What do hippies, flappers, sea lions and a nearly naked gold
miner have in common?
What do hippies, flappers, sea lions and a nearly naked gold miner have in common?
They’re all characters in John Bisceglie’s latest musical revue, “SF Follies”, a production that takes a “wicked wink” at San Francisco’s past, present and future. Over the last two decades, the San Jose native has made a name for himself throughout the Bay Area, and especially in Gilroy, producing, directing and writing dozens of productions.
Though his upcoming show will debut in San Francisco, two Gilroy locals, Alan Hoshida and Ryan McBrearty, along with 14 other actors will round out the cast.
No stranger to the theater, Hoshida is a student at San Francisco State University where he studies broadcasting, in the hope that one day he’ll be standing in front of the camera rattling off sports updates. Both he and classmate McBrearty met Bisceglie as children when they acted in the local community theater. Their families have been active in more than 25 of Bisceglie’s Gilroy productions.
“It was a pleasure working with John again,” Hoshida said.
Both were excited to debut in San Francisco under Bisceglie’s experienced eye.
“I like San Francisco because of its rich culture and the many great opportunities to perform in theater productions,” McBrearty said.
When McBrearty and Hoshida stepped on-stage to audition, the other actors went crazy, Bisceglie said.
“They were very popular,” Bisceglie said. “I knew they were great but didn’t know how they’d stack up to some of the people auditioning who do this as a profession. They totally held their own.”
Of the 85 men and women who auditioned, Bisceglie narrowed the cast down to 16 performers – no easy task, he said.
Bisceglie’s productions are known for their over -the-top glitz and glamour and have debuted in Gilroy at Gavilan College, Gilroy High School and South Valley Middle School, among others. His latest production pokes fun at the City by the Bay’s long and colorful history, revealing 300 years of secrets, scandals and urban folklore. Set to a march of rock, pop, blues and show tunes, “SF Follies” roasts its namesake town in typical Bisceglie fashion: with a flair for the outrageous and irreverent.
“San Francisco is a great city,” Bisceglie said. “It’s got a lot of history and a lot of quirks that lend themselves to my kind of show. It’s like no other place. Only a San Francisco setting could do the follies justice.”
Bisceglie got mixed up with the theater world by mistake as a high school freshman in San Jose. Hoping to be a farmer, he was sorely disappointed when he was forced to take a musical theater class instead of the Future Farmers of America class he hoped for.
“I was always the kid in the back with my arms crossed,” he said. “I was totally disengaged, but I stuck with it and they took me under their wing.”
Bisceglie got his big break later that year in his high school’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. A member of the chorus, his role was about as unspectacular as it gets, he said – “If there was a tree in the show, it would have been me.”
But when the student playing the rabbi got kicked off the cast, Bisceglie stepped up to the plate.
Since then, he has come out of his shell and become a well known producer, director and writer in the area. Nine years of community theater in San Jose was followed by a three-year stint producing the “San Jose Follies” at Bella Mia in San Jose and an attempt to run his own theater – Bisceglie’s Victory Theater – in downtown San Jose where the Voodoo Lounge now stands, all the time, weaving Gilroy productions into the mix. From a garlic warehouse to a cornfield to a parking lot on Eigleberry Street, the venues have been as amusing as the costumes and local talent he uses.
“I’m really trying to make things fun and bright and take the genre and really glamorize it,” he said. “Eye candy is a great way to describe it.”
