Schmick-ed
Schmick-ed By Matthew Arter
The Twisted Sisters Comedy Hour
Footlights Theater, Orlando, Fl
A really good parody should be funny, even for those who missed the original subject matter. This take off of the smash Broadway hit heads in that direction, but falls back to what Footlights Theater does best – putting guys in dresses and camping it up. The Broadway smash hit “Wicked” gives a back story to the “Wizard of Oz” witches and writer Matt Arter does of good job of thumb nailing the complex story down to 50 minutes. We move from mystical Oz to the fussier precinct of the Schnoz Retirement Community in the kosher section of Boca. Elphaba Greenblatt (Sam Singhaus as Miss Sammy) suffers from the worst name ever given to a dramatic character, and has just moved in with stuck up Galinda Goldman (Matthew Arter as Carol Lee). Elphaba meets a new boyfreind, and Galinda is as jealous as can be. We get the dirt on the tension via Tessie Rose (Rich Kuntz as Gidget Galore) collector of dolls and local gossip. Everyone trusts her because of her wheel chair, but she’s not really handicapped, she just does it for the better parking space.
All this frivolity is just a framework for the half a dozen song parodies. Arter chose wisely, his re-writes are funny and just the right length to keep this show zipping along at 55 minutes. There are easy targets like (My Thighs Are) Defying Gravity, subtle title shifts – “Popular” becomes “Fabulous”, and a gratuitous addition of a few bars of Hava Nigela. The music suffers from some serious microphones problems that tore up some of the later songs. Schmick-ed entertains if your expectations are calibrated to drag musical performances, and they got a wicked ovation from the opening night crowd. If you’re looking for men in dresses singing show tunes, this is right on key.
For more information on the Footlights Theater, please visit http://www.theparlimenthouse.com or http://www.Wanzie.com
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