Freak Show
Shadowbox Cabaret
Easton Towne Center
Columbus, Ohio

Twisted Tales
2Co’s
Short North
Columbus, Ohio

By
Rick Brown

Both Halloween inspired shows from Shadowbox and 2Co’s Cabarets have recently opened. Similar in name and structure yet each offers specific differences in approach…yet significantly wonderful in entertainment value.

Shadowbox’s Freak Show leans heavily on extravagance both visually with it’s dynamic costuming and audibly with a very big dose of “art rock”. Julie Klein gets things off to a moody start fronting house band BillWho? singing the haunting “Lunatic Fringe”. Shortly afterwards Mary Randle belts her way through Heart’s “Bebe le Strange” and Freak Show hits the ground running.

David Whitehouse & Julie Klein

The first skit…The Tooth Hurts…is a charming piece about a Tooth Fairy in training. David Whitehouse plays Leon…a “fairy in training” and Julie Klein is Mavis…his supervisory fairy who is been trying in vain to get his training complete so she can retire. Whitehouse manages to make his hapless character…dressed in a purple fairly outfit complete with wings…both endearing and lovable without digressing to the cheap jokes a burly man in what’s basically a tutu could easily have done. Amazingly Whitehouse makes his “fairy” quite believable.

Immediately following BillWho? with Kori Billiat at the helm flanked by 5…count ‘em…5 lively backup singers did a great job on Yes’s “Roundabout”. I don’t even like this tune and I thought it was good. The downside to such over-inflated rock music is that the song became a bit long in the tooth. Perhaps this is merely the intent after a Tooth Fairy story.

Next up is Joe Lorenzo’s quite excellent reading of Michael J. Nelson’s Tips on Getting Stung by Wasps. Prancing around the stage as if he were a retired English professor turned organic farmer, Mr. Lorenzo give a hilarious performance of a man chronicling his attack by a swarm of angry wasps after he mistakenly parks his tractor over their home.

“Reason of the Mob” is an original tune from BillWho? sung superbly by Jennifer Hahn. For a band that predominantly plays cover this was a surprising gem of the evening. The corresponding dance routine including choreographer Katy Psenicka enhances the tune immeasurably weaving a very nice visual texture into the song’s presentation.

The second half of Freak Show opens with a dynamically costumed rendition of Queen’s “Killer Queen”. And once again I have to believe that using an art rock number such as this, is a two edged sword. Unlike Joe Lorenzo’s playful performance of King Crimson’s “Elephant Talk” towards the end of the evening…”Killer Queen” seems to go on too long and despite the wonderful attire feels a little flat.

Several short skits make up the mid part of Freak Show including a hilarious version of “Jason’s Scary Stories”…always a crowd favorite. There is also a series of “Current Events with a Trained Monkey” parodying Fox New Network where a monkey is introduced to announce headlines. The first headline involved the gubernatorial recall in California, The second the failed search for weapons of mass destruction. The news monkey notes, “We’ll find ‘em!!!” Both skits received decent response. But it wasn’t until news monkey reported this…”Maurice Clarett? WHO NEEDS HIM” and held up a sign that read 3-0 (now it may be 5-0 if they’re using the same joke…and they would be smart to.) that the crowd went crazy. This struck me. Earlier in the week the Columbus Dispatch took a lot of heat for having the front page dominated by OSU football/Clareet stories on the second anniversary of 9/11. I really can’t blame Shadowbox for going for the laugh. But I do find it a bit disconcerting that even theater in Columbus, Ohio is not exempt from Buckeye football possessiveness. Maybe this little 3-minute skit is this college town in a nutshell.

“Transylvania 90210” is an obvious spoof of the TV show and “Elanzo the Great” a skit about a children’s birthday party where a psychic shows up for an unexpected performance. While neither piece gets beyond being cute the portrayals of teenagers and young children by the troupe’s talented actors…and Jimmy Mak in particular…is always delightful.

Gabe Guyer’s rendition of Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face” is so dead on it’s scary. The only thing missing is Idol’s snarl.

“Dr. Mystery – Magical Mystery Tour” closes out the show with it’s usual chaotic/surreal/slapstick/bawdiness. All in all…despite the fact that Freak Show seems to lack something I can’t exactly put my finger on…I can most certainly recommend it as a wonderful evening of laughter and music. Perhaps I’m being a little too analytical. But that’s only because Shadowbox Cabaret is so consistently good that I’m spoiled.

