Pearls Over Shanghai
A Musical by Link Martin and Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn
Directed by Russell Blackwood
Musical Direction by Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn
Held Over: Through April 24, 2010!
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM
At the Hypnodrome, 575 10th Street, San Francisco
$30 General Admission
$69 “Shock Box” Seat for 2
Buy Tickets Online
Thrillpeddlers is proud to announce that due to popular demand and weekly sold-out houses “Pearls Over Shanghai,” San Francisco’s longest-running Cockettes Musical has been extended once again – now through April 24, 2010
“Pearls Over Shanghai,” an original musical by Link Martin and Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn, is the centerpiece of our second annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival, and marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of The Cockettes, a gender-bending theatrical troupe who not only originated this show, but also exerted a profound influence on the culture of our times, from the phenomenon of midnight movies to glitter rock stars and their outrageous fashions.
Based loosely on John Colton’s scandalous 1926 Broadway play “The Shanghai Gesture” (later transformed into a deliriously decadent art deco film noir by Josef von Sternberg in 1941), “Pearls Over Shanghai” is a comic mock-operetta about white slavery and miscegenation set in the colorful world of 1937 Shanghai, China. Link Martin parts the bamboo curtain, his politics swept aside by his love of the mystery and intrigue of the Orient. Placing his story at the crossroads of good and evil, his exotic “old sin town” is filled with singing sailors, witty whores, foolish immortals, handmaidens and henchmen, all taking their places in streets teeming with a mix of foreign aristocrats, opium addicts, and gangland slave-trade czars
Originally produced as a Nocturnal Dream Show and performed at midnight at the old Palace Theatre in Chinatown, “Pearls Over Shanghai” was the fabled and fabulous Cockettes’ first and best original showpiece. This musical became the crown jewel of The Cockettes repertoire, enjoying three revivals in two years, including a notorious and infamous run at New York’s Anderson Theatre in 1971.
Although “Pearls Over Shanghai” had long been germinating in the fertile mind of Link Martin, it struck the trend-setting, gender-bending theatrical troupe as extremely fortuitous when the real Peking Opera played the same stage at the Palace Theatre. At the time, much was made over a missing trunk of sequined kimonos and props that seemed to vanish. However, the items were not lost and did reappear, some months later, spawning “Pearls Over Shanghai” Two, Three, and Four. For the Thrillpeddlers production, original Cockettes Tahara and Billy Bowers will lend their considerable talents to our resident costume mistress Kara Emry in order to create original designs reminiscent of the opulent 1930s Orient as well as the psychedelic splendor of 1960s San Francisco.
Stage Director for “Pearls Over Shanghai” is Russell Blackwood, and original Cockette and composer Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn will serve as Musical Director. The cast will include original Cockette Rumi Missabu reprising his role as the evil Madame Gin Sling. Connie Champagne, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and Leanne Borghesi will alternate in the role of Petrushka, first created by disco diva Sylvester in the original productions. With a supporting cast of twenty, costumes a-plenty, and a score of some two dozen songs, this production promises to be the most eye-popping and toe-tapping in the Hypnodrome’s history, with the scent of intoxicating perfume, poisonous flowers, opium, and sex oozing from every scene.
Pairs of patrons will surely enjoy Hypnodrome’s Shock Box seats for two, which garnered SF Weekly’s “Best of San Francisco 2008” for “Best Bonus Theater Experience.” These themed seats include sumptuous Turkish Lounges, as well as private boxes including “Heaven” and “Hell,” “Pharaoh’s Tomb,” and “Padded Cell,” which offer the opportunity for a heightened psychedelic experience during the “opium” blackout sequence at the climax of “Pearls Over Shanghai”—with added special effects as a nod to the 1950s horror movie gimmicks of William Castle.
You never fail to astonish me! The show is a wonder to behold. I could not be more amazed and delighted. Love you all, am bringing all my friends.
Anyone know the run time for Pearls? Trying to see if I can do a dinner reservation after the Saturday night show…
I would allow 2 1/2 hours to be safe! See you in Shanghai!
[...] of prosecco and a few snacks at Bar Bambino, my friends and I trundled off to Hypnodrome to see Pearls Over Shanghai– the lurid, acid-trippy faux-operetta originally conceived by the drug-addled minds of The [...]
[...] of prosecco and a few snacks at Bar Bambino, my friends and I trundled off to Hypnodrome to see Pearls Over Shanghai– the lurid, acid-trippy faux-operetta originally conceived by the drug-addled minds of The [...]
[...] I am enamored with the current Thrillpeddler’s production of The Cockette’s “Pearls Over Shanghai“, which my friends Valentine and Leanne Borghesi are in (Leanne also served as Associate [...]
[...] became aware of the local Thrillpeddlers Theatre production of The Cockettes’ musical “Pearls Over Shanghai“. My friend Leanne Borghesi (faux queen Anita Cocktail) was Associate Directing it, and [...]
[...] of what they’re doing but then amplify the silliness of it all for purposes of entertainment. Pearls Over Shanghai which is being performed at The Hypnodrome through at least the end of January is an example of [...]
What a wonderful show! So glad they extended their run — so sorry I didn’t get in there earlier (like, last year) to see it. If I HAD gone in 2009, I would have be able to see it another half a dozen times, which might almost be enough. Thank you, cast of PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI! You were my Xmas gift this year, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a better one.
[...] The Cockettes’ Pearls Over Shanghai (8/15): Straight from The Cockettes closet and into the Hypnodrome…this [...]
[...] miss it!!! We run til April 24th! Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)All things PearlyInside the filthy mind of John [...]
fantastic… I’ll have dreams of the Jewels of Paris tonight!!