This week, The Cape commented on one of Jake Shears' newest ventures, lead singer of the band Scissor Sisters: the hottie composed the songs for the musical show "Tales of the City", in partnership with Scissor's keyboardist, John Garden.
But this is not the only attraction of "Tales of the City – The Musical". The montage is unmissable, after all, the theme is the gay scene in San Francisco in the 70s. The story is based on the books written by openly gay author Armistead Maupin.
The American writer, now 67 years old, released "Tales of the City" in 1978. With its success, he went on to write sequels: "More Tales of the City" (1980), and so on, totaling eight books – the most recent, "Mary Ann in Autumn", is from 2010.
And the "city" in question is exactly San Francisco, one of the gayest cities in the world, and which experienced the peak of this movement in the 70s – more precisely, the end of the decade, with the rise of Harvey Milk to the political scene; Milk ended up murdered in 78, as shown in Gus Van Sant's 2008 film.
"Tales of the City" has already been adapted for TV, in a series produced by Showtime, in 1994, 1998 and 2001. And now it has reached the theater, for the first time in the form of a musical.
In the montage, the story begins when a girl from the countryside in the USA arrives in San Francisco and meets new friends: the lively residents of a condominium in the city.
The entire gay nightclub scene and the sexual effervescence of the period set the backdrop for the plot. Complete with choreography in the style of "Mamma Mia!" – the musical with Abba songs -, characters skating, gay couples and everything else. There is even a warning for the public at the entrance to the theater: announcing that the play contains scenes of nudity and drug use, etc.
The play continues at the American Conservatory Theater, in New York, until Sunday, July 31. Anyone passing by should run to see it.
