Interview: Buzz Crisafulli of WILD THINGS at Shadowbox Live

As Shadowbox Live begins its summer-ending run with the sketch comedy show WILD THINGS, Buzz Crisafulli feels like a newcomer again.

It is kind of an ironic feeling because, at 62, Crisafulli is the oldest member of the theatre troupe. After 11 years of playing bass for the house band, Crisafulli will try his hand at playing a role in a sketch, “Privileged Hire.”

“I'm the oldest performer in the company, but simultaneously, I'm the least experienced actor and performer,” Crisafulli said. “I've been in a lot of sketch comedy shows, but it has always been playing bass in the band.

“They’re taking a chance and letting me go out there and do something I haven’t done before.”

WILD THINGS, which opens Aug. 15 and will be performed 7:30 p.m. every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, and 2 p.m. every Sunday through Sept. 29, will take pot shots at everything from incompetence, cable providers, ghosts, tax evasion and Batman. Between sketches, the house band will perform a wide range of music from the 1970s to today’s rock and pop hits, including songs from ZZ Ward, The Eagles, Imagine Dragons, Ozzy Osbourne, and others.

In the sketch, “Privileged Hire,” Crisafulli plays a job candidate for a company that has leaned in way too far towards diversity.

Crisafulli delivered a chilling performance of David Bowie’s “Lazarus” in SBX’s last show, EVOLUTIONARIES, which celebrated the music of Bowie and Prince. However, going into the acting side of things has forced him to develop a different set of skills.

“My superpower is being able to listen to a song and replicate the bass part or make up a bass part if it's a new song,” he said. “I can remember hundreds of songs I've learned over the years because they tend to stay put in my mind.

“Where I struggle is remembering lyrics and large portions of text. In a sketch, you need to remember more than words. You've got to channel the emotions of the character. Characters must have a personality that's consistent with the intent of the writers and director.”

Crisafulli hopes things go better than the last time he was to have a speaking part in a Shadowbox show. Crisafulli was set to deliver on the segues in SBX’s Beatles tribute, LEGENDS FROM LIVERPOOL, during the company’s afternoon shows in 2020.

“Then the pandemic shut everything down,” he said with a rueful chuckle.

Crisafulli, who graduated from the University of Illinois with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, is used to being the old new guy. He didn’t start playing the bass until his late 20s. He moved to Columbus upon graduation and worked for Battelle for nine years and IBM for another 15 years before joining a rock band.

“I got burned out on the kinds of things I was doing,” he said. “I knew if I wanted to try an arts career, my window wasn’t going to be open forever. I had to do it now.

“Often when I am in a band, the other members are younger than I was when I started playing but they already have had more experience playing music than I do.

“However, I'm resistant to the idea that you run out of opportunities and the chance to do something new just because you’re a little bit older.”

Photo Credit: Jennifer Zmuda

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