Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!: Trippingly On The Tongue

For all the laughter and hilarity to be savored in Jay Johnson: The Two And Only!, and the ninety minute show is packed with it, the most memorable moment to take home with you is a quiet, heart-tugging scene which has been played out hundreds of times, but perhaps never so lovingly.

 
You've seen it before, no doubt.  A show-biz duo – might be dancers, singers or comics – work their way from the bottom, stick together through the hard times and finally get their big break.  But there's a catch.  The casting people want one, but not the other.  Will the lucky one accept the opportunity?  Will the other step aside gracefully?  Jay Johnson found himself in that familiar situation when auditioning with his comedy partner for the satirical TV sitcom, Soap.  In The Two and Only!, Johnson not only reenacts the conversation he had with his partner, painfully having to tell him that the network people want to team him up with a more sarcastic, less-loveable sidekick, but the rejected fellow actually makes a guest appearance to recall the moment with him.

 
You see, the guy the network people thought to be too nice for the role of "Bob" was Squeaky, a ventriloquist's puppet.  And if the idea of trying to spare the feelings of a carved wooden figure sounds silly to you, it won't once you've heard the story of their partnership from the ventriloquist's own lips.

 
Part history lesson, part art appreciation class and part autobiography, The Two And Only! is no doubt the smartest family entertainment on Broadway today.  But a thousand years ago, as Johnson explains, the act of "throwing" one's voice was thought to be a sure sign of demonic possession or at least an abnormality in the human body.  And though early ventriloquists may have helped families make peace with the dead, pranksters during the French Revolution would have fun at guillotine executions, giving the appearance that severed heads were talking.

Johnson fills us in on some of the techniques and traditions he's learned since his passion for ventriloquism began as a young boy.  Much of the show is about his mentoring relationship with Arthur Sieving, the 70-year-old retired ventriloquist who partnered with the non-human Harry O'Shea for fifty years and who carved Squeaky for the teenage Johnson.  It's through Sieving that Johnson learned the humanizing aspects of the art; that a puppet (never called a dummy) is not a toy, but a fine instrument to be cared for and respected.

But along with all its sweetness and educational value, The Two And Only! is, most importantly, a lot of fun.  Johnson is a youthful-looking nice guy with a jovial sense of humor an easy-going stage presence.  His wild assortment of partners throughout the evening includes Nethernore (a maniacally morbid vulture), Darwin (a hyperactive, jazzed up monkey), Spaulding (created from the rubber ball known as the Spauldeen) and, of course, his snarky-mouthed Soap co-star, Bob.  But watch out.  Any item that happens to be on stage has the potential for becoming one of Jay's sidekicks.  Each character is fully realized with a specific physicality and personality and Johnson's routines feature lightening quick switches from voice to voice.

Created by Johnson, Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel and directed by the latter two, The Two And Only! is a well-structured show with warmth, pathos and a lotta laughs.  It's not a play, but it's irresistible theatre.

Photos by Carol Rosegg:Jay Johnson with Darwin (top), Bob (center) and Spaulding (bottom)