25 July 2008

What's the Point?

On Tuesday night, I attended the Know Theatre’s production of “What’s the Point?”, a delightful 50’s style review that premiered in New York in February. It’s billed as “a musical review about life as we blow it,” and consisted of a series of 20 songs sung by a trio of twenty-somethings with incredible energy levels and lots of talent.

The show was presented in The Underground, the Know’s Basement-Bar-With-a-Stage, with patrons sipping wine at small bistro-esque tables during the performance.

Songs like “Legs,” sung by a mermaid who wants some, and “Straight Guy in a Gay Show” had the audience smiling for the show’s all-to-short duration (about an hour).

Liz Holt delivered her songs with verve and polish, every note dead-on and lovely. Dan Davidson was hamming it up the entire time, almost, but not quite, over the top, especially during “How Can I Miss You (When You Won’t Go Away)?”, when he held an audience member hostage onstage and again during “My Moment (The American Idol Song), in which he chillingly delivered the line, “Melisma is the window to my soul..” I nearly fell off my chair -- one line that summed up most American Idols. Ben Newell wistfully delivered “I Played With Myself,” a rather juvenile but funny set of double entendres about childhood loneliness.

Together, the trio shone in “Lady in the House,” as two secret service men and Nancy Pelosi. That song is a keeper and may have legs outside of this show. “E-Harmony-Dot-Com” was a great vehicle for harmonizing.

Terry LaBolt accompanied the night I saw the show and he was perhaps the best show accompanist I’ve heard.

A great Evening at the Theatuh, fer sher.

The show runs through August 12. Music by Alan Cancelino and lyrics by Hector Coris.

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On a personal note, please ignore Jackie Demaline's review. She's consistently negative about shows that feature performers under 40. And she didn't read the program, or she would have known that this show isn't "a couple of years old" or "dated."

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