Transcendence Theatre Company opens annual summer season in new venue

Every summer, fans of the Transcendence Theatre Company turn out for a series of outdoor musical revues.

This month, Sue Draus, director of the opening show, takes the audience on a musical tour of three decades’ worth of pop music, from the ’60s to the ‘80s, in “The Beat Goes On,” running June 16 through July 2 at Belos Cavalos in Kenwood.

“The Beat Goes On” is the fourth revue Draus has conceived for Transcendence, following ”Road Trip“ in 2021 and ”Hooray for Hollywood’ in 2022, both presented at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen. She also created “Ladies of Broadway” in 2018, which the Transcendence company performed at the Marin Civic Center and the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

This time the concept for the show started with a suggestion from Amy Miller, the company’s co-founder and artistic director.

“The last two shows were my idea,” Draus said. “This time, Amy Miller said she wanted a show called ‘The Beat Goes On.’ That’s all she had, not a style or a concept, just the title.”

“I decided to do songs from the ’60s, ‘70s and ‘80s,” Draus explained. “Transcendence has never done a show that’s all pop music, without any Broadway numbers.”

The first act covers the ’60s, from the Beatles and Motown through the Woodstock festival and the Summer of Love. The second act covers the ’70s and ’80s, including disco and techno rock.

There was so much music to cover that the director had to make some tough choices to avoid creating an overlong marathon program.

“The hardest was taking out songs,” Draus said. “It killed me to take out the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd, but there wasn’t room.”

She did find room for John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

This is the first show at Transcendence where Draus has directed the whole production, rather than just the music.

“It’s not as much different as you might think,” she said. “It’s more overseeing all departments to make sure we’re all going the same direction.”

However, Draus, 67, did encounter a slight cultural disconnect with her young cast.

“I’d say, ‘You never heard of The Carpenters?’ And they’d say, ‘No,’” the director said. “When you’re born in 2003, you don’t remember those songs. I’m old enough that I remember them all. Most of the young cast members have heard more of the ’60s and ’70s songs than from the ’80s because they heard about them from their parents. Now a new generation is catching on to what I consider the best music ever.”

Draus has worked on eight shows in all with the company. She came to work with Transcendence after hearing about them while on national tours of Broadway shows.

“I had been hearing about Transcendence on the road for years,” she said. “Tours are tough, and Broadway musical theater is very competitive. With Transcendence, nobody auditions. They’re recommended by people who have been here before. People are invited to perform. It just takes the edge off.”

This summer, Transcendence is opening its summer season at Belos Cavalo in Kenwood, which terms itself a center for “equine experiential education.” Transcendence held its “Holiday Show” there in December 2021.

For the rest of the summer season, Transcendence will return to its longtime home at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, presenting “The Full Monty” July 28 to Aug. 20 and “An Enchanted Evening,” the company’s annual tribute to the music and dance of Broadway, Sept. 8-17.

The first show of the summer season was moved from the park to Belos Cavalos pending an environmental study on the impact of the productions, a public comment period and finalizing permit conditions for the theater’s use of the park as a venue.

“There is enough time to complete these steps for the rest of the season. We look forward to being back in Jack London park for the remainder of our season,” said Brad Surosky, executive director of the Transcendence Theatre Company.

The current review process follows a lawsuit filed in 2019 by an association of active and retired state park rangers over the theater company’s continued use of Jack London State Historic Park. The company has held its open-air Broadway-styled musical productions in the park since 2012, drawing thousands of enthusiastic patrons to the protected ruins of the late novelist’s old winery on summer nights.

Preparing to stage the first show at Belos Cavalos instead of Jack London park has not been a problem, Draus said.

“From the design end of the show and the creative side, no. The stage is the exact same size.”

The run of the show includes Transcendence’s first Pride Night, set for Saturday, July 1, with the same program but with some extras added to the preshow picnic entertainment.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.