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One-Man Star Wars Trilogy in Chicago
Apparently the One Man, Charles Ross, was a hit at the Vancouver and Toronto Fringe Festivals in 2002. Now he's in Chicago until January 3, 2004. I took my girlfriend for her birthday, a little nervous because she's a theatre snob and a huge Star Wars geek; luckily this production satisfied her on both counts. Coming onstage all in black, with elbow pads (he has many occasions to throw himself to the ground) he sings/hums the music, does all the special effects and sound effects, and acts all the parts. Skeptical? A reviewer who saw him in Toronto said "If George Lukas [sic] could see this, he'd rediscover the secret lost in the two most recent films: that it's imagination -- and not computer driven imagery -- which made the original Star Wars so great." I couldn't agree more: every scene he performed was brilliantly evocative of the original, and the audience -- on this second night of the run, a mix of hard-core fans and newspaper reviewers with press kits -- never ceased to be surprised at how spot-on he was, the whole way through. Other reviews raved about his "energy", which I feared would mean he was like my first roommate, a huge Star Wars fan but also way too energetic for me and didn't use deodorant. But his energy just kept the show moving along and by the end his sweat showed that the choreography of the visual effects was not easy.
Every article about the show says that Mr. Ross has seen the Trilogy "over 500 times", and his performance leaves little room for doubt on this point, but those who have also seen it as many times may find a few quibbles -- every now and then, reciting a memorable line, he changes it just a little, which would sometimes break my immersion in the world he created, but only for a moment. It did take a little time to get warmed up to him, but at 20 minutes per movie, he gets up to speed fast, so by the time he had Luke sullenly watching the double sunset on Tatooine, I -- and the rest of the audience -- was putty in his hands.
I highly recommend that anyone in the Midwest take a chance on this show. It's only an hour long, so if you're a total loser who hates it, you won't be stuck there for as long as you were stuck in The Phantom Menace. And, don't worry, the prequels never come up in the show: this is only the Real Star Wars."
That would be the Reduced Shakespeare Company. They've been going for over twenty years now, so it's possible they might be the originators.
Slashdot looked deep within my soul and assigned
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The RSC (the funny one) is a three man company originally formed in California in the early 80's. They cite Tom Stoppard's "Fifteen Minute Hamlet" as an inspiration to their work. Also, check out MacHomer for the funniest interpretation of Shakespeare's Scottish play you will find.
Take the train back home. Get home about 4 in the morning. My kid is a night owl.
Any other suggestions?
I saw this show at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. It's awesome, if you go to see it, believe me you won't be disappointed.
At the festival, the show sold out most of its performances, then sold out its "pick of the fringe" shows which is reserved for the best of the plays, and was held over again (not sure if it sold out there).
Charles Ross goes through the entire 3 movies, does a fantastic job of reenacting the battle scenes (yes without any props) and touches on all the aspects of the trilogy, including all the jokes we throw around here at slashdot.
Even if you're not a big Star Wars fan, the guy's performance is something to see. Oh and, it's not the kind of boring "theater" you might be thinking of.
This has been done, and to equally thrilled audiences, by the Star Wars In 30 Minutes guys, who started at USC and premiered at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival (in a galaxy far, far away from George Lucas's lawyers). I saw it when it was in LA last year and it was hilarious.
Dog is my co-pilot.
I know the producers of Star Drek--they did get a cease and desist, which they didn't have the resources to fight, but no one made them give over the proceeds from the show.
I ask, because back in 1997 I was the lighting/sound designer for "Jedi! A Musical Tour De Force", performed at the ImprovOlympic in Chicago.
It was the trilogy, performed in about an hour and a half (if memory serves) with heavy use of models and such to represent space battles and things -- it contained select dialogue from all three movies, and each installment of the trilogy began with the piano player singing an overture featuring the words that scrolled across the screen to open each movie.
Oh, wait. Did I mention it was a MUSICAL? Seriously. Princess Leia's "It's hard to be hard" was a particularly good Disco tune performed by the guy in drag playing Leia (there were women in the show, but not for Leia.)
My particular favorite was Obi Wan's climactic ode to the Force, "Feel The Flow". Feel the flow/feel it from above and below/feel it in every mountain stream/everywhere you go/feel the force/it will never lead you off course...and so on and so on. I actually have the cast recording on a CD-R at home.
So anyway -- the point of all this is, Lucas shut us down with a cease and desist. Hopefully this guy won't suffer the same fate.
The term "midwest" comes from a time when the "west" was a lot further east than it is now. Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and I believe Michigan and Wisconsin all fall within the area of the "midwest". The usual way around the fact that there's a lot more west than there used to be is to term things like Kansas and the Dakotas as being either "central" or "plains" states.
So once upon a time, it made perfect sense - and the name just stuck.
~ Leilah