The Cast Photo by Julieta Cervantes

For the characters who inhabit David Adjmi's Tony-winning play, Stereophonic, whose touring production is now at the Curran Theatre, the struggle of making something great obsesses each one so intensely that the ties that bind them as a newly successful rock band are so frayed and the thread so taut they threaten to snap at any moment. Add in the tension of three relationships on the verge of breaking up, a recording engineer who fudged his resume to land the gig, the expectations of the record company looking for a follow-up hit, plus bags of cocaine and buckets of bourbon and you have the recipe for some serious multi-track conflict.

The unnamed band in Stereophonic seems loosely based on the experiences of Fleetwood Mac, whose marital infidelities, internecine conflicts, and drug and alcohol abuse somehow didn't prevent them from making one of the greatest rock albums of all time, the diamond-certified "Rumours," which sold 40 million copies worldwide. The parallels are easily drawn: in Stereophonic, Peter (Denver Milord) and Diana (Claire DeJean) are the Americans in a mostly British group, just as Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were in Fleetwood Mac; Simon (Cornelius McMoyler) stands in for founder Mick Fleetwood; and Reg (Christopher Mowod) and Holly (Emilie Kouatchou) represent a pair not unlike Christine and John McVie. The co-authors of a book about the making of "Rumours" sued the producers of Stereophonic, saying the story too closely follows what was witnessed as the band struggled through the recording process. The lawsuit has been settled.

Stereophonic may hew too closely to the book "Making Rumours," but it's hard to blame Adjmi for being inspired by such an intense story with outsize personalities and a setting–the recording studio–that is perfect for theatre: an enclosed, pressure-packed space where potentially millions of dollars could be at stake.

Guided by director Daniel Aukin, the story plays out over the course of a year (June 1976-June 1977), with the band and engineer Grover (Jack Barrett) and his assistant Charlie (Steven Lee Johnson) working in a space not unlike Sausalito's famed Record Plant (where "Rumours" was recorded) with very '70s wood paneling and furnishings. The majority of the show is actually set in Sausalito, reinforcing the connection between Stereophonic and Fleetwood Mac.

Playwright Adjmi has done great work in establishing his cast of characters. Diana is a singer and songwriter who doesn't play an instrument well enough to play onstage, but can plunk out some simple chords and melody on the piano to share a new song with the rest of the band. Her lack of instrumental skills is only one indication of her low self-esteem, something boyfriend Peter reinforces through his perfectionism and ruthless criticism of Diana. Milord has imbued Peter with a hauteur that pervades every corner of the studio, as Peter bosses the other band members and struts through the space like a slavery era overseer. At one point, frustrated with Simon's insufficiently powerful drumming on one track, he describes a scene with a dead body, then orders Simon to "show me that dead body on the drums."

Emilie Kouatchou's Holly is a quietly powerful presence in every scene she's in (though most of the cast is on stage for most of the show). She ingrains her character with an easy grace that her bandmates confuse with weakness at their own peril. Her husband Reg is played by Christopher Mowod with a delightfully innocent air. Reg seems to have the emotional maturity of a nine-year old–as well as the worst addiction issues–but Adjmi gives his character the broadest development arc of any in the cast, and Mowod manages to communicate this growth to us through his body language, which becomes slowly less manic, and his spoken language, which becomes more measured and far less frenetic over the course of the play's nearly three-hour running time.

Stereophonic is challenging on an emotional level, for there's rarely a scene where conflict doesn't either erupt in shouts and profanity–or threaten to. Like most great theatre, watching Stereophonic is like being a fly on the wall to witness some of the most fraught, emotionally raw moments in the lives of its characters. The equipment, part of David Zinn's amazing accurate set design, seems to be actual, working technology, which only adds to the verisimilitude of the setting.

In addition to some stellar acting, the cast are all highly talented musicians and/or singers, playing their instruments live and delivering the songs (by Will Butler, formerly of indie darlings Arcade Fire) with tremendous verve and passion.

In some ways, the music gets short shrift in Stereophonic, as we tend to hear only portions of songs and multiple takes of a few bars here and there. This makes sense, of course, for the story is more about how the music is made, rather than being about the music itself. You will get to see the incredibly hard work of making great art–and experience some of it in real time. But for a more complete experience, see Stereophonic during its run at the Curran, then–as I did–listen to the cast recording, which includes all the songs in the show in all their glory.

Stereophonic runs through November 23, 2025, at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Street, San Francisco CA. Tickets range from $62-$193. For tickets and information, please visit broadwaysf.com. For information on the tour, visit stereophonicplay.com