Did San Francisco Critics Lust After Sex?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Dennis Harvey of Variety: "One quality this particular story of a havoc-wreaking latter-day Lolita does not flaunt, however, is sincerity. Composer-lyricist Douglas J. Cohen and book collaborator Robert Jess Roth evidently thought otherwise. Which is why their chamber-musical version premiering at the Magic ends up conceptually so ... well, the opposite of good. Rarely has a musical's climactic uplift been so in need of quote marks. Alas, the only ones you will find around closing titular song's couplet 'Hope can still be found/and one day hearts rebound' are on this page. Cohen and Roth's adaptation only makes the faux anti-p.c.-dom of Roos' original seem more ersatz, while their attempts to shoehorn real caring, sharing, healing and love into a cartoonishly lurid scenario get more deadening and false as the brisk evening careens on. Softening the film's witty viciousness, providing no memorable tunes in a score that sounds like clutter-inclined William Finn without his distinctive neurotic sensibility, this Sex strands itself in ways beyond the rescue of cast or director Roth. In fact, their contributions barely register, save as evidence of an uphill struggle."
Steven Winn of The San Francisco Chronicle: "In adapting the piece for the more tender, hothouse climate of a musical, Douglas J. Cohen book, music and lyrics and Robert Jess Roth book and direction have performed a largely successful transplant. The musical version delivers the film's hairpin-turn story and Dedee's withering attitude intact. It also finds a way, in its skillfully unassuming music, modest if sometimes to a fault lyrics and light-fingered performances, to open up the emotional gates of the original without letting generic musical theater sentimentality flood in… While there are a few big musical moments to the extent that a four-man band can help deliver them, the show's virtues come in its overall balance and flow. The elements are smoothly grafted together. Dedee's spiky narration curls into character scenes, sung recitative, the lean paired phrases of Cohen's songs and back to spoken dialogue again."
Chad Jones of The Oakland Tribune: "Director Robert Jess Roth, whose idea it was to turn the movie into a musical, has done a remarkably efficient job of translating the best of Roos' screenplay to the stage. He has streamlined Roos' script into a highly entertaining two hours, while composer Douglas J. Cohen spreads musical numbers through the scenes so there are fewer actual beginning-middle-end songs than there are musical sequences interspersed with dialogue… Roth, Cohen and the designers all do good work here. They're direct, clever and entertaining. But this still doesn't answer the primary question about The Opposite of Sex. Just because you can do it well doesn't mean you can turn just anything into a musical. Truth is, Sex is better as a movie, something that cannot be said of shows like Hairspray and The Producers. Both of those movies-turned-musicals are better on stage than on screen. When the stage Sex really zings, it usually has more to do with something taken from the movie than anything the adapters have created themselves."
Tiffany Maleshefski of The San Francisco Examiner: "The Opposite of Sex is not Hedwig, but it is a fun show with a dazzling script and an equally sparkling cast. Dedee is the intrepid narrator, 'breaking the wall' she explains because the audience is bound to get confused along the way, and it works. Chock-full of wit and sass, this is a script with one-liners that melt together with ease, yet pack one punch after the other, keeping the audience constantly on guard. Delivery is everything in this show, something the cast clearly understands and masters, and given the cast's credentials, which include lots of Broadway appearances, it isn't much of a surprise. Kelly Butler as Dedee is truly impressive, and she nails this part. She is effective in her disdainfulness, yet when it's time for her character to see the light, the script and Butler's acting make it convincing."
Pat Craig of The Contra Costa Times: "Right there, in the midst of that two hours or so, is a 90-minute musical just bustin' to get out and go places… Although based on a 1989 movie, the musical plays much older than that, particularly in terms of attitudes toward homosexuality and relationships in general. Some work is needed to either nail down the show as a period piece or perhaps rethink some of the lines and cast them in a style closer to 2004. Along those same lines, audiences would be hard-pressed to put up with the slow, overly long first act. Certainly a lot of information has to be telegraphed over the edge of the stage, but tighter editing and reworking could turn what is a meandering letter into an e-mail rocket, and cut much of the unneeded fat from the show. Lots of these problems will be taken care of before Sex leaves San Francisco for its future. But despite some of the excesses, this is a wildly wonderful musical with some happy, funny tunes, a cast to die for and an offbeat little story that is lots of fun."