Local theater (or theatre, if you must, dahling) is a great way to experience local culture – be it the show itself if its topic is local, your fellow theater-goers, or even the neighborhood if the venue is not located in a typical tourist section of town.

Our last experience in local theater was highly rewarding in these ways and more.  In doing a bit of research for a trip to San Francisco we came across news that a show called Point Break LIVE! would be appearing during the time we would be there.  As a Keanu Reeves junkie (formerly due to his hotness according to our teenager self and currently because his acting is so cluelessly and almost painfully hilarious), we could not pass up this opportunity.  Come on, we watched Point Break so many times we memorized certain scenes, most of which cannot be reproduced on this (ahem) family blog.  But here’s a little nibble:

“I caught my first tube today… Sir.”

“You crossed the line. People trusted you and they died. You gotta go down.”

“Vaya con Dios, Brah.”

And finally:

“I’ve been to every city in Mexico. I came across an unclaimed piece of meat in Baja, turned out to be Rosie. I guessed he picked a knife fight with somebody better. Found one of your passports to Sumatra. I missed you by about a week at Fiji. But, I knew you wouldn’t miss the fifty year storm, Bodhi.”

Point Break LIVE! is not a large scale production – don’t expect to see it on Broadway anytime soon.  When we got in the taxi and gave the driver the address for where we were going, he did a double take and said “that’s a sketchy area.”  It was then we knew we were either in trouble or in for an AWESOME show.  It turned out to be the latter.

We got to this shady area of town (no open businesses, few street lights) and went directly inside the “theater.”  We had noticed upon entering that there was a Port-o-Potty outside the building and jokingly wondered if that was the theater’s bathroom.  It was.  But even better, it had been turned around so that its door was able to be opened from inside the theater through a big hole in the wall.

The theater itself was tiny and had a few folding chairs and steps to sit on, no regular theater-style seating.  Since we got there a bit late, we quickly bought our Fritos and Tecates (the only things available at the “refreshment” stand) and made our way inside to find that our group of three had to split up since there wasn’t enough room on the steps by then for three people to sit together. 

It didn’t matter too much because once the show started we only had eyes for the stage.  It was the most hilarious show we have ever seen and receives our highest recommendation. 

Point Break LIVE! is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s a play based on the movie – complete with  parachuting, bankrobbing, surfing, and pseudo-homoerotic relationships among certain characters.  The Johnny Utah character is picked from a group of audience members who decide to audition.  Auditions include saying certain classic lines as well as improvising when needed.   Then, during the performance, JohnnyUtah-for-a-night is led around by the “stage girl” who tells him (loudly so everyone can hear) what to do, where to stand, and what to say.  She’ll trip him (“oh no, your knee!”) when he’s not supposed to catch up to the bad guys and correct him when his lines are read incorrectly.  (Miscellaneous but useful tip: if you go, make sure to bring or buy a rain poncho if you’re close to the stage.)

This show was by far the highlight of our trip to San Francisco and we will be sure to seek out both this and similar shows in every city we visit.

More information about Point Break LIVE! including videos and its current locations can be found here.

Tags: Johnny Utah, Keanu Reeves, Point Break, Point Break Live, San Francisco

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 5:34 am and is filed under Cultural Tourism, Fun and Random, North America, Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.