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Meanwhile down in the Short North, 2Co’s Cabaret recently opened their newest Halloween show called “2Co’s Twisted Tales”. On the heels of their awesome “Friends and Lovers” this performance is as good…if not better. Beginning with Tom Cardinal’s menacingly edgy singing on Steely Dan’s “Don’t Take me Alive” house band Downtown DFN gets everyone’s attention immediately…underscored by the punctuating, screaming guitar riffs flying from the fingers of bandleader/guitarist Matt Hahn. And minutes after the opening monologue, Crystal Ford grabs Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Cold Shot” and wrings the blues out if it in a way reminiscent of Koko Taylor or Etta James. Again Mr. Hahn proves why Roberto Lynch (Sparks Fly Up columnist) commented that…like Robert Johnson…he must have sold his soul to the devil to play so incredibly.
continued...

An Expat’s Observations

by
David G. Hochman

The actor and expat Johnny Depp said recently in Der Spiegel that, "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth — that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Referring to reports that French fries were renamed "Freedom" fries in the House cafeteria, he further said: "Nothing made me happier than when I read that — grown men and grown women in positions of power in the United States government. I was ecstatic because they revealed themselves as idiots." (I envision all expats nodding sadly and knowingly).

Depp’s comments were followed with the customary insults. Out of curiosity, I went on the Net and found the following sites:
1) Johnny Depp should know all about puppies. He's ... Good-looking,
no. Cute, like a puppy dog and apparently just as mature
2) What does Johnny Depp mean? ... 06.Sep.2003 08:18. ChezzeBait. Hay Depp, who gives a sh!T about ur politcal views. ... What a tradior! Who is the puppy dog now! ... And so forth.

Within, you’d find comments such as:

“Hay Depp, who gives a sh!T about ur politcal views. What kind of credability do u think u have? You are a gawd damn actor, shut up and read ur damn script. Ur view is no more important or educated than a janitor at McDonalds! Ur so lame u read scripts for hollywood movies, make mad cash off the americans, and then retreat to France. What a tradior! Who is the puppy dog now! Stay in France, and never show ur face on American soil again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just my 2 cents. Peace (Gawd damn i hate when actors think there god, or there polital view is important.)”

In defense of this Oregon-based site of the Portland Independent Media Center, there were opposing comments. For example, in response to the above, someone wrote:

“doesn't respect janitors at MacDonalds, or actors. Judging from his spelling and writing skills, he's as uneducated as our president.

I bet he's not as rich though.

Too bad.

Johnny can say whatever he wants. If you want a country full of yes men, there are plenty of dictatorships around the world that would suit you nicely. You can be poor and elitist there too”

However, on the more obviously conservative websites, it was all in the following vein:

“If I could say it to him directly: Johnny, congratulations on insulting millions of your customers that make your lifestyle possible. I've personally never gone to see (read: buy a ticket) for the "art" you create and can't imagine doing so anytime soon. Congratulations on joining the ranks of others I'd never spend one dime on their products or any products you would endorse. Trust me, life has still been beautiful without supporting the likes of: The Dixie Chicks, Julia Roberts, Garafolo, Ed Asner, and countless others.”

In the end, under growing criticism and surely realizing the possible economic repercussions of what he had said, he recanted. He issued a statement, which in part said: "I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it. It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country and for this I am eternally grateful."

That is well and good. It goes hand in hand with Michael Moore’s Oscar speech and being shamefully booed off the stage by the supposedly liberal Hollywood establishment—I’d hate to have seen Moore at an NRA convention (in that case, I fear, we would have been clawing the microphone from his “cold dead hands”). To his credit, Moore remained thankfully unapologetic.

But what is the point of--amongst the millions of truly newsworthy topics-- focusing and attempting to destroy solitary voices fighting conventional thought? Is it to distract us from issues of relevance?

One wonders: where are the voices of reason in America? where is the organized dissent? For me, an expat American, observing from thousands of miles, I hear nothing; not a whimper. And I fear the worst.

Because the point is this: distractions aside, what is the state of the nation?

Living in the States can be likened to an isolated island of mostly uniform thought (one is bombarded by nearly the same news—and voice--on all channels). At the risk of melodrama, I’d say—and this will shock some of you as it would have shocked me had I never gone overseas (because only then do you realize the extent of misinformation, information selectivity or in many cases complete blackout (how many know of this government’s blessing, and the media’s censure, of the attempted coup of Venezuela’s elected leader, President Chavez, who wanted--and rightfully so--to spread more equitably the profits of the world’s fourth largest petroleum producer? These are not the days of Teddy Roosevelt, but the 21st century!)):

America has possibly the most thorough propaganda machine since Nazi Germany and, in my view (and I lived in a Communist country for seven years), the former Soviet Union. True, one doesn’t see signs every fifty feet reminding us of the virtues of American capitalism—veiled under the guise of democracy, as if they had anything in common. In America, it is more subtle, but no less effective. Yet in the end, the result is the same. The Soviets were taught to believe they and their way of life was the best. Americans are taught the selfsame. Where lies the difference? Some will respond, but our way of life is the best. Which proves the point. (So, you believe when told you are free? Try standing on a soapbox and lambasting the current administration on a major street corner. How long would you last before hauled off?).

