TEXT OF REVIEW

​​​​​What does it take to put together a hit rock album, especially if the band itself seems to be falling apart, particularly the two couples that comprise most of the group? How do you separate the personal from the professional when you’re stuck in a recording studio for months?

Those questions lie at the heart of the Tony winning play with music, Stereophonic, now in its national and London touring production at BroadwaySF’s Curran Theatre through November 23rd.

The unnamed band in the play is fictional, barely. The year is 1976, the studio is in Sausalito, and the group bears a remarkable resemblance to Fleetwood Mac, on their way to recording the album “Rumours,” a resemblance so close that the playwright, David Adjani was forced to settle a lawsuit with a chronicler of the band, though publicly he denies it all.

He says he wanted to create a kind of live documentary, unfolding before the audience’s eyes. The actors sing and play their own instruments; the soundboard on stage is a working soundboard, the playbacks are not pre-recorded and taped during the play’s performance. It’s a play, it’’s live, and it puts you fifty years in the past.

The set is the studio in Sausalito, in front, below, the ‘70s era recording console, and above and behind, seen through solid glass, the recording studio itself. The real studio was small and a little grungy. So is the studio at the Curran.

Stereophonic begins quietly, there’s no sudden darkening of the theater. The actors have been on stage for a little while, and now they’re talking while waiting for their bassist to come in, likely stoned and drunk. They’ve just received word the budget has increased, and their time making the album is unlimited. The character Diana’s solo track is back on the charts, and so is the last album.

We listen in as they chat about their work, get stoned together, drink a bit, have arguments; both couples break up and make up, the music is dissected and re-recorded.

The inexperienced engineer Grover, a very good Jack Barrett, does his best through the madness We learn about each band member, their relationship to each other, and to art itselfl. The acting and performing are impeccable. This really could be a successful band, and their songs hits.

Stereophonic is quite long, almost 3 hours, still 20 minutes shorter than on Broadway, but it needs the time to warm up, to get in synch with the characters. The build-up is slow, but paying close attention, Stereophonic can become an exhilarating night in the theater.

The national tour of Stereophonic plays at BRoadwaySF ‘s Curran theatre through November 23. For more information, you can go to broadwaysf.com. I’m Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area Theatre for KPFA.

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