Each week, we'll feature an especially interesting event in the neighborhood based on the event submissions we get, and what we hear about while we're out on the beat. If you want to be considered for next week, please submit your event here.
Landmark Musical Theatre's production of The Boy From Oz is closing its run at Chinatown's Great Star Theater (636 Jackson St.) this Sunday. That means this week is your last chance to see this elusive, infrequently produced musical, about the life of Australian-born songwriter Peter Allen.
Allen won an Oscar for best original song for "Arthur's Theme" in 1981, and his songs were recorded by singers such as Olivia Newton-John, who had a hit with in 1974 with "I Honestly Love You," which he penned with Jeff Barry.
The Boy From Oz opened in Australia in 1998, and became a Broadway hit in 2003, with Hugh Jackman winning a Tony for playing Allen. But the musical's rights were subsequently tied up for about a decade, so this is its San Francisco premiere. (Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles opened previews the same day as Landmark, so it's not exactly the West Coast premiere.)
Jon Rosen, who founded Landmark last year, contacted the producers in Australia many times asking for the rights before finally landing them.
The show ticks all of the boxes for the LGBT community and anyone who loves spectacle. It's full of popular songs by Allen (played by Dan Seda), who was also Liza Minnelli's first husband for seven years. Minnelli's mother Judy Garland is also featured in the show; she's played by Connie Champagne, who already has a robust following for her portrayals of Garland. The musical also touches on the tragedy of AIDS.
Seda (left) with Connie Champagne as Judy Garland. (Photo: Lou Fischer)
The Boy From Oz is Landmark's second production; the first was Tomfoolery, which played at the Eureka Theatre in summer of 2015. Theatergoers can expect to see more from the group, which has two more shows already in the works: The Drowsy Chaperone in July and August, and The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd in October.
If that's not enough, here are a few more events to check out in and around the downtown neighborhoods in the coming week. For more event listings from around San Francisco, visit hoodline.com/events. You can also submit an event to be featured in an upcoming roundup.