Only when you see your country from an objective distance, only when you compare how other people in first world countries live do you begin to have a different viewpoint. Essentially we are all drilled to believe that American capitalism is and should be the world’s only form of existence--free unadulterated trade.

So from the outside, here’s what many of us, the expats, see. In a surreal, Orwellian nightmare where Bush is starting a little war here, a little war there; at home he is stealthily, systematically but ferociously continuing the trend set by the Republicans since Reagan by dismantling what little there ever was of the comically entitled welfare state (there are even those that suggest Bush knows Osama’s whereabouts but is waiting to capture him shortly before the elections; in the current Orwellian nightmare, nothing would surprise me. There are still others who say that Osama won in ways unforeseen, handing an unelected President a conservative mandate and powers rarely opposed and little limited). Don’t get me wrong, the New Deal went a long way, but was never near the social net Canadians let alone the Europeans enjoy. Now with everyone’s attention on the War on Terror?, Bush and his cronies are systematically making sure that big industry and the rich get exactly what they want: more wealth at the cost of the environment, workers’ rights, social provisions, etc.

Now were this happening, for example, in France (forget for a moment their being our enemy du jour), everyone would protest. Think what one may, that’s one of the things I love about the place. Say the nurses go on strike; then the doctors join, then public transportation workers and so on until they succeed. Why do others unrelated join in? Because power lies in solidarity, in numbers, and the next strike increases multifold the chances of success. (For those that say strikers are greedy instead of in need, when was the last time you saw CEOs striking?).

Often in America we are afraid to strike, to stand up for our rights; and too lethargic or badly informed to take part in protests. Because we have been led to believe from birth that: America is the best, and knows what is best for everyone else; we protect the world from itself; we have the purest intentions at heart; the world wants to emulate us and our way of life; we are lucky to live there. But if so, is that why they are arriving by the boatful from first world countries? Because they want suddenly to have two weeks’ vacation instead of five; to pay a doctor thousands of dollars more for the same procedure; to have no work security or good compensation should they lose their jobs?

I always make the following point. Take the American in a mobile home, unemployed, no insurance, poor as dirt, and ask how things are and he’ll say, not bad at all, thanks for asking. You ask the European with a nice house, good job, social benefits and he’ll say, oh, it could be better. Well isn’t it about time the guy in the mobile home also realizes it could be a lot better? And why only him, why not the vast middle class buckling under the unfair weight of the system? But of course he won’t. And they won’t. He is too uneducated (the system is very wise: the uneducated man is of little concern or threat). And they are too lethargic or uninformed or scared. We are all brainwashed daily by the right—with the media often willing accomplices--to believe taxes and regulations are evil. But only taxes maintain the infrastructure, from public transport to roads to education to unemployment benefits; and only regulations ensure clean air, water, affordable medicine and so forth. (Anyone who thinks that a CEO gives precedence to the environment over profits has never met a CEO).

It is said that the American system keeps unemployment low. But at what cost? For two decades, American companies have fired workers, rehiring them as temps to avoid paying benefits. So yes, the employee has a job, but no benefits, which translates to less money for education for children, health care, etc. A vicious cycle pervades. Yet, where is the outcry? Where are the articles exposing the state of affairs?

When you read American magazines, supposedly reputable like Newsweek, it is astounding how they too propagate the American way of life. And I would bet without the reporters’ cognizance, that’s how entrenched the system is.

I have been reading for years the gleeful predictions of the demise of the European welfare state. Of course it hasn’t occurred. The more troubling aspect is: why does it threaten us so? Why not embrace its good points? In ancient Greece when one city-state took over another, the victors imposed their way of life (religion included): adapt or perish, they were told. Is humanity no further along? Is it blindly and foolishly propagating itself? Is that what Iraq is about, the forced imposition of the American system?

