Review: Kay Sedia Steals the Show in A WHOLE LOTTA KAY! A ONE-WOMAN SHOW?
By: Gil Kaan Aug. 28, 2018
A WHOLE LOTTA KAY! A ONE-WOMAN SHOW?/by Oscar Quintero, Jeffery Drew & Kurt Koehler/directed by Kurt Koehler/Cavern Club Celebrity Theater @ Casita Del Campo/thru September 1, 2018
Kay Sedia, a seasoned performer of 15 years as the "prettiest" of the three Chico's Angels, runs away (as quickly as one can in cha-cha pumps) with her latest one-woman show A WHOLE LOTTA KAY! A ONE-WOMAN SHOW. In this hour-long cabaret piece, night club manager J.T. has apparently double-booked two one-woman shows for the same night - Kay Sedia's and Lotta Slots'. These two big-coiffed divas duel it out in much hilarity for the benefit of the most responsive audience.
With solid accompaniment by pianist Ron Haslet, the two female illusionists are 'urged' to stop fighting and start the show, tunefully dueting on "But Alive." Kay and Lotta take turns directly working the audience drumming up support for their own act to be performed. Good ad-libbing by both as both lucked out with agreeable and funny audience members.
Kay, being uncharacteristically giving, leaves the stage allowing Lotta her time to solo.
Lotta conveys how she ended up in Reno, "the armpit of Nevada," instead of her actual goal destination- Vegas. She divulges how in New York City, she ran back and forth from a new musical she was cast to an acting workshop taught by Betty Buckley (Unfortunately, name-dropping "Betty Buckley" receives no audience response or recognition.). Lotta concludes her solo segment with a pleasing "For Once in My Life."
Kay re-enters the stage after crying behind the curtain, having gotten the feels from Lotta's rendition. The two make nice and sing a clever re-wording of "The Grass is Always Greener."
Niceties don't last, however, as Kay tricks Lotta to leave the club completely. Kay's solo segment regales in her re-telling of a fiesta party her mother threw for their friends when Kay was just a young chica. As comically hysterical Kay's lines and delivery, the story of her mother's drunken behavior and the sad plights of the various party guests tugs your heartstrings. And Kay's doing all the assorted characters herself - drunk mother, sassy neighbor, wife just aware of her cheating husband, nosy gossip, innocent Kay at a very impressionable age. Brava, Kay! She shrewdly wraps up her spotlight section with "Borderline."
Kurt Koehler directs this show, as he always does with his Chico's Angels shows - smartly quick, going from laugh to sight gag to double take to more laughs. Credit for the sometimes biting, always sharp bantering between the two 'soloists' goes to alter egos Oscar Quintero, Jeffery Drew and director Koehler. The Cavern Club Celebrity Theatre staple Mr. Dan opens this show, as he always does, with wit and hilarious emergency exit instructions.
A WHOLE LOTTA KAY! congenially ends with a crafty reconstruction of "I Love Being Here With You."
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