Saturday Matinee

San Francisco Chronicle photo by Lea Suzuki

Left: Karl Hanover, Right: John Behlmann in Expedition 6

At first glance, the fact that this theater piece is directed by Bill Pullman nor the fact that this piece is about the Columbia shuttle disaster did not catch my attention. But reading more into it, it’s caught my curiosity. I’m always a sucker for theater that incorporates dance and music in a play (such as Coram Boy). Expedition 6 uses low trapezes to simulate a sense of anti-gravity through space. Add live music? And then add John Behlmann, who was the sergeant who brings in the pepper in Journey’s End? I’m there.

John Behlmann

The mixed reviews are a little disconcerting however. I’m afraid it’s going to be another Across the Universe, Julie Taymor’s latest project/movie. Great artistically and visually in theory, not so great when put into practice. I suppose I’ll have to see for myself.

The world premiere of Expedition 6 is playing at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in association with the Chabot Space & Science Center until October 7. Click here for details.

This imaginative docudrama explores the personal and political life-and-death crisis of two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut stranded in space after the Columbia Shuttle disaster. Pullman uses a company of eight actors, movement, live music, and low-flying trapezes in this stylized new work based on writings by astronauts, NASA reports, and other primary source materials.

I was also reminded of this show when a very nice caller from the American Conservatory Theater called to ask me to be a subscriber. Aside from the discomfort of saying that my schedule and my budget doesn’t allow me to subscribe except to a select few theaters, he mentioned the Tosca Project, a collaboration between ACT and my favorite, the San Francisco Ballet. All I can find about this show is, however, the fact that it already passed. The caller was saying it’s playing again at the Zeum Theatre at the Yerba Buena, but I couldn’t find any more information about it. This show also gets points in my book for having the most attractive picture of Muriel Maffre that I have ever seen.

Yes, Maffre’s the one that’s upside down, with actors Jody Flader and Gregory Wallace

This show also includes my favorite ex-SF Ballet dancer Joanna Berman (I can almost forgive her for leaving as soon as I moved closer to SF), Pascal Molat (as a “paranoid druggie”), and Maffre, whose character is described as a “a weird, sexy French lesbian who wants to get near the poet.” Absolutely irresistible!

When you combine two different art forms into one, is the effect exponentially additive? I suppose not always, but it’s experimental and creative – I love it.