Douglas Gray just wants audiences to relax and enjoy “Assisted Living: The Musical,” which he calls “a feel-good show with very witty lyrics, a show that makes people laugh.”
“For me, it’s all about making an emotional connection with people,” adds the 59-year-old producer. “We have enough stuff in the world to make people think, enough stuff to challenge people intellectually. I love a happy audience. If the sum of my career leads people to that, then I am participating in the repair of the world.”
“Assisted Living” is a musical revue, a series of songs sung by residents of the Pelican Roost, a mythical residence for seniors. They call themselves “Pelican Roosters” and the songs — many of them tongue-in-cheek — include “Help! I’ve Fallen for You and I Can’t Get Up,” “WalkerDude@Facebook Dot Com,” “Golf Cart Seduction” and “The AARP.”
Gray sits in the performance space above the Imperial Palace Restaurant in San Francisco, where “Assisted Living” runs through July 31.
“We figured people would like coming to Chinatown during the day for a dim sum banquet followed by a show here,” Gray says. He surveys the room, designed by the restaurant owner’s mother, a Chinese opera star. “With the red and gold colors, the ornate dragon motif, the high ceiling — this is perfect.”
Gray describes himself as “a fourth-generation Reform Jew.” His great-grandparents were founding members of a Reform congregation in Germany, and his parents helped found a Reform congregation in Merrick, on Long Island. Gray was a founding member of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue in Seattle.
Gray emphasizes that “Assisted Living” does not make fun of old people. “There are no jokes about Alzheimer’s. The show covers things that people deal with as they get older, but don’t necessarily talk about,” Gray says. “When you watch, you feel that tingle of recognition, a connection to the characters. We show that aging is an experience to enjoy, not one to dread or hide from.”
Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett, based in Florida, wrote “Assisted Living,” which debuted two years ago in Naples, Fla.
“Rick and Betsy have written seven or eight revues and performed them as club acts. They contacted me about this show to help do something bigger,” Gray says. “Right away, I saw a lot of potential.”
For the past 18 months, he has helped reshape the show. The San Francisco run is the first to feature professional actors.
“Assisted Living” stars Bob Greene and Zoe Conner. Both might be familiar to Bay Area audiences: Greene has performed with TheatreWorks, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, the California Shakespeare Festival and others. Conner has appeared on Fox’s “Comedy Express” and at Punchline Comedy Club. She also has performed at the Theatre On the Square, Boxcar Theater and with TheatreWorks. Frank Coppola of Three Times Three Productions of San Francisco is the associate producer.
Now living in New York with his wife, Leslie Koch, Gray wears several hats in the world of theater. He has produced long runs for “Late Nite Catechism” and “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” in Seattle, “Late Nite Catechism” and “Shear Madness” in Portland and “The Jackie Wilson Story” at the Apollo Theatre in New York.
Gray also served as production manager for Harry Belafonte, Twyla Tharp, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and for several Broadway shows. He was general manager for Seattle’s Paramount Theatre and he planned and supervised the theater design and entertainment programming for two cruise lines. In addition, he works with not-for-profit organizations planning the adaptive re-use of historic buildings.
His theatrical credentials are so extensive, it’s hard to believe he didn’t get into the scene until his 20s.
“I had nothing to do with theater until after college,” he says. “I was going to be a lawyer. When I graduated from Skidmore, I took a summer job as a chaperone for summer school students at the Juilliard School. Then, because I had run a college radio station, [actor and producer] John Houseman hired me to do sound for the City Center Acting Company. I never did go to law school.”
Throughout his life, Gray has made time for volunteer projects. He has helped build hurricane-proof homes in Puerto Rico, worked out of Hull House in Chicago and helped in an immunization clinic in Guatemala. He routinely visits hospices with therapy dogs. Earlier this year, Gray traveled to Nicaragua to help build a kiln for a women’s artist collective.
“In junior high, I was a member of the Mitzvah Corps,” Gray says. “Once you are imbued with it, the spirit of mitzvah stays with you forever.”
“Assisted Living: The Musical” runs through July 31 at Imperial Palace Restaurant, 818 Washington St., S.F. Tickets, which include dim sum, range from $79.59 to $99.50. Information: (888) 885-2844.