BWW Reviews: SPANK! THE FIFTY SHADES PARODY is Fifty Shades of Fun

As someone who read two of the three books in the 50 SHADES OF GREY series, my curiosity was piqued as to what would happen on the stage with this production. The answer...it delivered two hours of laugh out loud fun-a bit hokey and over the top, but the mostly female audience was howling at the jokes.

The play begins with E.B. Janet (Suzanne Sole), a typical, middle-aged housewife and mother, home alone for the weekend. She's done some writing before and she decides that while her family is away she is going to write the book that will let her sexual fantasies come to life. With the help of a bottle of Chardonnay to release her inhibitions, she begins her story.

As Janet types, the book unfolds on stage. She introduces her heroine, Tasha Woode (Michelle Vezilj), as a naïve English Lit co-ed who, except for her one "fatal" flaw of being clumsy is the epitome of the girl-next-door. Then we meet her love interest, Hugh Hanson (Gabe Bowling). He's a sexy, worldly, experienced billionaire with a mysterious past. These three actors are the entire cast and keep the audience in stitches with sexual innuendo and naughtiness.

Vezilj's Tasha is likeable and grows from wide-eyed virgin to knowing her "hard and soft" limits of sex by the end of the show. The audience of almost all women love Bowling as Hugh especially when he bares his chest. He has an intentional over-dramatic soap opera-like delivery with a touch of charm. Even though we are learning their love story and most of the interaction takes place between them, Sole is really the star of the show. As the narrator, she feeds off the crowd's energy and even when in the background, her comedic, lewd gestures are hysterical!

Just as the cast is small, production, too, is minimal, but it doesn't take away from the show-this isn't a typical musical. The props look homemade and the music is recorded, even so, the raunchy variations of the theme song from WILLY WONKA and I AM SIXTEEN from the SOUND OF MUSIC are quite amusing.

The spoofs are from the beginning to the end of the show and come so quickly that it's difficult to catch them all. Spank! pokes fun at TWILIGHT, TV'S HOME IMPROVEMENT and even BATMAN. It touches on some of the main points of 50 SHADES OF GREY, but whether or not you read the book doesn't matter. Spank! is a laugh a minute and perfect for a girls' night out.

Laters, Baby!

CAPA presented SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 8pm at the Southern Theatre at 21 E. Main St.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Mills Entertainment

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