Musicals are an essential component of the Bay Area’s once exceptional — and still vibrant — theater life.
“The musical is inherently an American art form,” Pam MacKinnon, artistic director of American Conservatory Theater, told SF Classical Voice. A.C.T. has been a prominent presenter of musicals throughout its six-decade history, from the tenures of William Ball, Edward Hastings, and Carey Perloff to now MacKinnon.
The company has seen spectacular productions of Cole Porter’s High Society, Sherman Edwards’s 1776, and Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, as well as recent efforts to expand the form.
It was Sondheim, the great contemporary master, who put the creative purpose best: “Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience’s imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there’s no fourth wall.”
This spring, A.C.T. is preparing for the world premiere of Co-Founders, a hip-hop musical “born in the heart of the Bay” and set to run May 29 – July 6 at the Strand Theater. And with the company’s 2025–2026 season slated to be announced next week, MacKinnon reflected on her organization’s relationship to musicals:
“A.C.T. takes musicals very seriously, building the canon, introducing audiences to big art, and giving artists support and platform to stretch.”
She cited three productions the company has put on in the past 18 months that together cover a lot of musical ground.
“Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical is a choreography-forward biopic of Don Cornelius that spans generations. Also, A Strange Loop, a deeply personal and provocative exploration of young gay Black man as he writes a musical, wrestling with his family, religion, belonging, and creativity. [And] Nobody Loves You, a laugh-out-loud musical comedy set in our moment of reality TV dating shows and social media.”
Crucially, MacKinnon concluded that staging these shows isn’t easy. “A.C.T. produces theater of large scale,” she said. “Musicals are typically twice to three times more expensive than a play to put on, as they require more people and time. They are a significant investment for any not-for-profit theater.”
Another local champion of musicals is San Francisco Playhouse, whose summer concludes with Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s My Fair Lady (July 3 – Sept. 13), while the company’s next season includes Sondheim’s Into the Woods and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s Hairspray.
“Theater is the queen of the arts,” Bill English, SF Playhouse’s co-founder and artistic director, told SFCV. “We use all of the arts in the theater, but aside from the script, music can be the most powerful tool. The ancient Greek plays were actually sung. What a shame we can’t hear them today.
“But from opera to operetta to musicals, the theater has always partnered with music to transport the audience out of their daily grind into a world that takes them away. And when added to the poetry of lyrics, musical theater can create an explosion of connection.”
“Musicals have always been a part of San Francisco Playhouse’s programming and always will be. Not only can we give our audience something they can’t get in a ‘straight play,’ but the musicals can also be counted on to draw a larger audience and help support more challenging programming.
“I always like to tell actors that the reason they must sing is that the emotion in the scene grows to a level that can only be contained if they burst into song.”
English and SF Playhouse share in the problems that all arts organization have faced following the COVID-19 pandemic to bring audiences back to the theater: “We all got so used to the infinite variety of entertainment we could command at the touch of our thumb from our couch,” English said.
As for the impact that the current economic and political uncertainties in the U.S. and beyond might have on the arts, English sees beyond the problems:
“I actually think that theater can thrive in a chaotic world. Ours certainly is. People need to get away from the news. And the chaos around us richly serves up a bounty of raw material for drama. Athens was in chaos during the time of Euripides. The Elizabethans were fighting the plague and the Spanish Armada. American theater flourished during the [Great] Depression and the upheaval of the 1960s, and I’m convinced it will flourish now.”
For more musicals in the Bay Area, just turn to the storied TheatreWorks, founded in Palo Alto in 1970 by Robert Kelley. Current Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli told SFCV:
“Musical theater is an integral part of the American theater canon, and we look forward to working with exciting musical theater creators in our upcoming season, which will be announced on April 14.
“TheatreWorks has been dedicated to developing and presenting musical theater — in fact, our very first production, Popcorn, was a world-premiere musical.
“Through our New Works Initiative, including our annual New Works Festival, we have fostered future musical hits right here in the Bay Area, working with some of musical theater’s most treasured voices, including Stephen Schwartz, Andrew Lippa, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Duncan Sheik, Joe DiPietro, Paul Gordon, and Min Kahng.”
Sardelli continued: “Broadway’s Tony Award-winning Best Musical Memphis was launched here, and we have premiered dozens of new musicals, including the stage adaptation of The Prince of Egypt and two world premieres [in the 2024–2025] season: Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical and the upcoming 5 & Dime [running June 18 – July 13].”
Like others interviewed for this article, Sardelli mentioned the extra costs involved:
“The reality is that musicals are expensive. You’ve got the typical costs associated with producing any piece of theater, and then you add all the additional expenses related to the music itself — a music director, band members, choreographer.
“You’re always taking a risk when you present something new, and [for] a company dedicated to developing and producing new works, a new musical is now a bigger risk than it was before.
“Next season, we’ll be producing an exciting musical that builds on our relationship with living musical theater makers while presenting a thrilling show that has name recognition.”
As is apparent in how the directors above speak of their work, musicals are more than just “moon and swoon” these days. Some small companies continue to put out offerings, while others have been among the casualties of the post-COVID economy.
42nd Street Moon has paused operations and is currently pursuing a crowdfunding campaign to return to performances. Ray of Light Theatre persists and is set to present four musical productions for its 2025 season.
Even large organizations, such as the San Francisco Symphony, have in recent years cut back on semistaged productions of operas and musicals (these were a fixture during Michael Tilson Thomas’s 25-year tenure with the orchestra).
But other classical-oriented institutions are committed as ever. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Opera and Musical Theatre Program has staged recent performances of, among others, The Apple Tree, The Fantasticks, The Threepenny Opera, Quilters, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, She Loves Me, Company, Very Good Eddie, Little Women, and Urinetown.
