Two different solo performance pieces make up the double bill under the caption America Dreaming: lovelust + disasterdrag. The connective tissue between both acts is “overlapping themes of outrageous physical bravado and risqué showmanship celebrating individuality, resilience and the art-of-the-bathtub.” That description is accurate. Before dipping your toe in the water, understand that the temperature will vary from scalding to frigid.
As Long As It Lasts
Two chalkboards contain one hundred phrases written out. They are enticing not unlike the smells from a great kitchen. You want to try #64, “How My Shrink Terminated Therapy.” #69 seems very important too. It is simply called “Restraining Order.” On the lighter side (or perhaps not) is #65, “Miserable Trash Bags.”
Eileen Kelly created and performs As Long As It Lasts. Her recollections are “stories about me” with their “random meant-to-be-ness.” Eric Borsuk will be the caller. The bingo card in your program is meant to be played. The timer is set for one hour. The numbers called will provide the evening’s chosen material. The concept is strong, the performance is often completely engaging and the bathtub on stage is dutifully employed.
Don’t worry about her bathtub antics, Ms. Kelly advises, “I’m just like a circus performer.” Her balance skill are certainly impressive. The stories, however, are the guts of this production. Some are funny and some are sad. Some are five minutes long and others much shorter. “Married Man,” (#60) is about a Tinder date. She admits, “I don’t have a moral compass.”
When things get serious, she offers a “privacy minute” in case someone from the audience would like to take a break rather than sit through a potentially triggering story. That particular segment is memorably done. She reflects on the #metoo movement noting, “I didn’t think it applied to myself. It was all buried so deep inside.”
There is a casualness to this presentation which makes her one hundred story marathon giddy fun. When Mr. Borsuk calls #18, she exclaims “Yay!” Her energy is infective. One of my favorite stories was #31, “Feeding the Pigeons.” The description created a strong visualization and the punchline was excellent.
Occasionally, Ms. Kelly will artfully dance to tuneful songs written by her friend, Mike Errico. The whole show is indulgent and clever in both design and execution. One of her titles is “Post Menopausal Women Have Their Benefits.” This kooky show is certainly one of them.
MUST GO ON
How to review a show where the performer stops to do so during the piece? Garish is a word tossed out of the bathtub. That adjective is defined as “obtrusively bright and showy, lurid.” The choice is not incorrect. Patrick Quinn created, directed and stars in the mania MUST GO ON. Capital letters are essential here.
The show promises “a death defying 100 costume change blitz in 60 minutes.” A silly concept is made leaden by the non-stop putting on and taking off clothes. In this case, watching a sweaty, heaving, exhausted performer putting on multiple layers and then taking them off is incredibly boring time after time.
MUST GO ON features a “wild, off-duty drag queen fighting to survive a dance theater obstacle course of his own manic invention.” Set to snippets of largely recognizable songs, I saw a crazed teenager playacting in their bedroom in front of a mirror. He/she is not talented but driven. Compelled to the spotlight. Ingeniously, Mr. Quinn has a sidekick (Jeremiah Oliver) who dutifully does the hard work of supporting the bossy, egocentric star.
Our self-anointed diva dances, runs around, repeatedly flops on the floor, eats cantaloupe, does splits, changes costumes then rips them and makes a cupcake. The effect is like watching an excessively emotive teenager on speed with no creative focus. An inability to edit because every idea is seemingly a great one. Interestingly, the sidekick emerges as a focal point. I zeroed in on the making of the show and the herculean effort of keeping the train on the tracks.
There are moments that shine such as a blissfully lit dance pause on the bathtub. The blindfolded, seemingly dangerous high heeled section is punctuated with a hilarious comment: “it’s a METAPHOR!” At one point, Mr. Quinn writes a To Do list on the chalkboard. “Slow Down Music” and “Fix Pants” are the first two. It’s hard to disagree. The third task is “Eat the Rich.” Huh? Nothing comes before or after which puts that phrase into any context whatsoever.
MUST GO ON is so completely frenetic that it pushed this viewer away. Admittedly, that may be an intentionally aggressive choice. The show is described as dealing with queer hate crimes using slapstick-misadventure as a “testament to queer resilience.” Instead, I saw an individual’s neuroses which was the intellectually absorbing part of this exercise in whirling dervish lunacy.
The performance must physically hurt. A lot. A little less effort maniacally racing to the next blundered costume reveal and just a little more time getting deeper into Mr. Quinn’s brain would be welcome. But that would cut down on the floor flopping, I guess.
As Long As It Lasts and MUST GO ON are separate shows being performed in repertory at the Cherry Lane Theatre through February 8, 2020.