This is my review for Ian Bell’s Brown Derby Players production/parody of Purple Rain, playing at Re-bar tonight, (Friday, the 18th) and tomorrow night, (Saturday the 19th) at 8pm:
I advise people going to the show to either wear Depends, or three pairs of underpants, OR don’t drink any liquid three hours BEFORE the show (you can drink AT the show; Re-bar would be hurt if you didn’t), because you WILL pee yourself laughing…
That is all you need to know…except, get there EARLY (doors open at 7pm) to make sure you get a seat…and, if you have a party of 5 or more, you can RESERVE (but not pre-buy) seats at the Brown Derby website and they’ll hold the seats until 7:15pm. Tickets are $16 CASH only and obviously it’s 21+.
And, quick shout outs to Mr Bell, for another job well done, adapting and narrating the show and to the Sound person for a great job of integrating the backtracks to the live performances and some truly inspired sound effects. And, obviously the cast was in top form but in particular Scott Shoemaker and his hilarious interpretation of Prince. Mr Shoemaker is a little sturdier and a lot paler than Prince (also, taller, but most humans are) but his strong vocals (Mr Shoemaker is also the lead singer for local band The Quit) and capacity for some Princely mugging and mincing not to mention some bravery in daring to bare quite a lot of flesh, had the audience roaring in laughter. Nick Garrison was ideally cast as the clueless leading lady, Apollonia and despite the fact that Mr Garrison is a superb singer, he “dumbed” down his vocals to more ideally capture the unique “singing” capabilities of that lovely lady. Dusty Warren made an odd but maniacally endearing Morris Day and Freddy “King of Pants” Molitch displays both some mad dance moves as well as some bitching comedic timing as the sidekick Jerome. Ade’s acting has improved a lot since her debut four years ago in a Brown Derby production; she was screechingly hysterical as Prince’s mom and hilariously obtuse as a vacant backup dancer. Imogen Love was her usual excellent self in a number of smaller roles including Prince’s Wifebeating Daddy and Wendy the put upon back up musician in Prince’s band. And cute Joe Randazzo made an excellent dimwitted Lisa onstage in addition to his superb baking skills offstage; he had friends selling his homemade cupcakes at intermission to help him raise money to go to culinary school in Spain…in addition to this production, I can also wholeheartedly recommend Mr Randazzo’s Guinness cupcakes with butter cream frosting…they were to die 4.
It’s going to sell out tonight and tomorrow, so get there EARLY (by 6:30pm if you want a decent seat) ’cause you don’t want to miss this show; it’s the best Brown Derby production in 4 years! OH, and you’ll also want to check out Re-bar on Saturday night, after the Purple Rain show, to check out the big, huge 20th Anniversary bash for Re-bar and it should be AMAZING!
Annnnnd Re-bar turns 20 years old. Yep, 20! Suck on that! And come party with us with DJ BRIAN LYONS (Flammable), DJ AMATEUR YOUTH (Cherry, VS, Dance Queers Dance, too many more to list), TONY BURNS (Yes!), DJ LA KENDALL (Hard Times, Comeback, too many more to list), & DJ TERRY HECKER (Trouble Dicso)! Come dance and drink with us and CELEBRATE!
If you really LOVE Re-bar, you’ll want to check it out…
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
