The
idea of a sketch show called “Showgirls: The
Best Movie Ever Made! Ever!” might be
assumed to be simply some sort of acting out
of scenes from the movie for camp or kitsch
value, but in the hands of the Upright
Citizens Brigade Theatre, it’s much more.
Credit goes to Jackie Clarke and John Flynn,
who wrote this show with multiple layers --
the acting out of scenes from the movie,
yes, but also an Inside The Actors
Studio/James Lipton-like interview with Joe
Eszterhas, the screenwriter of the movie, as
played by John Reynolds, shirtless and
beer-swilling, as well as altered video
clips from the movie and deadpan recital (by
Flynn) of the more outlandish stage
directions from the movie’s screenplay.
Clarke and Flynn’s spoof of the movie has
some brains behind all its crudeness -- this
show manages to be way cruder than the movie
itself. Some of that however, is in Clarke’s
addled interviewer character who tries to
attribute all kinds of supposedly feminist
points to Eszterhas and his script. So it’s
just as much a slam of James Lipton as it is
of the movie.
Reynolds as Eszterhas has a blast with some
of the best lines in the show, like his
response in the interview about one feminist
point, saying, “When I write for broads…”
and in another answer about black sidekicks
in the movie, “I felt free to confront
racism by resurrecting stereotypes we’d
forgotten existed.”
Of those acting out the roles from the
movie, Lennon Parham as Nomi Malone (the
leading blonde woman in the movie) finds
great bits of physical comedy acting out
Nomi’s fits of rage and pique from the
movie. Also, Bobby Moynihan pulls off the
feat of playing Nomi’s African-American
female sidekick just by changing his voice
and expressions for effect -- he doesn’t
need to dress in drag to make this show
funny.
“Showgirls: The Best Movie Ever Made! Ever!”
runs 9:30 p.m. Thursdays in March at the UCB
Theatre.