Spam Francisco

Week 74: San Francisco, CA

If you're alive, you can't be bored in San Francisco. If you're not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life.
--William Saroyan

At last! Our long awaited seven week engagement in The City by the Bay. San Francisco is one of the most distinctive, unique and amazing cities in the world. One look at the streets of this place and you know exactly where you are--it is as recognizably itself as any great city--Paris, New York, London. And it is somewhat improbable, this great metropolis built on all of these steep crazy hills--it reminds me a bit of the ingenuity and audacity that created Venice, a city on stilts in a swamp. There is something magical about the creativity and determination that brought these unique cities to life. And let me tell ya, there is no better workout for the buns and thighs than climbing the hills in this town! I just love it here. I had been to San Francisco a few times with my cabaret act, but never for more than a week at a time. This summer I get to really develop a relationship with this place. The weather, while intermittently cold (you know Mark Twain's quote about "the coldest winter I spent was summer in San Francisco") is beautiful and the place is endlessly fascinating. It has a somewhat indefinable European quality and a sophisticated charm that even New York doesn't possess. I really love it.

"Spamalot" excitement is in the air here, and our promoters are really getting us out there--the show has posters and billboards everywhere: on the sides of buses, in the subways, on nearly every street corner. We had our first weekend of preview performances, and the first one was sold out, with an ecstatic energy that gave us all a rush. Eric Idle was present at our first show and, while I didn't get to meet him, I hear he was pleased with how his creation is coming across. Our producers have enhanced the show for our California run by restoring the full orchestra and beefing up the lighting and sound. These touches, especially the fuller, richer sound of the amazing band, add so much to the experience not only for the audience, but for us. It has revitalized us all with new energy and enthusiasm.
We are performing at the Golden Gate Theatre, one of those great old venues that started as a vaudeville house in the 1920s, went through a decline with the advent of movies and the changing fortune of the sketchy Tenderloin district where it resides, and then experienced a revitalization to become one of San Francisco's leading performance venues. It has that crumbling, dusty feel of a good old fashioned theatre, where once the Marx Brothers cavorted and Frank Sinatra appeared to crowds of screaming bobby soxers.

San Francisco is a city of many cultures and many neighborhoods. I am looking forward to exploring them all and taking in the unique sights, the fabulous art museums and the historic landmarks and writing about them here. This week has been primarily about getting acclimated to my neighborhood, my apartment here, my routine; we also had a full dress rehearsal this week prior to our first preview for Casey Nicholaw, our brilliant choreographer, who gave us all thumbs up on our show. I am staying here in a sort of in between neighborhood, halfway between Nob Hill and Union Square in what is referred to here as "downtown." A 20 minute walk to the theatre district and the busy shopping center of San Francisco, I am centrally located and can easily jaunt out to the various neighborhoods of the city from here. I am staying in one of those great old residential hotels from another age, the Steinhart.
Built in 1910, its marble and mahogany lobby and gated elevator are charming, and I have a sweet little studio apartment with a Murphy bed. It's really cute. All in all, I am happily ensconced and am looking forward to the adventures here over the next several weeks and the pleasure of what I know will be a most successful run. Stay tuned for more from San Francisco next week.