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Denial Ain't Just a River in Egypt: Performance Number Twenty-Four

A great opening emotion and number tonight (thank you anonymous audience member!) It was the second of our three closings of sorts, and today we said sad farewells to Charles, Ron and Kate. One show to go...

We had four fun audience-inspired characters who were all in various states of denial. Charles began the show as Brett, a restaurant worker who preferred to spend his time fishing at the lake under the watchful gaze of his over-protective sun-screen wielding mother, One-Eyed Pete the poetic pirate, and his former girlfriend, Susan, a seductress who was bluntly honest. Brett spent his life with a woefully inaccurate image of his prowess as a ladies' man. Then came Ron as Nolan, a video-arcade addict, with a crazy friend Suzy and a condescending brother, Rick. When the owner of the arcade, flamboyant Harris, announced that he was closing the joint down, Nolan had to look deep inside as to who he was and what his future might hold. Next we met Kate as Sarah, a young woman initially denying the suffocation of her Grandma's dairy farm. Her brother, Bud, and the farm's cow mascot, Phil, brought into question whether her future with the cows could be a happy one. And lastly there was T.C., a young parent in major denial about the dangers the beach (and the world) posed when it came to his children, Penelope and Bart. While he pushed off his wife's complaints about his care-giving tactics, it quickly became apparent that her perception was considerably closer to the truth, despite his "Wind Beneath my Wings" parody claiming the contrary.

Act two continued our journey (and brought the Journey parody count to two! The first act had seen Charles sing "Don't lose your fat rolls" to the tune of "Don't stop believing.") Brett took center stage and we quickly learnt that while his former girlfriend, Susan, professed to want reconciliation, that her true motives in regards to the cheese-stick hogging man were more sinister. Enlisting the girl-desperate Nolan (Ron), she vowed to burn down his restaurant in a fun "Whatever Susie wants, Susie gets..." tango dance number with the boys in the band rocking it as always. In addition to great work in this tango number, Ron also gave us a fun Gilligan's island number as One-Eyed Pete, and Kate tackled the show-stopper singing a version of "Rainbow Connection" while standing on her head! All in all, I think we had more parodies tonight that we often have in a whole weekend. Charles was wonderfully playful throughout, and constructed a nice turn at the end when he learnt of Susan's ill deeds, casting her aside and stepping out to face life alone.

Gina copied down a slew of dialogue quotes (we were all channeling Chase Padgett tonight apparently), so I offer them here:

David as sunbathing Susan to Brett: "I took off my top. Weren't you listening?"
Later, Susan to Brett: "I could never be with a guy who doesn't notice the little things, even if they are 300 pounds."
Charles' Brett as Susan left stage: "I'll soak that up with a biscuit!"
Ron as Nolan to his brother, Rick: "Have you ever played Ms. Pacman?"
Rick's response: "Have you ever kissed a girl in real life?"
Grandma to Kate's Sarah: "You gotta treat your cow like your future husband..."
Bud, finishing and sanitizing Grandma's thought: "Feed him three times a day."
Grandma to Sarah: "You are the basket that I put my shriveled up eggs into."
Kate to One-Eyed Pete: "Somebody get this guy an ocean."
Ron as One-Eyed Pete: "They don't call me One-Eyed Pete for nothing... It's cause I got one eye."
Charles while Kate was milking the cow: "You've got to squeeze his thingies."
Ron after singing an entire song as One-Eyed Pete: "Wait a minute... my eye... I've had it open this whole time!"
Kate while singing a song on her head (to the tune of "Rainbow Connection"): "Why are there so many, songs in this show..."

This was a crazy fun show, and the audience was wonderfully playful (as was exhibited when I opened a window so that Ron's Nolan could hear the entire universe laughing at him!) Charles kept leaving stage during act two to get a drink of water when he needed to remain on, which became a game all in itself too!!

Any favourite Charles, Ron or Kate moments to share?

Your one-to-go Director, David C.