Review: SILENCE! slays the spoof at Standing Room Only Productions

SILENCE! the musical comedy version of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS makes fun of the fact that today Broadway producers will slap anything popular up on stage without hesitation. From Disney recreating every cartoon they've ever done to projects like AMERICAN PSYCHO, XANADU, CARRIE, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, BILLY ELLIOT, THE COLOR PURPLE, GHOST, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, FOOTLOOSE, FLASHDANCE, SPIDERMAN and even URBAN COWBOY (just to name a few)... nothing seems off-limits these days to getting a glitzy musical makeover on the Great White Way. So why not make a musical out of a rookie FBI agent squaring off with a cannibal serial killer and his copycat who is making dresses from the skin of kidnapped large girls? What could possibly be tasteless or crass about that? Standing Room Only Productions is hoping you will be so offended you fall off your chair laughing as they premiere SILENCE! to Houston audiences this month at the Obsidian Theater.

First off, imagine SILENCE OF THE LAMBS played entirely for laughs with the SOUTHPARK guys who did THE BOOK OF MORMON writing all the songs. That's the thrust of everything you get to see in this show. Not one moment is serious, and not two minutes go by without an F bomb or joke about genitalia being flung at the audience. If that sounds juvenile or tiresome then perhaps you should check out SAINT JOAN from Stark Naked Theatre Company. If you're game though, SILENCE! is the most fun you can have at a show this summer. SRO Productions and director Chris Patton embrace everything raunchy and wrong about this script, and they don't flinch or pull any punches. From the bodily fluid throwing Miggs to the naked and tucked Buffalo Bill, expect to see everything you witnessed in the movie recreated live onstage by a company who at times don Lambchop hand puppets to narrate the action. It's fast, furious, and like being blasted by hits of nitrous oxide constantly without the pain of dental work.

SRO's founding artistic director Rachel Landon takes on the lead role of Clarice Starling, the rookie FBI agent with a strange southern drawl, a lisp, and Jodie Foster's haircut. She perfectly captures the ridiculous accent from the film version and amps it up even more for comedy's sake. Landon is a pro, and has great comic timing and knows how to belt out a show tune even through a lisp. Her main dramatic foil is Christopher Gibson (Rachel's real life fiancee) who does a pretty funny and spot on Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter. He appropriately chews scenery along with any cast member that get in his way, and he manages to have the Truman Capote by way of Katharine Hepburn accent down pat. Together Gibson and Landon tango beautifully literally and metaphorically but always separated by glass. Bryan Kaplun plays Buffalo Bill, and amazingly enough he makes the killer his own. He avoids movie mimicry, but manages to look pretty creepy in a fluffy red robe and nothing else. All three sing well, but they deliver numbers for yuks and giggles rather than traditional technique. With songs that have titles I can't mention without risk of angry emails, vocal training goes out the window in lieu of big testicles.

The chorus has the best voices hiding in it, and they get to play the supporting parts you recall from the film. Chaney Moore plays double duty as Catherine and her mother Senator Martin, and she delivers the most meaty and well sung solo of the entire evening. Maryann Williams is also a standout playing Clarice's lesbian FBI best friend and roomie. She whips out a gospel number late in Act Two that brings the house down. Tom Stell, a founder of the Obsidian Theater, is appropriately all the father figures found in the script. He's smarmy and has a Tom Jones delivery that works well as a comic bit. Eric Dano, Taelon Stonecipher, and Heather Buzonas round out the official chorus. They lend their voices in executing the intricate harmonies, and get beats where they carry the comedy of the character bits. There are also cute cameos by stage manager Lauren Hainley who finds herself victimized by the out of control lambs at various points.

Director Chris Patton keeps things moving even when the second act begins to drag a bit thanks to the script. When a play spoofs a movie it can get stale towards the end, and SILENCE! plays by the book of the film a little too much. Fans of the big screen version know how things turn out, so there is no real twist or tension created. Luckily the cast is game enough to keep things bobbing through no matter what. They do justice to turning something this ridiculous into a two act full blown musical. In the end that's the point of SILENCE!, offering way too much of a good thing until it hits hysterical levels of excess. It lacks taste and restraint, but it does provide some welcome laughs and giggles. These days that's enough to make you want to head out to the theatre. It covets the conventions of tired old musicals, and forces them to put the lotion in the basket.

SILENCE runs through June 25th at the Obsidian Theater. Tickets can be found online at http://www.sro-productions.com/

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