"Aukin is at its best with Stereophonic's pacing. If the play feels slow in moments, it's in service of experiencing the band's self-immolation in real time. Realistically, recording studios are sites of mostly waiting around, and for a band like the one in Stereophonic, sacrificing mental health and all relationships with the real world to achieve musical nirvana on tape always happens gradually."
"Here in the Bay Area, there's something special about seeing Stereophonic - a co-production between ACT and BroadwaySF - finally performed in its spiritual home. The studio is clearly modeled after the Record Plant in Sausalito, where Fleetwood Mac recorded Rumours. Band members take breaks to eat at Juanita's, the famed Sausalito restaurant-slash-three ring circus run by the region's most colorful owner and chef."
An intense drama centers on a band's fraught studio sessions as a singer's technical brilliance is undermined by insecurity and pressure. The microphone becomes a symbol of unreachable artistic perfection as takes fall apart. Patient pacing foregrounds long stretches of waiting and gradual self-immolation, showing how the quest for a perfect recorded sound erodes mental health and personal relationships. Local Bay Area specifics—modeled on the Record Plant in Sausalito, Juanita's, vintage shirts, weed from Santa Cruz, Tiburon and houseboats—anchor the story. A character's monologue about wanting to "live in art" explains the sacrifices driving the band.
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