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These are absorbing, utterly human, and superbly conveyed by the libretto, projected videos, and especially, the rhythmic and orchestral variety found in Little’s music. Like the musical A Chorus Line, Vinkensport is really about the hearts and souls of the contestants. The six contestants did sing a chorus depicting the calls and marks: “Susk-e-wiet, Susk-e-wiet, Susk-e-wiet, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tally.” Courtesy of SF Chronicle. Although sticks were present, no chalk marks were made, nor were calls heard, so audience members not reading up on the details of this bizarre activity were probably confused about the rules. )Įach count is supposed to be marked with chalk on the sticks the trainer with the most counts at the time limit wins. In it, six contestants with sticks sit in a line with their trained chaffinches in boxes and count each series of chirps their birds emit. The evening began with Little’s 45-minute Vinkensport, or the Finch Opera, which premiered in 2010 and was revised in 2018. In contrast, Little’s music and Royce Vavrek’s libretto were rooting for all the competition participants, especially the birds. The upshot was that Karpman’s sympathies (and librettist Gail Collins’) were with Billy Jean King, but the music was rooting for Riggs. Parallèle publicized the combination cleverly as Birds and Balls. Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel brilliantly collaborated with the composers to subsume Little’s opera into the 1973 ABC Wide World of Sports broadcast moderated by immoderate Howard Cosell. Little took on an obscure Belgian bird-call competition called Vinkensport, and Karpman had a swing at exhibition tennis with the King/Riggs “Battle of the Sexes” match of 1973. On April 5th, Opera Parallèle provided two fascinating examples of sports opera and the “sides” promoted by two composers, David T. But what do composers do when an opera is a spectator sport taking place on stage?

So can opera composers-say, Puccini in that heavyweight match, Scarpia vs. Hairspray is an absolute joy.Īisle Seat Review NorCal Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. The show couldn’t be more appropriate for San Francisco, whose eager fans on opening night loudly applauded every scene and gave the whole affair an extended standing ovation.ĭeservedly so.

So are sumptuous quick-change set designs, immersive projections, dazzling costumes, and the rock-solid band (music director Lizzie Webb) in the orchestra pit. Let’s not overlook soul-sister song-and-dance trio “The Dynamites” – Ashia Collins, Leiah Lewis, and Kynnedi Moryae Porter. Diedre Lang astounds as Motormouth Maybelle, especially in her breakout solo song, and Micah Sauvageau is a comedic delight in multiple roles. The Orpheum production is swollen to bursting with world-class talent, starring Caroline Eiseman as Tracy, Andrew Scoggin as Corny Collins, Caroline Portner as Amber, Sarah Hayes as Velma, Skyler Sheilds as heartthrob crooner Link Larkin, Greg Kalafatas as Tracy’s mother Edna, Ralph Prentice Daniel as Tracy’s goofy dad Wilbur, Scarlett Jacques as Tracy’s best friend Penny Pingleton, and Josiah Rogers as Seaweed J. Hairspray spares none of them in a two-and-a-half-hour kitsch extravaganza spoofing all that was both serious and ridiculous in the early 1960s. Likewise, bigots and oppressors are often best skewered the same way. Social justice issues are often served best by comedy and humor. In her efforts to do the right thing, Tracy runs afoul of local police and even the governor of Maryland, but emerges victorious. Her ambition grows from merely personal to societal when she pushes for inclusion of the black community, much to the dismay of her rival Amber Von Tussle and Amber’s manipulative mother Velma. … the huge cast are all simply tremendous. A spunky teenager brings social justice to 1962 Baltimore in the uproarious comic musical Hairspray, at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theater through April 21.ĭirected by Matt Lenz, with choreography by Robbie Roby, the national touring production is the most recent incarnation of John Waters’ iconic 1988 film starring Ricki Lake as the irrepressible Tracy Turnblad, a chunky girl auditioning for a spot on The Corny Collins Show, a Baltimore teen music-and-dance show.

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