It may be clear that I really like various local theater. Which is why you get a two-part review, in which Seattle (and, soon, New York) triumphantly bests San Francisco, below the fold.
First, Circus Contraption. I saw part of their show at the Moisture Festival back on the first of April, a wonderful evening of tomfoolery, amusement, and complete idiocity mixed with various brilliant (and, to be sure, not-so-brilliant) acts. There was good rope work and contortionism and music and I figured these were good people.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing them again at their big show, the Grand Travelling American Dime Museum (not to be confused with Baltimore's Dime Museum, also worth checking out.). It was a tough show. They were plagued by a power outage that kind of killed the evening's energy for the first hour or two: timing was off, cues were missed, jokes fell flat, and their brilliant band just didn't quite get it.
And then, after intermission, the air was clear and we enjoyed an hour and a half of the best stagecraft I've seen in a few years. (I might give a slight nod to the Bindlestiff circus but it's close.) The jokes were brilliant. The band was in full tune with its Seattle Klezmer - meets - big band sound; the musical saw was an accompaniment to a sexy aerial feat. It worked.
I don't know what changed. A motivational speech? More confidence in the spotlights? But all I can say is that Circus Contraption is worth looking out for: their remaining show or two in Seattle, or their upcoming New York trip.
I was ready for great entertainment, then, when I went to see Killing My Lobster in WORLD OF SCIENCE . I like science as much as the next guy, and I liked the way I found out about it more: over breakfast at Savor a girl at the next table was talking about her date last night. "He brought me to that show. It was really funny," she said, and I believed her.
And so I brought my trusty geologist along (she's got a master's degree ... in science).
Killing My Lobster is a bay-area sketch comedy group. They have a lively enthusiastic cast, and seem to run a bunch of cool stuff over the year: a film festival, a monthly benefit cabaret, and periodic shows.
But, well, in this show, they weren't funny. The Physics Chanteuse aims for good science, but I was happy to hear bad science. Or good science parody. There were moments: the opening slide presentation, for example, hit the notes of the planetarium show perfectly. And one sketch, replacing everything with chemical names, had spot-on writing.
Yet the audience spent the night looking ... puzzled. Was that a punchline? Was that meant to be timed a little better? Clever setup -- but where was that sketch going? The evening had a not-quite-finished feel, like someone needed to sit down and give it a good shakedown. Figure out just what is funny about the frog singles lilly pad, or just how to set up the joke about Steven Jay Gould. (Much less the New York Times Science page.)
I'm afraid that I just can't claim it's worth an evening in San Francisco, or the $17 entry fee.
July 27, 2005 12:41 AM | TrackBack | in Other