By Marilyn Taylor
Coastal Journal contributor
BRUNSWICK - Like a funny flash from the past, the Winter Cabaret at the Theater Project has sauntered into town. The show reminds me of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, a sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from 1968 to 1973 on NBC. The show was characterized by rapid-fire gags and sketches, many of which oozed sexual innuendo or were politically charged.
Winter Cabaret leaves the political part aside, but does go for double entendre in a fast-paced and amusing way. The show is well worth seeing. You might not want to bring your 80-year-old aunt or your 8-year-old, but for everyone in-between, there is rollicking humor in the show.
This 11th Annual version of the Winter Cabaret takes a technological leap and entertainingly integrates video into the show with So You Think You Can Mime?. This is the running gag throughout the show and is a take-off on TV’s American Idol. In this version, four very different mimes battle it out to win the $78 grand prize and the opportunity to perform at the Big Top Deli in Brunswick.
The four mimes are boisterously portrayed by Heather Weafer, Christopher Price, Craig Ela and Theater Project Executive Director Wendy Poole (who also directed these segments as well as much of the show).
This troupe offers up an angry misunderstood mime; a Marcel Marceau knock-off mime; a Roy Rogers knock-off mime and a lost soul Jane Plaine mime, respectively.
These are good actors having a ball doing what they do best---acting in original material. The ongoing skits are written by Poole and Weafer and they are touching, funny and bawdy---a great combination.
The running gag of the Mime competition is interspersed with other comedy routines. Standouts among these include April Showers, a humorous discussion by forks, spoons and a knife about the ins and outs of being silverware.
A musical review about the charms of Bacon has the audience salivating. And the skit entitled Family 2.0 has a husband walking into someone else’s home to take up a new life because he is bored with his own. Who hasn’t vicariously thought about trading families?
There is another routine about an unusual Las Vegas performer, but I wouldn’t spoil it for you by providing details. This one you have to see to believe it.
Anyone with a good sense of humor will enjoy this show. The theater is appropriately set up as a Cabaret/lounge complete with candlelight and piano playing by Peter Dugas.
This is a fun show as long as you bring along an open mind and a sense of humor.
|
