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BWW Reviews: REAL MEN SING SHOW TUNES… AND PLAY WITH PUPPETS Has Hysterical West Coast Premiere
By: Shari Barrett Apr. 27, 2013
The West Coast premiere of "Real Men Sing Show Tunes... and play with puppets" with Book, Music and Lyrics by Paul Louis and Nick Santa Maria is taking place at the Norris Center for the Performing Arts from April 26-May 12, 2013.
This new, adult musical comedy is a madcap and hilarious romp through all the many stages of manhood, featuring 29 original songs all paying homage to all things male, lampooning such issues as fatherhood, mid-life crisis, dating, marriage, aging, and sex (or the lack of it), giving an inside glimpse of what it takes to be a man in a modern world shared with women, children, and parents.
The production is directed by Nick Santa Maria and James Gruessing Jr., with music direction by Daniel Thomas. The hysterically funny show makes clever use of puppetry to fill out the cast of zany characters and contains mature language and situations. The puppets are not always G-rated, so the show is not intended for children under 16.
The musical opens with Chris Warren Gilbert visiting a puppet-wielding therapist in search of a cure for his male angst, and he is given a self-help book outlining 12 steps towards reclaiming his manhood. Each of these points is brought to life in song, and along the way, many humorous stereotypes are exposed in a way that will ring true for every male as we are taken through the their stages in life: Really Single, Really Domesticated, Really Forty, Really a Parent, and Really a Relic. I must admit I loved his rockin' douche bag man in "Every Woman Loves" - after all, who doesn't love a really bad boy now and then?
One of the most humorous and musically harmonious on-going bits in the show involves the reading of reasons why "Men Are the Happier Gender" taken from the ancient scriptures found in "The Book of More Men" such as: Dieting means not eating the last 2 donuts in the box. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. We can pee anywhere. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. We can sleep during a film and still have an opinion about it. We can't hear ourselves snore. We know how to love a good woman and a beautiful car.
The show features 29 original songs including such witty tunes as "Guy Talk," "I'm Not Gay," and "Married Man's Lament," as well as more poignant ones such as "Mortality Blues" and "Sweet Mother of Mine." The songs are clever and had the audience laughing throughout, but they are not classic "show tunes" per se. I think a better title for the show would be "Real Men Sing.....and play with puppets."
And speaking of puppets, Chris Kauffmann and Nick Santa Maria play with them hysterically in "Prairie Men" dancing up a storm as manly cowboy ballerina body puppets. And while I am on the subject of body puppets, a rather oversized "body part" puppet named Mr. Johnson enlivened Chris Kauffmann's "Married Man's Lament." Men and the women who love them will be laughing hysterically from the beginning to end of this song - and the whole show for that matter!
Yes real men have a juvenile sense of humor. And we all love to laugh along with them!
Performances of "Real Men Sing Show Tunes... and play with puppets" are April 26-28, May 3-5 and May 10-12 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $38. For more information or to purchase call (310) 544-0403 or visitwww.norriscenter.com. Discounted group ticket sales are available at ext. 222. The Norris Theatre is located at 27570 Norris Center Drive in Rolling Hills Estates. Free parking is available adjacent to the theatre, and the facility is wheelchair accessible.
This new, adult musical comedy is a madcap and hilarious romp through all the many stages of manhood, featuring 29 original songs all paying homage to all things male, lampooning such issues as fatherhood, mid-life crisis, dating, marriage, aging, and sex (or the lack of it), giving an inside glimpse of what it takes to be a man in a modern world shared with women, children, and parents.
The production is directed by Nick Santa Maria and James Gruessing Jr., with music direction by Daniel Thomas. The hysterically funny show makes clever use of puppetry to fill out the cast of zany characters and contains mature language and situations. The puppets are not always G-rated, so the show is not intended for children under 16.
The musical opens with Chris Warren Gilbert visiting a puppet-wielding therapist in search of a cure for his male angst, and he is given a self-help book outlining 12 steps towards reclaiming his manhood. Each of these points is brought to life in song, and along the way, many humorous stereotypes are exposed in a way that will ring true for every male as we are taken through the their stages in life: Really Single, Really Domesticated, Really Forty, Really a Parent, and Really a Relic. I must admit I loved his rockin' douche bag man in "Every Woman Loves" - after all, who doesn't love a really bad boy now and then?
One of the most humorous and musically harmonious on-going bits in the show involves the reading of reasons why "Men Are the Happier Gender" taken from the ancient scriptures found in "The Book of More Men" such as: Dieting means not eating the last 2 donuts in the box. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. We can pee anywhere. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. We can sleep during a film and still have an opinion about it. We can't hear ourselves snore. We know how to love a good woman and a beautiful car.
The show features 29 original songs including such witty tunes as "Guy Talk," "I'm Not Gay," and "Married Man's Lament," as well as more poignant ones such as "Mortality Blues" and "Sweet Mother of Mine." The songs are clever and had the audience laughing throughout, but they are not classic "show tunes" per se. I think a better title for the show would be "Real Men Sing.....and play with puppets."
And speaking of puppets, Chris Kauffmann and Nick Santa Maria play with them hysterically in "Prairie Men" dancing up a storm as manly cowboy ballerina body puppets. And while I am on the subject of body puppets, a rather oversized "body part" puppet named Mr. Johnson enlivened Chris Kauffmann's "Married Man's Lament." Men and the women who love them will be laughing hysterically from the beginning to end of this song - and the whole show for that matter!
Yes real men have a juvenile sense of humor. And we all love to laugh along with them!
Performances of "Real Men Sing Show Tunes... and play with puppets" are April 26-28, May 3-5 and May 10-12 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $38. For more information or to purchase call (310) 544-0403 or visitwww.norriscenter.com. Discounted group ticket sales are available at ext. 222. The Norris Theatre is located at 27570 Norris Center Drive in Rolling Hills Estates. Free parking is available adjacent to the theatre, and the facility is wheelchair accessible.
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