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Vaudevillian Craziness

Took my kids to see Wizbang: Variety Circus Mayhem at Mahalls: Twenty Lanes in Lakewood on Saturday. It. Was. Awesome.

The organizers for Wizbang are the great duo of Pinch and Squeal, whom I’ve seen in any number of locations, with their enormously energetic creations of vaudeville, burlesque, humor, and magic. Here, the production was lifted by an entourage of similarly-minded artists who were amazing as much for their individual talents and the level of energy they maintained throughout their performance.

For the kids, Wizbang was just about as stimulating at you’d want a theatrical experience to be–especially in the conspicuously over-stimulated world in which they exist today. At Wizbang, things were happening everywhere. That is, everywhere you looked there was something to engage the eye and interest: costumes, lights, balloons, exceptional performance. On the stage there was a fantastic mix of sexual appeal, fear, glory of color and execution of feats, and the downright creepy. The show is a glorious vaudevillian circus with the promise of great joy and the threat of death that all children desire: magic, juggling, jump-roping, hoola-hooping, egg-cracking, dancing, romping, clowning.

And yes, later at night, there is an Adult version.

When it comes around again, Wizbang is a must see.

A Leprechaun

Just in time for dear St. Pats I played a Leprechaun in my most recent Manhattan Project performance. I also got to play the role with my dear friend Ron Rothschiller, who, as you can see by his last name, is a fine Irishman. Except that he played Cupid.

Rob Daniels was our playwright, joining a coterie of fine playwrights including Eric Coble, Renee Schilling, and Michael Pullman.

Accent

It took a bit for me to get the accent correct. I spent quite a bit of time learning the keys to Irish speaking, including pronouncing my “i” sounds a “oi” sounds (oil), and “e” sounds as “long a” sounds, dropping the “g” off all “ing” endings, and changing “my” to “me”, etc. “Oi’ll bay havin’ me drink now.”

Quite fun, as the Manhattan Project always is. A fine, long-running experiment by my dear friend Peter Roth, whose balls are getting bigger every day.