New York City has Encores!; Los Angeles has Reprise. Now, San Francisco can savor concert versions of past musicals at the New Conservatory Theatre. Unique to the New Conservatory, however, will be the era the shows come from -- strictly the 1970's to the present.
First up in the series, opening Feb. 12, will be Bill Solly-Donald Ward's Boy Meets Boy, which had its premiere in 1975 at the Actor's Playhouse in New York City. Set in London in 1936, Boy follows world-famous reporter Casey O'Brien on his quest for Guy Rose, aka the fabulous English Rose. Already in love with a self-created image of a good-looking, charming man, O'Brien misses the real Guy, who, under the guise of helping him find the fake English Rose, falls in love with the journalist. All ends happily, however, in this musical comedy, modeled on classic black and white movie musicals.
Tickets are $30-$13 and available by calling the New Conservatory box office at (415) 861-8972. The New Conservatory Theatre Center is located 25 Van Ness Avenue near Market Street.
Up next on the In Concert program will be the Stephen Sondheim career tribute, Side By Side By Sondheim, running April 12-May 14. Mike Ward will direct. A reprise of last season's The Harvey Milk Show, a look at the life and times of Milk, San Francisco's first openly-gay official, finishes off the series with a run May 17-June 25. Dennis Lickteig directs.
-- By Christine Ehren