for Drama Talk & Drinks.

The Company of Saturday Night. Photo by Ben Krantz Studio

Brittany: I just don’t think Saturday Night is a show that necessarily needs to be done again. I like 42nd Street Moon, and appreciate that they are trying to preserve these lesser known shows from the American musical theater canon, but…

Katie: There’s a reason why some of those shows are lesser know and don’t get produced. They just aren’t good.

B: Exactly! I love Stephen Sondheim and I was surprised that he wrote something this mediocre.

K: So mediocre. If they weren’t so earnest I’d have thought it was a parody making fun of how lame musicals can be.

B: I almost started laughing at the finale when the cops started singing along too. I thought “oh my god, is this a joke”. They had a cool set and good costumes, but you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Not a good show.

K: The story was terrible. I didn’t care about anyone. I mean, the lead character, Gene, was such an asshole.

B: He was such a dick! Why would anyone feel bad for him? He does so many shitty things and virtually shows no remorse. Yet, for some reason all his friends are behind bailing him out because he’s dapper. Gross white male privilege on display.

K: I just don’t get it. The story was terrible.

Verdict: This was a fine production by 42nd Street Moon, it’s just a terrible play. This is one to skip.

The Drama Talk: If you’re also fed up with entitled whiny white men, who feel like they should be allowed to do anything to get what they feel is owed to them, then you too will agree that this is a show that’s better left to be forgotten. While 42nd Street Moon has a noble mission to “celebrate and preserve the art and spirit of the American Musical Theatre” there are some musicals that aren’t worth being celebrated or preserved. The cast of Saturday Night did their best with a dud of a show. As always 42nd Street Moon had impressive production values and held true to a traditional interpretation of a classic musical. However their true-to-the-script interpretation left us with a fairly well done production of a bad show. Not a worthwhile use of a Saturday night.

The Drinks: We needed a strong drink after seeing this show, so we hit up The Barrel Room a few blocks away. Luckily we weren’t disappointed by the cocktails.

Saturday Night runs through April 15th at the Gateway Theater. Tickets are available through the 42nd Street Moon website and are priced $25-$75. There are also some $22 tickets available via Goldstar.

Starring the legendary B. Hamilton from Oakland! Here’s their latest, a TRIPPY cover of Phil Collins’s greatest song ever, “I Can’t Dance” by Genesis:

Also there’s Bread & Butter from Seattle, who seem pretty good too:

Plus Autogramm from Canada and/or maybe the ’80s!

And finally, Sob Stories, also from Oakland, whose debut video we gushed about late last year:

Quite a lineup! RSVP and invite your friends!

Just announced, next Wednesday night at the good ol Chapel: It’s not just local hero Christopher Owens and it’s not just his new band Curls — it’s local hero Christopher Owens AND his new band Curls, so expect a little (or a lot) of both.

Now let’s enjoy a Christopher Owens oldie:

…and a new Curls hit:

Also, we’re told the openers are gonna be awesome, so keep an eye on the Facebook invite.

Get tickets here!

The party is called ICE Breaker, here’s the deal:

Astounding Soul Music by Paul Costuros and Ashleyanne Krigbaum. Crowd Karaoke. Mix with Cool People Who Give a Frick, Socialize like crazy OR enjoy yourself in our Introvert Corner of Dreams. Snap the ICE raid busting info.

$5 at the door goes to SFILEN – San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network who kicks ICE raid butts.

RSVP and invite your friends!

After a long absence from San Francisco, Pal’s is back!!! Every Friday at this place Birba, which is an acclaimed but modest little neighborhood wine bar full of nice people and plenty of places to sit and scarf a big ol’ Pal’s sandwich.

And despite the long absence, the sandwiches are just as we remember them — big and richchateau gonflable and full of character and freshness and fun flavors and textures. (And when we went a couple Fridays back, the menu was very familiar — 4 or 5 sandwiches to choose from, including that legendary Lao sausage.)

It’s 11:30am to 3ish, every Friday now. Birba is in Hayes Valley, yes, but think of it more like a 5-minute bike ride from Zeitgeist:

Here are a couple more closeups, courtesy of the Pal’s Take Away Instagram, to help warm up your tastebuds:

[Map by Google]

Jeff from PizzaHacker called to tell us the news. Here are the facts:

• It’s Sundays from 10:30am to 1pm for now (but they hope to expand those hours, and do Saturdays too)
• They’re making just 150 bagels each Sunday for now (so please don’t order a dozen just yet)
• Jeff was making bagels even before he started got into the pizza biz (so he knows what he’s doing)
• Coffee and mimosas are available too (very important)
• The menu is short but exciting (check it out after the jump)

Thanks, Jeff!

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RPS is still due to open their very own place at 22nd Folsom at some point in the near future, but this week they’re celebrating their lucky number 7th birthday at Rhea’s Cafe at 20th and Bryant! Can’t wait!!!!! Here’s the invite:

RPS Turns Seven
Thursday, March 1st
6-10pm

Join us for a pop-up dinner at Rhea’s Cafe to celebrate our seven-year anniversary and the end of the Lunar New Year holiday. We’re popping up at Rhea’s because we love their food and diner vibe and also because we want to start doing events close to our future restaurant home.

We’ll be offering table service, with food available for take-out. Look forward to celebrating with you!

Valerie and Katie

RSVP and invite your friends! And browse the full menu after the jump:

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Our pal Dan Strachota, longtime big cheese at Rickshaw Stop, tonight gives a talk about the rich history of SF’s bygone concert venues:

“Bring the Noise, Bring Defunct: A Personal History of SF’s Deceased Music Venues” by Dan Strachota

You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: The San Francisco hüpfburg music scene is dead! All the cool venues are getting shut down! Everything used to be so much better here! Is it all really true? And if it is, where did everyone go — to streaming, to TikTok, to whichever of the best crypto casinos are pulling discretionary entertainment dollars away from a $25 cover and a sticky floor? Dan will attempt to answer these questions by taking a walk down memory lane, uncovering the amazing and wild music venues of the past—and finding out just what happened to them.

Dan has written about music for SF Weekly, San Francisco magazine, SPIN.com, and the East Bay Express. He’s also the talent buyer at Rickshaw Stop and Phono Del Sol.

I think he’s on on the early side, so don’t be tardy! RSVP and invite your friends!

And now, a couple personal remembrances of long lost concert venues, to whet your whistle: