{"id":16132,"date":"2015-01-20T10:33:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T18:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=16132"},"modified":"2015-01-23T15:19:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T23:19:57","slug":"cable-car-nymphomaniac-is-fresh-funny-musical-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/cable-car-nymphomaniac-is-fresh-funny-musical-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cable Car Nymphomaniac\u2019 is fresh, funny musical comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Cable Car Nympho” features (from left) Courtney Merrell, Rinabeth Apostol and Alex Rodriguez. Photo by Kevin Bronk.<\/p><\/div>\n

Let anyone refer to \u201csex, drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d in the past and I\u2019d probably think of the Grateful Dead.<\/p>\n

That may be dead thinking now.<\/p>\n

In the future, I\u2019m likely to think instead of \u201cThe Cable Car Nymphomaniac,\u201d a clever, bawdy musical comedy by the new FOGG Theatre troupe in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that good. That fresh. That funny.<\/p>\n

Its sex component was inspired by real events: In 1964, ex-dance instructor and Michigan transplant Gloria Sykes hit her head on a pole when her cable car lurched. Her suit against San Francisco five years later claimed the accident had caused a \u201cdemonic sex urge\u201d that forced her have relations with more than 100 guys. The jury awarded $50,000.<\/p>\n

Drugs in the show aren\u2019t prevalent, merely a couple of joints (including one hand-me-down laced with slapstick).<\/p>\n

And while the wide-ranging music is unlikely to fascinate Deadheads and is hardly integral to the storyline, its absence would greatly have diminished my enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Sex, drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll indeed, just not your garden variety.<\/p>\n

The situation lends itself to exaggeration, for sure, and being an easy target for parody. So it may surprise that the overriding theme of \u201cNympho\u201d has less to do with sexuality per se than how a torpid housewife rouses to make her own choices.<\/p>\n

(Although a major sub-text is<\/em> that females are still being vilified for being sexual in the 21st century.)<\/p>\n

I must admit, however, that \u201cNympho\u201d left me a little flustered.<\/p>\n

Praising virtually everybody connected with a production isn\u2019t my usual critical style.<\/p>\n

But consider, for instance, Tony Asaro.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s one of three FOGG founders, and doubles as its artistic director. Here he also deserves major credit for extraordinarily bright and sometimes salacious lyrics (\u201cI\u2019m the bourbon that melts your ice\u201d and \u201cadjust your slacks \u2018cause here comes Gloria\u201d).<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also composed 17 inventive melodies that gambol from hard rock to doo-wop to dissonance.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Kirsten Guenther\u2019s scythe-sharp book keeps the nearly two-hour, intermission-less show thrusting forward.<\/p>\n

Director-choreographer Terry Berliner\u2019s ingenuity becomes visible especially via a whimsical tango lesson and when comical angels flap their wings.<\/p>\n

Berliner, who utilizes ensemble members in both male and female roles, clearly plays to his seven-member cast\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

Particularly David Naughton as Bruce, an uptight lawyer trapped in an outmoded morality; Steven Ennis, who excels in several cartoon-like, rubberfaced light-in-the-loafers roles; and Alex Rodriqguez, who wrings guffaws from super-seductive Eduardo and a mega-cheery plastic-ware peddler.<\/p>\n

None of the other actor-singers are slouches either.<\/p>\n

Take the company\u2019s executive director, Carey McCray, for instance, who portrays hard-edged Esther, Bruce\u2019s intern who contemptuously observes that \u201cthere is a system and it works as long as a woman knows her place.\u201d<\/p>\n

And who then roars, \u201cMen fix the world \u2014 women fix lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or Rinabeth Apostol as Gloria, the young woman saddled with constant male vibrations, someone who allegedly \u201csends out a carnal SOS.\u201d Or Courtney Merrell as Bruce\u2019s wife, Bryce, a gal desperately seeking herself. Or Hayley Lovgren, who energetically fills out the ensemble.<\/p>\n

By the way, I found all the singing voices two octaves above adequate.<\/p>\n

Supported effectively by Robert Michael Moreno\u2019s keyboard and his four musical cohorts.<\/p>\n

Oops! Almost forgot Jeff Rowlings.<\/p>\n

His ingenious set design turns three cable car images and four wooden benches into about 217 stagecraft sensations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also be remiss if I ignored the costuming of Wes Crain, who jauntily contrasts Gloria\u2019s ditzy glitziness with a fortune cookie-spouting guru\u2019s over-the-topness.<\/p>\n

FOGG, an acronym for Focus on Golden Gate, wants to examine the Bay Area\u2019s history, communities, heroes, concerns and ideologies. So yes, \u201cCable Car Nymphomaniac\u201d is indeed San Francisco-centric, including a lyric asserting that Gloria \u201cgets around \u2014 from Laurel Heights to Union Square.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the locale\u2019s only a backdrop.<\/p>\n

I can easily see the musical doing well with sophisticated audiences in New York, St. Louis, London \u2014 actually, anywhere people would enjoy originality, wit and assorted music.<\/p>\n

If a problem exists with the show, it\u2019s that Asaro and company have set an incredibly high bar for their next production.<\/p>\n

And the one after that.<\/p>\n

And\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cable Car Nymphomaniac\u201d will run at Z Below, 470 Florida St., San Francisco, through Feb. 8. Night performances, Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m. Matinees, Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m. Tickets: $25-$30. Information: (866) 811-4111 or www.foggtheatre.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or check out his blog at www.vitality<\/a>press.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5] Let anyone refer to \u201csex, drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d in the past and I\u2019d probably think of the Grateful Dead. That may be dead thinking now….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"