From afar you feel something sinister going on. According to the Nation (in America considered far left, in Europe it would carry the center-left tag): “Bush’s budgets prove that he still emphatically prefers cutting the taxes of wealthy individuals and corporations to maintaining living standards for poor and working class families. States and localities, their economies soured and their budgets overstrained, are unable to maintain services for their neediest citizens. Food deliveries to many of the helpless elderly will end. Nearly a million Americans are losing their Medicaid benefits in what the National Governor Association describes as the ‘worst fiscal crisis since WWII.’ For the first time in a decade, the rate of poverty is rising again, with 1.3 million Americans falling below the poverty line in 2001.” This, in the world’s richest country.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg (imagine the millions of little changes happening in government--the environmental, communications, political dismantlings to name a few—in closed committees, unpublicized, in contrast to the often inconsequential and sensationalistic tidbits that make their way into national news). There appears, however, a systematic madness in this: the conservatives and the wealthy are patiently but decisively (they view the occasional Democratic administration as but a blot on the march to victory) imposing at home and exporting to the rest of the world their economic system, by propaganda or force.

In the second and third worlds, this very same American system causes havoc and destruction. I witnessed this in Eastern Europe where companies were sold to Western conglomerates under the illusion of investment, with few rules and regulations, only to see the conglomerates close the companies, eliminating competition.

I saw it in Africa, where the IMF imposes such austere measures upon nations, forced to dismantle tariffs and regulations and open their markets, all of which ultimately leads to ruin. Countries such as Zambia, once thriving, having followed faithfully the IMF’s advice is now an economic and environmental wreck. For how can a small Zambian company compete with large conglomerates without some government assistance? It is an economic impossibility.

But in Europe now also, when I speak to French friends, they say things have gotten worse. In order to compete with American companies that keep getting increasingly favorable treatment from their government (allowed to spend less, for example, on environmental regulations) the European companies are feeling the pinch and so in turn are their employees. In effect we are going back to the beginning of the twentieth century, with its economic inequalities and strife, and the resulting consequences of hate and war. What the Europeans are telling me is the need for their American counterparts to wake up, to stop being taken advantage of by employers and a government that caters to the rich. They say however, and I concur sadly, that they are not optimistic. Indeed things are only getting worse.

You see this from afar, this sinister machine moving onwards to an economic and environmental disaster at worst, and at the least a worse life for the majority of people who work that much harder for that much less so that the owners and shareholders and the mega wealthy have even more wealth and you despondently shake your head and say things like, "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth — that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." You say such things because you care yet remain helpless. Because you wonder how so very few at home see what you see.

And even if you don’t criticize, even if you, as I had done not long ago in a Florida pub full of young professionals, tell some stranger when asked why you remain overseas, that overseas you have far more vacation time and a more humane way of life and that I would like to come back but I’d be giving up too much, they, instead of ruminating, inevitably reply, “Are you anti-American?” You feel like shaking, slapping, pouring cold water over them, and yelling: “Are you listening? Did you hear one word I said? Don’t accept verbatim what you’ve been fed all your life. It is possible for all to have a better life, where you don’t have to fear losing your job or your meager savings if your child needs life-threatening surgery.” But you don’t because you see those glazed eyes, and you recognize the same expression and thoughts you once had, and that only by getting out of the churning machinery for a while could you see things clearly and objectively (if only all Americans were required to live outside the country for a year or two! And perhaps all citizens of larger, vainglorious nations). And it is a terribly sad realization. So you go on the defensive, you say, I’m not anti-American, I am American, and instead of self-loathing I seek self-improvement; and isn’t that what life is about, trying to be a better human being each and every day and isn’t a country just a reflection of the person and should therefore not the country also try to improve each and every day?

There are two ways to react to criticism: you insult the person, ignoring the content; or you listen and wonder to what extent the truth and try to improve. I am afraid that in America the former is a national pastime; yet without self-reflection no improvement is possible. (One is reminded of George F. Kennan’s wise words: “There is, let me assure you, nothing in nature more egocentrical than the embattled democracy.” Is he perhaps not warning us to be, at such times, all the more aware of the irrational self-defeating actions of just such an embattled democracy?).

Separated by miles of sadness, how does one wake up a slumbering nation from its trance-like state? I do not know, but from afar I don’t see a puppy. I see a wayward brother; or, perhaps more accurately, you feel like a parent of a child who gets involved with the wrong crowd, starts doing drugs, begins to disintegrate. You feel helpless. But you don’t give up; you criticize, threaten, cajole, do anything to bring the child to its senses. For that he may insult, perhaps even threaten you, but in situations of the heart you persevere unflinchingly.

In this case the other side is holding all the cards and won’t relent until you buckle. Why? Is it to prevent a better life not for the few at the expense of the many? Because, no longer under propaganda’s invisible stranglehold, you have seen the possibilities? Does not each person have the responsibility to think and attempt in some way to make a difference?

To quote Voltaire, the Frenchman (or should we say Freedom-man?): “Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.”

Copyright David G. Hochman 2003