MIKE JEKNAVORIAN Local Events

TRIXIE MATTEL

Trixie Mattel played a sold-out show in Fort Lauderdale last Friday, where she entertained the audience with comedy and music 

SHADE-O-METER RATING

4 OUTTA 5 WERKS: “SHE GAVE GOOD FACE – SHE SERVED IT”

Who’s Trixie Mattel?  She’s a drag performer/musician who came in sixth-place on the seventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and who won the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.  She also had her own TV show, The Trixie and Katya Show, which aired on Viceland.  What’s the Amaturo Theater?  It’s a 590-seat theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  How was the venue?  The venue is great, and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house.  It really should be utilized more by entertainers, but it seems that many would rather play, for example, at a half-empty Parker Playhouse instead of here.

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Trixie’s second album, featuring the single, “Moving Parts.”

How was the parking?  There’s a garage across the street, or you can valet.  Does the venue serve liquor?  Yes.  And child, those queens never laid off of it.  It seemed like there was always a line for da liquor.  A well drink and a glass of wine were both $9.  How were the drinks?  The well drink was strong enough.  At least they’re served in real glasses, which is a nice touch, and not those tacky plastic cups.  Does the venue serve food?  They only have a few snacks.  There’s no kitchen.

How much were the tickets?  $41.08.  Where were the seats?  On the side.  Unless you’re sitting right up in the front, the side seats actually seem better than the ones in the main section.  Was the show sold out?  Yes.  Was there an opening act?  If you can believe it, she actually had one.  Brandon James Gwinn, who also doubles as her on-stage assistant, did a short musical set.  How was it?  Completely not needed.  Gwinn performed from 8:10-8:30 p.m, and after that, the lights came on.

How was the show?  Trixie came on the stage at 8:45 p.m. to thunderous applause and proceeded to launch into her comedy routine.  Of which, the material itself was slightly better than Miss Mattel’s ability to deliver it.  Maybe as a backlash against her self-professed burgeoning appeal to teenage girls, the show also contained a proliferation of raunchiness, such as, “I used to get black-out drunk, and one time my friends wrote ‘faggot’ on the inside of my stomach in cum,” and, “Oh, you can laugh at the molesting jokes, but not the STD jokes?”  One of her better comedy lines cleverly utilized localism.  When one of the jokes didn’t go over as expected, Trixie explained that it’s new material, “[but] I’m a white misfit from a mid-west town.  If I wanted something to bomb, it would have been the local high school.”  The show was also punctuated with some musical numbers, where there was a fair amount of audience recognition a la singalongs.  In all, there was a 20-minute intermission, and the show ended at about 10:45.

How was the crowd?  Mostly gay, but peppered with some straight couples and some “bridal party” looking ones.  What could have improved the show?  Ditch the opening act.  If it ain’t a rock concert, and a rock concert this was not, then that foolishness ain’t needed.  Regarding the songs, it’s a shame that Trixie’s vocal ability wasn’t better, because of the two, the comedy and the music, it was the music that stood out.  The songs were all original compositions, and they were catchy.  Maybe she’ll have a career as a songwriter at some point.

What was surprising about the show?  The number of straight couples that were there.  Who would of ever thunk that we’d live to see that day that “drag” would become so mainstream.  It seems inevitable that one of these RuPaul girls will crossover into either Hollywood or pop music, but it’s anyone’s guess which one will do it first.  If only Divine could have lived to see all this.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located at 201 S.W. 5th Ave., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

MIKE JEKNAVORIAN Local Events

CHRISTINE EBERSOLE

Christine Ebersole dazzled with vocal proficiency in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, with the accompaniment of Seth Rudetsky

SHADE-O-METER RATING

4 OUTTA 5 WERKS: “SHE GAVE GOOD FACE – SHE SERVED IT”

Who’s Christine Ebersole?  She’s a two-time Tony-winning actress and singer.  Who’s Seth Rudetsky?  He’s a musical-theater historian, radio host, pianist, writer and actor.  What’s Parker Playhouse?  It’s a neo-classical theater in Fort Lauderdale.  It opened in 1967, and it holds about 1,200 people.  How was the venue?  Slightly ostentatious.  How was the parking?  They have valet, or you can park in grass lots and walk a short distance to the venue.  Does the venue serve liquor?  Yes.  They have a full bar.

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Grey Gardens: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Based on the Maysles brothers’ cult 1975 documentary of the same name, this musical is an endearing—-and sometimes genuinely heartwrenching—-oddity propelled by Christine Ebersole’s exceptional, for-the-history-books performance.

How were the drinks?  Wine was $9 for a single and $14 for a double.  We didn’t get any liquor.  Does the venue serve food?  No.  How much were the tickets?  $57.  Where were the seats?  About in the middle.  Was the show sold out?  No.  It was about 2/3 full.  How was the crowd?  The crowd was so old that one would be loath to take a bet that someone wouldn’t kick the bucket before Ebersole sung her last note (but the Geritol must have kicked in—or something—because they pepped-up when Ebersole first came out).

