Review: David Rhodes Makes Misstep With RHODES LESS TRAVELED at The Triad

David Rhodes is ready to tell his story. This is not the first time he has done this, as David Rhodes is a playwright and solo show performer, frequently scribing and acting in plays about his own life experiences, and they are experiences and stories worthy of being told. There are recollections in his new show RHODES LESS TRAVELED: MEMOIRS AND MUSIC that are genuinely interesting and worth listening to, including the story of the unique thirty-plus year marriage he and his wife have built, the triumphant life of his grown son who has lived, navigating having been born on the autism spectrum, and Rhodes's own ongoing voyage of self-discovery. Listening to the gentleman tell these stories during his debut performance last night at The Triad, it is easy to get a sense that David Rhodes is a nice man and a good person. That is why it is so difficult to say that, with this new production, Mr. Rhodes is not telling his story very well.

Rhodes Less Traveled is being presented in a cabaret room, a small, intimate setting where a performer can let their hair down and let their audience in, and given the nature of his rhetoric, Mr. Rhodes is extremely adept at letting the audience in. He holds nothing back. There is no filter, no censor, no governing of the tongue. There is no prudence to any of the stories Rhodes tells: the show is uncomfortably indiscreet. There need never be regret over speaking one's truth, no person should ever worry from having concealed an essential part of who they are. However, with absolute honestly must come a little temperance, and, that, David Rhodes does not apply to his loquacious script. Structurally, it's actually a good script, written in a manner that (mostly) prohibits the audience from applauding on any regular basis, serving as a continual monologue that has been intercut with famous songs, for maximum storytelling effect. Indeed, it is well-structured and effective, and Rhodes gets all his points across, using his own words as they swim in, out, and around Stephen Sondheim, Simon and Garfunkle, Olivia Newton-John, Harry Nilsson, Kiss, John Bucchino, and a few other recognizable songwriters and composers. The story and the production, though, are completely muddied down by several unnecessary costume changes, distracting choreography, and a frustrating tendency that Rhodes has for indicating almost every sentence he sings, turning the show into less of a musical monologue and more of a pantomime. All of the grandiosity acts as a barricade between the artist and the audience, who rarely gets a really good look at Rhodes in the light - figuratively and literally since there were several missed cues that left David in the dark, not to mention an overwhelming usage of strobe lights for which there was no advance warning, a danger to many who are susceptible to migraines and strokes. The entire outing is incredibly theatrical, too over-the-top to be played in so intimate a setting where sincerity is the key to success, rendering the patrons' night with Rhodes into something false, in spite of the truths that lie in every sentence spoken. Should the likable Rhodes and his equally likable director, Adam Sarette, continue working on the project, they might consider labeling it a play, rather than a cabaret, and moving it into a black box theater where the audience can benefit from the presence of a fourth wall. As it stands, now, the show is just too awkward for a nightclub audience to sit through without squirming uncomfortably in their seats.

Although there is merit in the stories about Rhodes's home life and parenthood, and even his struggles with his sexuality during decades when being openly gay was dangerous, the frank discussion of his promiscuous sex life crosses a line into an area best described as vulgar. A little profanity in a cabaret show is acceptable, it's par for the course, it is the way people communicate. However, to take a tender and innocent song like "He Touched Me" and sing it while simulating multiple sex acts ranging from fellatio to sodomy to org*sm is outright offensive. The pantomime alone was more than this writer and the neighboring table could tolerate, but to defile the classic ballad with so base a display was a miscalculation confusing comedy with crassness. There is a way to tell these stories to an intimate room while still considering the comfort level of a mixed crowd, it just needs to be done with a little grace, and a bit of dignity, both of which were left off the Rhodes Less Traveled checklist.

It's a shame, too, because (as previously stated) Mr. Rhodes seems like a stand-up guy, and he has had a fair amount of experience at writing and appearing in his one-man shows. Perhaps he also has experience at recognizing when something isn't working and at returning to the drafting table. If that were the case, it would be wonderful if he and his dedicated director could sit down and decide whether Rhodes Less Traveled is a theater piece or a cabaret show; then they could determine whether to leave the play alone and move it into The Tank or revise it in a manner more suitable for a cabaret room. Because, as it is now, it isn't ready to be called anything other than a self-indulgent vanity project, and that probably isn't what David Rhodes had in mind when he sat down to write it.

David Rhodes RODES LESS TRAVELED was a one-off. Find other shows to see at The Triad website HERE.

David Rhodes has a website HERE.

David Rhodes gets a five out of five microphones rating for performing his entire show without the use of a lyric sheet, tablet, or music stand.

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