Their fantasies come alive as three female book club members scrutinize “50 Shades.” Photo: Clifford Roles.
Seconds after the musical comedy’s second tune ignited, I was positive I wasn’t the show’s target demographic.
I was decades too ancient and absolutely the wrong gender to get off on the sophomoric parody, “50 Shades! The Musical!”
Clearly I wasn’t a 20- or 30-something woman with a hyperactive libido given to shrieks of joy and raucous laughter at the less than subtle, salacious lyrics and text of the cartoonish show.
(I’d pre-assessed what was ahead by seeing a theater crowd unusual for San Francisco: heterosexual, mostly female.)
To make matters worse, I hadn’t read Word One of the runaway best-selling E L James novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which the production was burlesquing.
Yet, despite my apparent mismatch with both characters and audience, I found the show funny more often than not.The book — 32 million copies sold in the United States, and counting — and its two sequels center on sexual novice Anastasia Steele’s erogenous explorations with super-wealthy Christian Grey, a “beautiful, brilliant and intimidating” man “tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control.”
“50 Shades! The Musical!” — written in effect by a “committee” of half a dozen men and women — focuses on what three ladies reading the first novel fantasize about.
It’s somewhat more than a revue, less than a full-blown musical.And considering that the concoction is aimed at the so-called weaker sex, it’s surprising comic Chris Grace, as a pot-bellied Grey, steals the show through exaggerated gestures and body movements (and an over-the-top rendition of “I Don’t Make Love”).
Amber Petty, as the virginal Anastasia Steele, and seven others ably reinforce his labors.
(Petty, not incidentally, can hold a note with the best of ‘em, and draws thunderous applause early on for “There’s a Hole Inside of Me.”)
Director Al Samuels deserves major plaudits for successfully integrating tons of slapstick with outrageous mock-eroticism.
Choreographers Joanna Greer and Brad Landers merit praise as well, their spoofs being the antithesis of what theatergoers normally expect.A robust three-piece band, featuring musical director/pianist Dan Reitz, bassist Christopher Ditton and drummer Douglas Levin, keeps everything amped up.No one gets credit for the set, and that’s a good thing because there really isn’t one — a makeshift couch and end table are basically it.
The opening night audience was oddly noisy before the show, but quickly channeled their energy into hoots, hollers and howls — and frequent laughter. But the musical presented me with a problem because of what goes on (simulated, ad infinitum sex acts and voluminous use of vulgar language).It leaves me with nothing to quote.
Promotional materials insist the musical “is not for those under the age of 19, but does not cross boundaries that would make general audiences squirm.”
I didn’t see anyone squirming, cringing or leaving the theater.
But one befuddled male could be heard to comment, “I don’t get it. It’s midway between pure raunchiness and pure porno.”A movie based on the book will be released in about a year. That guy may skip it.
But hordes of women most likely will turn it into a box-office smash.
“50 Shades! The Musical” runs at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco, through July 28. Performances: Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 6:30 p.m. Matinees, Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. Tickets: $30 to $65, (888) 746-1799 or www.shnsf.com. Info: www.50ShadesMusical.com.