How was the show?  The show was presented as a retrospective journey of Ebersol’s career, with Rudetsky acting as both the interviewer and accompanist.  After the opening song, Ebersole and Rudetsky went back and forth all night between chairs and the microphone/piano.  They talked about Ebersole’s career, and then she sung a number (or two) as an example from it.  The ratio between song and talk was about 2:1—Ebersole talked for about 10 minutes, and then the song took five minutes.  Ebersole fittingly began the show with “The Lullaby of Broadway,” and she ended it with “Send in the Clowns.”  In total, she sung 11 songs, including the encore.  The biggest response that Ebersole got was for “Around the World” from Grey Gardens and “Pink” from War Paint.  Of the two, “Pink” got the greater reaction, including a standing ovation.

How was Ebersole’s voice?  Unlike, for example, Patti Lupone, who’s all belt, Ebersole really has two voices.  There’s the “legitimate” head voice, and there’s a jazz-inspired chest voice.  She excels with both, but the head voice is probably stronger and more impressive.  And there was no better example of her expertise with it than with her version of “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” from Camelot. 

What could have improved the show?  Given that Ebersole is not a natural storyteller (Rudetsky is better at this than her), the show could have used some editing—the backstory parts should have been shorter.  Despite this, there were some interesting anecdotes, such as when she described the struggles of making it in show business: “I was waiting tables at the time, and I got the call to play the Madeline Kahn part in the Paper Moon musical.  So, I told them, ‘I’ve got to leave you, little people.  The Great White Way calls.’  But I got the shock of my life when the show didn’t open, and three weeks later I had to crawl back with my tail between my legs, and I was back to waiting tables again.  It took me three years after that before I finally got I Love My Wife on Broadway.”  What was surprising about the show?  That someone one would dare bring an infant to it.

Parker Playhouse is located at 707 Northeast 8th St., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

 

MIKE JEKNAVORIAN Local Events

ART GARFUNKEL

Art Garfunkel played to a sold-out crowd in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, but his voice was a “troubled water”

SHADE-O-METER RATING

2 OUTTA 5 WERKS: “NOT FEELING IT”

Who’s Art Garfunkel?  He’s a singer, poet and actor, and, most famously, he was part of the folk rock duo, Simon and Garfunkel.  What’s Parker Playhouse?  It’s a neo-classical theater in Fort Lauderdale.  It opened in 1967, and it holds about 1,200 people.  How was the venue?  Slightly ostentatious.  How was the parking?  They have valet, or you can park in grass-lots and walk a short distance to the venue.  Does the venue serve liquor?  Yes.  They have a full bar.  How were the drinks?  Wine was $9 for a single and $14 for a double.  We didn’t get any liquor.  Does the venue serve food?  No.  How much were the tickets?  $52.50.  Where were the seats?  Towards the back.  Was the show sold out?  Yes.  Was there an opening act?  No.  How was Garfunkel’s voice?  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much there.  And I had no idea that he lost it (from vocal fold paresis) until Garfunkel told the audience that it disappeared in 2010.  But one wonders, if you’re a singer, why do shows—and charge the audience for tickets—with what appeared to be a chronically damaged voice?  The desire to sing does not necessarily supplant one’s ability to do so.

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Garfunkel’s history is told in flowing prose, bounding from present to past, far from a linear rags-to-riches story.


How was the show?  One seldom sees less austerity in a concert.  The set consisted of one keyboard, one piano, a couple of stools, and a table—that was it.  Garfunkel and his two musicians—a pianist and guitarist—unceremoniously walked onto the stage to temperate applause.  I’m not even sure that everyone realized it was him at first.  The show, as described by Garfunkel, consisted of one-third poetry and two-thirds songs, and it was presented within the confines of legitimate theater.  I.E., patrons were only shown to their seats in between numbers, and NO photography was allowed (I actually had to take notes by the dim illumination of an aisle light; not fun).  The stage lighting was murky and virtually nonexistent, there were no video screens, a spotlight on him was conspicuously absent, and, if you weren’t close…  Well, good luck discerning any facial features.


However, Garfunkel was an emotional singer, gesticulating with his hands and body in an organic manner, which does enhance the songs.  He played a fair-amount of the Simon and Garfunkel catalogue, including “Scarborough Fair,” “Homeward Bound” (the last song before the intermission), and a souped-up version of “The Sound of Silence.”  Regarding the poetry parts, and his intermittent banter (he has a dry, somewhat droll, sense of humor), some of Garfunkel’s more interesting comments were: “The 60s was a big decade for me.”  “Do you remember a time before iTunes and cell phones?”  And, “I was born in 1941.  It’s how old I am; it’s how old you are.  We’re all in this together” (which was met with chuckles from the audience).  And finally, the moment came for the signature song, prefaced with, “If I don’t at least attempt ‘Bridge over Troubled Water,’ I won’t make it out of Fort Lauderdale alive.  But there won’t be any high note.”  And none there were.

How was the crowd?  About Garfunkel’s age, which is 76.  And when he rhetorically asked the audience what they thought was the best venue (answer: the Royal Albert Hall) that he ever played in, some moron yelled out, “Parker Playhouse.”  Pure class.  What could have improved the show?  Nothing.  If there’s no voice, bitch gotta’ give it up.  What was surprising about the show?  That despite what one may think about the show, at least have the courtesy to stay to the end.  But about one-fifth of the crowd exited the theater as Garfunkel was singing his one encore.    

Parker Playhouse is located at 707 Northeast 8th St., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.