British playwright Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing, an urban fairy tale makes its West Coast premiere at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center opening Nov. 21 and running through Jan. 2. Previews began Nov. 11.

Beautiful Thing first saw the light of day at London's Bush Theatre in a production that starred a then-unknown Johnny Lee Miller (subsequently to achieve fame as Sickboy in the film, "Trainspotting") as one of two teen-age boys acting on his dawning sexuality.

A Donmar Warehouse production in London in 1993 was a recast restaging, and subsequently transferred to the Duke of York's, before it was turned into a warmly-embraced movie.

The play captures the awakening love between two male teenagers growing up in southeast London.

Beautiful Thing received the US premiere at Famous Door Theatre in Chicago. That production will transfer to Off-Broadway in January, 1999. Ed Decker directs the New Conservatory production.

Tickets are $20-$16 and are available by calling the NCTC box office at (415) 861-8972. The New Conservatory Theatre Center is located at 25 Van Ness Avenue.

-- By Christine Ehren and Robert Simonson