Trent and Trudy Lee in A Touch of Vegas: Awfully Funny

I've seen some bad cabaret acts in my day, but few sink to such atrocious depths as Trent and Trudy Lee. Their singing talent is limited, their arrangements are inappropriate to the material, their outfits are overly garish and their patter is offensive.

Go see 'em! You'll have a ball!

Yup -- this is one of those cases where intentionally bad theatre is jammed with wit, talent and uproariously tasteless fun.

Trent and Trudy Lee, a pair of lounge singers stuck on the tackier side of nightclub entertainment, are the creations of Kyle Barisich and Genna Ambatielos. Their act, A Touch of Vegas, spoofs the glitzy, pseudo-sophistication of lower echelon casino entertainers.

Trent, a shellac-haired, pencil-mustached foppish dime-store Valentino, met Trudy Lee, a nasal-voiced former Barbizon model with wildly teased hair, at an open call for a Vegas production of the show they agree to be the most glorious in the history of musical theatre, Starlight Express. They each knew they had met their soul mate because both showed up at the audition wearing cat suits; his silver metallic, hers gold lame'. Since that day 17 years ago they've been living in a blissful state of "non-consummated, monogamous Christian-based love."

Sure, they've had bad stretches such as Trudy Lee's bout with the bottle and Trent's "strange un-Christian-like urges" but, accompanied by former Liberace protege Mr. Raymond Bernie (Peter Von Der Ahe), who has been "happily heterosexual for 12 straight years", they've come to New York to regale us with some of their favorite tunes and to audition for an upcoming revival of Starlight Express. (Don't worry -- it's a fictitious revival.)

As a team, they deliver the kind of fun give-and-take mastered by the likes of Keely Smith and Louis Prima, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and Sonny and Cher and magnify it to self-indulgent extremes. While Trent croons with what passes for fiery passion, Trudy Lee continually cuts in with wry comments. Her own singing is a perky belt with hand gestures interpreting almost every word.

The duo delivers many of the songs you'd expect in such an act, such as "The Pina Colada Song" and (Come on, shake your body baby, do the) "Conga", but uproariously unexpected treats include a recreation of their performances in the first all-Caucasian production of Porgy (she pronounces it "Porgie") and Bess, in which Trudy Lee embellishes her role with many Eydie Gorme style soprano shrieks (Gorme did it as a joke, but Trudy Lee is serious) and a wildly inappropriate medley honoring the tsunami victims including "One Night in Bangkok" and "We Are Siamese".

Adding to the comedy are documentary style video sequences, giving us a behind the scenes look at their career. Included are a peek at a session with their vocal coach ("I helped prepare Pia Zadora for her role in Henry, Sweet Henry.) and a front row seat to their latest Starlight Express audition.

It takes real skill to sustain a comically awful act for over an hour, but just when you think Trent and Trudy Lee couldn't be more terrible, Barisich and Ambatielos come up with a bit even more dreadful than the tacky mess they just put over. Max Bialystock would have been proud.

A TOUCH OF VEGAS runs every Thursday at 8:00pm and Friday at 9:00pm in an open run at Dominion NY Lounge & Theatre, located at 428 Lafayette Street (between Astor Place & 4th Streets). Visit www.Smarttix.com.

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