Friday
December 02, 2005
SGN.org
Volume 33
Issue 48
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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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HONEY-BAKED HILARITY |
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| HONEY-BAKED HILARITY | ||
| Ham For The Holidays: Desperate Spuddwives At Theatre Off-Jackson
By Maggie Bloodstone - SGN A & E Writer Like any mid-size metropolis worth its salt, Seattle has its share of iconic figures: August Wilson, Cobain, Hendrix&and those are just the dead ones. Still with us, fortunately, are the local ladies of laughter, goddesses of giggles, queens of quomedy, Peggy Platt and Lisa Koch, aka Dos Fallopia, aka Wynotta and Euomi Spudd, aka the writing/performance team that brings us the almost-annual Ham For The Holidays extravaganza. Ham grew out of Peggy & Lisa's appearances in The Holiday Survival Game Show , first presented by the late, lamented Alice B.Theater through the late '80's and into the '90's. Matter of fact, for nostalgia buffs (aka 'old people', like myself), the foyer of Theatre Off-Jackson features a gallery of P & L's contributions to Seattle-area holiday cheer since the not-so-cheery Reagan era. (Remember when we had a 'Queer' theater? *Sigh*) Appropriately, this Ham is directed by another Alice B. alumnus, Michael Oaks, whose sense of spunky silliness is a perfect compliment to Peggy & Lisa's energetic comic vision. The multitalented D.J. Gommels returns as musical director and co-star (plays a mean piano and fills out a zebra-print halter dress besides). First act brings out the Sequim Gay Men's chorus- all 4 of 'em- who open the evening with 'In Excelsis Gay-O' ; full of references to tiny Washington hamlets, beautifully arranged vocals, "tenor tangents", a tribute to our "Sapphic sisters in Lesbiana', and special guest Kathie Lee Gifford (who, like Guffman, is a no-show). 'Slam Poet' is Peggy as angry, seaweed-haired wordsmith 'Vision' (formerly 'Strident') with choke-on-your-biscotti-funny verses on little dogs in Dolce & Gabbana bags, impromptu haikus on surly coffeehouse waiters, and the short-n-sweet poem that's been on every Seattle voter's mind for some time now: "How many times must we vote for the monorail?!" Lisa and D.J. are aging-sort-of-gracefully folkies The Geysers, who warble homages to 'The Change' to the tune of 'Hot Stuff' (I'm guessing Lisa was penning these kind of odes to estrogen loss long before Menopause: The Musical came along), followed by another Ham staple, the faux commercial announcement, hawking holiday alternatives like 'Shlomo's Sushi Shetl' (oy!). The high point of the first half is definitely 'Cheney, Cheney, Bang-Bang', a revue of the life of the Iago-esque V.P. with Peggy-perfect in a bad bald wig- as 'Big Dick' ("Big Bad Dick") himself, Lisa as a smug and malapropism-spouting Gee Dubya (I kind of wanted to see her in a padded-crotch flight suit, but oh well), and Vincent Kovar as a leggy Condoleeza. A hoot all the way through, from the cheerful butchery of the Laverne & Shirley theme to the best line I've heard in a live show in some time: Cheney to Condi: "I like my women the way I like my coffee-weak and white". Second act is all Spudds: Mama & Ynotta are hosting their first webcast from their new triple-wide in a "culturally diverse neighborhood in Covington", where they turn out to be the most normal residents, as the local women introduce them to the cesspool of infidelity, lies, and homicide that is 'Hysteria Lane'. Victor, as the Stepfordish 'Gruyere Van Halen'/ spitfire 'Emmanuele', and D.J. as the nosy neighbor and overly buxom 'Seedy Grit', manage to fill the patent leather pumps of longtime cast member Andrew 'Bitsy Bates' Tasakos admirably (if you're marginally hunky, I don't recommend sitting too close to the front, though). Even for a television-impaired person like myself (I watch The Simpsons and PBS between video viewing), intimate knowledge of the show being parodied is unnecessary for maximum enjoyment, and beats anything SNL could come up with all hollow (again, I'm guessing). The 7th Ham is as predictable as its predecessors&and that's a good thing. The number of holiday music & theater offerings that play every year that manage to remain fresh and consistently entertaining are rarer than a presidential appointee who didn't do lines with Dubya back in the day, but Ham brings home the bacon year after year, with a spunky revue of song parodies that are actually clever, topical humor that's actually funny, and sketches that don't absolutely have to have a goddamn holiday theme, thank the baby Jesus. Ham For the Holidays: Desperate Spuddwives runs Nov. 25-Dec.24, Wed/Thur., 7:30, Fri & Sat., 8pm, Sat. & Sun. matinee, 4pm. The Theatre Off-Jackson is located at 409 7th S., in the International Dist. Tickets are $20 & $22, 206-325-6500. |
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International Readers |
 
It's new!A blog created by the SGN staff so you can be heard |
"Putting on the Ritz |
The Beauty of Freedom artist's reception |
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