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July 16, 2006
Insignificant Others cast with Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione
My Powerset co-founder, Lorenzo Thione, is a supporter of a new musical by Jay Kuo, called Insignificant Others. Tonight was opening night, so a group of us from Powerset, friends, and family came out to see the show.
It turns out that Jay Kuo, who wrote the songs, music, and script for the play, was an undergrad classmate of mine at Stanford. At Stanford, he was active in theatre, wrote his first musical, and produced Evita, one of the only Stanford drama productions that ever made money. Last year, after many years as a lawyer, Jay finally quit to return to drama.
I greatly enjoyed Insignificant Others. It is about five friends who move to San Francisco from the Midwest. They live in the Castro, and their lives and adventures are so characteristic of San Francisco that the show could serve as an insightful cultural guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area. The dialog is brilliant - witty, funny, warm, moving, and creative. For example, I believe this could be the first musical to feature instant messaging and even make rhymes out of IM emoticons and abbreviations ("I am well, ttyl"). And I will never see Starbucks in the same light again. I do not exaggerate to say that we laughed out loud in almost every scene. I could say much more but I'm trying not to spoil the plot.
The cast brought the excellent script to life, with acting, singing, and even dancing. Although it was just opening night, the cast had really come together and felt like a group of friends any of us in San Franicsco might know. Some great lines had even been added by the cast as recently as dress rehearsal two days before.
Lorenzo tells me that as an investor in the production, Jay promised that Lorenzo can come to the award ceremony if Insignificant Others gets nominated for Tony award. I wouldn't be suprised if that happened. For myself, at least, I would go back to see this show many times.
The show is playing through August 13th at the New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
Posted by barney at July 16, 2006 2:08 AM
This entry was posted in the following categories: Theatre
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