Sparkle is back at restored Curran theater

When Carole Shorenstein Hays welcomed the cheering audience to the “homecoming” at the Curran on Thursday night, she wasn’t just referring to the Tony-winning musical “Fun Home” that had just brought the entire audience to its feet. She also meant the homecoming for the Curran itself, the jewel in the crown of San Francisco theaters that is back in business after an extensive two-year renovation.

The old joint was probably sparkling as much on Thursday as it did when it first opened in 1922. With a sold-out crowd that included the New York Public Theater’s Oskar Eustis, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pixar/Disney’s John Lasseter, George and Charlotte Shultz, and Dagmar Dolby, the Curran itself was the real fun home this week.

“Welcome, everyone,” Hays said onstage after taking a moment to collect her thoughts. “From the bathrooms all the way to the UCSF children’s art.” The audience was especially cheered by the reference to the restrooms, which, pre-renovation, looked more fitting for a bus terminal than for one of the most revered theaters in the Bay Area.

The art by young patients of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital adorns the upper mezzanine lobby, while murals and paintings by Aaron De La Cruz, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Casey Waits and Steve Powers brighten all the other levels. Inside the 1,667-seat theater, every crystal teardrop on the spectacular chandelier was polished to perfection, and gilt carvings glimmered on the teal walls. The luminous sun-ray ceiling, long obscured by decades of cigarette smoke, seemed incandescent.

“It’s gorgeous,” said Curran first-timer Stephanie Clowdus, 28, as she sipped wine at the catered after-party, where guests mingled on every floor. “It’s so modern. It also has that history — you don’t always get that on the West Coast.”

Her girlfriend, Abby Sushchyk, 26, agreed. “It feels wild to be caught between the old and the new. It’s awesome.”

As “Fun Home” played out onstage, it was impossible not to feel the presence of the legends who have trod the Curran’s boards: Katharine Hepburn, Patti LuPone, James Earl Jones. Mary Martin in the 1954 premiere of “Peter Pan.” Judy Garland in a four-week engagement in 1952. In more recent years, the national touring company of “The Phantom of the Opera” sat down for five years at the Curran.

“Everyone is with us tonight,” Hays said later, at an elbow-to-elbow Champagne reception in the Clift San Francisco’s Redwood Room. “From Tallulah Bankhead to Judy Garland to Carol Channing, all of the great artists, the audiences. We’re all one.”

Fond memories were exchanged throughout the night. “This is where they filmed some of ‘All About Eve,’ which is my favorite movie ever,” said film critic Jan Wahl.

“The stage door!” said Alison Bechdel, referring to the door’s star turn in “All About Eve.” Bechdel’s graphic memoir inspired “Fun Home,” about the coming of age and coming out of a father and daughter.

Seeing her story performed at the Curran had special meaning for Bechdel. “San Francisco has always just been a guiding light — it’s been part of what forged my own queer politics,” she said. “It’s very exciting to be here.”

“I love this town more than I can say,” said Eustis, the artistic director for Public Theater, which was pivotal in developing “Fun Home.” In the 1980s, Eustis was resident director of San Francisco’s Eureka Theater.

“To bring this show that stands for everything I think San Francisco stands for makes me really happy,” he said.

Many Bay Area natives, like singer Heather Orth, 32, grew up going to the Curran. “I saw ‘Wicked’ here before it went to Broadway,” she said. “I saw ‘Phantom of the Opera’ all the time. To see the Curran restored to this splendor is incredible.”

Newsom reminisced too, before taking the stage to welcome the audience. “I have so many early childhood memories, a lot of them falling asleep in my mother’s lap, quite candidly, out in that audience,” he said with a wry grin.

In 1977, Shorenstein Hays teamed up with the Nederlander organization to form what became SHN, designed to bring Broadway tryouts and national tours to the Curran, Orpheum and Golden Gate theaters. Although she had a falling-out with SHN, she is still a commercial partner. But she now owns the Curran outright, and she wasted little time before she decided to get back on her feet by renovating the theater where she saw her first musical when she was 10.

She has formed Curran Live in partnership with her immediate family, husband Dr. Jeffrey Hays and their adult children, Gracie, 32, and Wally, 29, (named for his grandfather, the late real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein).

Late last year, patrons got a preview look at the renovated space when Denzel Washington showed up for a red-carpet screening of “Fences.” It was no coincidence: Shorenstein Hays produced the Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s play in 1987 when she was pregnant with Wally. The play went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Now all grown up and the deputy director of the Curran, Wally Hays choked up when his mother handed him the microphone during the curtain calls.

“This night is extremely emotional for our family, the Curran family,” he said. “The last two years put the youthful fight and spunk back in Mom. I couldn’t ask for a better boss, a better partner, a better mentor than you. Thank you.”

Claudia Bauer is a Bay Area freelance writer.