One-Man Star Wars Trilogy in Chicago

xueexueg writes "Although the Shoggoth on the Roof was C&D'd by the authors of A Fiddler on the Roof, there's still some hope for dorky theatre in Chicago: last night I saw the One -Man Star Wars trilogy at the Studio Stage at the Noble Fool Theater. I was expecting it to be a kind of embarrasing hour of this guy jumping around reenacting Star Wars and doing voices and that it would be terrible. Instead it was a thrilling hour of this guy jumping around reenacting Star Wars and doing voices and it was wonderful, and he brought the whole audience along." xueexueg's brief review follows.

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."

Comments

WORD UP GNAA

[Anonymous Coward]

8====D (_(_) <--- Taco's ASS

Re:Getting laid changes things...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sigh. Every time I hear some AC whine about "you need to go get laid, this is dorky shit" blah blah blah, I conclude they are one of several people:

A) Has never been laid themselves

B) Has been laid, maybe ONCE or TWICE before and doesn't have any real understanding of relationships

C) Is probably an anti-social basement case himself, thus his misunderstanding that people can be geeks, like geek things, and still have social lives.

I have known geek sluts. A guy who had lost count somewhere in the upper double digits, but could still watch a geeky movie and enjoy it with you. My girlfriend is a geek, though she probably wouldn't admit to it. A mental health counselor, doesn't know shit about computers except what I have managed to impart to her, yet she exhibits many "geek" qualities, such as fascination with technology and cartoons/anime and antisocial behavior.

I lost the big V about 10 years ago. What does that have to do with anything?

You forgot:

D) Is probably an asshole trolling for a reply to entertain them on a boring Sunday morning.

I'm firmly in the D category - and being married, I can assure you that A, B, C don't apply. :-D

Remember: Don't feed the trolls and don't vote for Dubya in 2004! (if you are in the United States of Haliburton)

Re:Midwest?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to remember that Milwaukee is just a suburb too, so I'd include Wisconsin as well...