Peppermint (center) will become the first woman who is trans to originate a role on Broadway, starring as Pythio (The Oracle of Delphi), pictured here with members of the ensemble performing the Go-Go’s “Vision of Nowness.” All photos courtesy of Joan Marcus, 2018.
San Francisco got a peek at the new musical Head Over Heels before it heads to Broadway; it features hits from the iconic ’80s new wave band the Go-Go’s, known for their fun, cheeky songs. But underneath the funky stockings and pop sensibilities is a groundbreaking band led by five women, who ventured into what turned into the boys’ club of the late ’70s Los Angeles punk scene, playing legendary venues such as Whiskey a Go Go and The Masque. They wrote fierce lyrics, jammed with the rockers, made their way onto MTV, and paved the way for an entire generation of women who play.Continue reading “Theater Review: The Go-Go’s Musical Head Over Heels at SF Curran Theater”
Amos, Me, Siddhartha, Stephanie, and Dan talking ‘Aria for a Cow’
The shorts programs at SFIFF58 have been increasing in popularity the last few years, and Shorts 5: Family Films is no exception. One film from the group, the colorful and magnificent musical Aria for a Cow, is appropriately quite the showstopper. I sat down with Disney animator and Aria for a Cow writer/director Dan Lund, art director and co-producer Amos Sussigan, background designer and painter Stephanie Dominguez, and production manager Siddhartha Maganti at the Hotel Majestic, a few blocks from where their short would premiere the next day and a few hours before their premiere party. The camaraderie within the group is infectious, and they had no trouble jumping right into the nitty gritty of their film:
Where did the idea for Aria for a Cow originate?
Dan Lund: I’ve always had a pretty healthy ‘outside-of-Disney’ project type thing going. I was a PA in 1989 at Disney and was working with people who were working with Howard (Ashman). I had kept hearing about this passion project of his called ‘Fatty of the Opera’. Right before we started working on Frozen I had this period where I didn’t have an outside project to work on and it kinda freaked me out. I was in New York and I had mentioned to a friend, ‘I wonder what ever happened to Howard’s “Fatty of the Opera” project’ and my friend knew Sarah (Howard’s sister) peripherally and he said, ‘You should email her.’ So I did and she graciously agreed to give me all the information I needed on this passion project if I listened to her favorite song that no one has ever heard by him, called “Aria for a Cow.” I really just did it to get the other thing I wanted, but the other thing I wanted turned out to be a little odder than I thought. And I just fell in love with the cow song. She let me turn it into an animated thing. Originally she was thinking of it being a children’s book but I don’t know that world at all. The song was just lyrics on a page. I wrote the wraparound. I didn’t just want to make a music video. I wanted the song to have a home that was as story-driven as the song.
Kristin Chenoweth came to UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall last night for the second date of a 19-city North American tour promoting her newest album, Some Lessons Learned, as well as her campy ABC series GCB. Or at least, that was the plan. Then, late yesterday afternoon, ABC announced their decision to cancel GCB, which is still in its first (and apparently only) season. An uneasy sense of anxiety hung over the sold-out audience me, wondering if and how Chenoweth would address the setback. How devastating of a blow would this be to her? Would she be able to rally by repeatedly shrieking “The show must go on!” and singing scales until shattering a tray of stemware? Or would she barricade herself in her dressing room, listening to “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and sobbing hysterically?
