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How long has it been since you’ve seen a Star Wars flick?  Myself, it’s been decades since my kids and I saw those premiere episodes. The “One Man Star Wars Trilogy”, at Teatro Zuccone through Sunday, July 22, will definitely conjure up old memories. If you’re a dyed in the wool Star Wars geek, you’ll have even more fun.

The crowd at Tuesday night’s opening rolled with laughter as actor/comedian, Charles Ross, did an 80 minute recreation of the initial set of three Stars Wars movies. This fast-paced spoof reminded me how action movies leave me in the dust. My sons have long been dismayed when I beg ‘tell me what just happened’. Indignantly instructing me to ‘watch’, they refuse to fill me in.

But from deep recesses came lots of snippets: Luke down the garbage shoot; the walls closing in; Luke caught and hung upside down; Obi’s death, or was it Yoda’s? That great bar scene; Luke kissing Leiah, then discovering she’s his sis. Gigantic Jabba the Hut. Chewbaca’s moany voice.

And Ross gets the Star Wars sounds down: the music, the brogues, the screeches and tumult of weapons and space vehicles, the wheeze of Vader’s voice.  

He whips us through scene after scene, scuttling bunches of them together. His performance is a total workout. Repeated contact with the stage floor would lead me to believe he must sustain a bruise or two. Hopefully the padding under his jump suit is sufficient.

Ross had lots of asides and explication: why were Skywalker and Solo using the metric system? Obi-Wan was the only character to call the Princess Lee-ah, instead of Lay-ah....  

The performer enjoyed the audience’s idiosyncrasies, picking on a woman next to me, texting. When he found it was to her grandmother, he took it from there. He had us all play a trick on another woman who momentarily walked out. No wonder he commended the Duluth crowd at play’s end. They never missed a trick.

Ross has done his show for 12 years across the globe. He began at Fringe festivals, long ago playing the Minneapolis Fringe (can’t help it: my grandson played MPLS Fringe last year). He generously shared in a Q&A at the end of the performance. His worst gig? A corporate show in England, where they yelled at him and walked out. Does he get stale? Well, he writes a lot, right now a cross-country bus tour zombie film. The worst show he’s done is still better than any other job he’s had: “Every night’s totally different.”

This show was sold out. Purchase advance tickets at www.zeitgeistarts.com, or 218-336-1416. Geek week includes Dink Tank @ the Movies: Teenagers from Outer Space, Thursday, July 19, 9:30pm and Renegade Improv for the Nerds, Friday, July 20 and saturday, July 21. 9:30pm.
SIDESHOW

I was wowed. Lundeen Productions’ “Sideshow” at Harbor City International Theater put a whole lot of talent onto a tiny stage with an adventurous story. Top notch director Sheryl Jensen elicits a marvelous performance from cast and crew. If you saw local productions of “Man of La Mancha” or “Rent”, you already know what magic she can do.

This didn’t seem to be my kind of story. As a kid, I was ill at ease at the state fair carny grounds when I passed the ‘freak show’. It seemed exploitative to me even then. “Sideshow” opens this world, telling the tale of two sisters conjoined at the hip. It is based on the lives of Violet and Daisy Hilton. Wikipedia tells us the girls were born in England in 1908. A bar owner, Mary Hilton, saw commercial possibilities and bought the children from their birth-mother. Hilton had the girls touring Europe and the U.S. from the age of three. Tap dancers, they actually teamed with Bob Hope as the Dancemedians in 1926. At age 23, they sued their managers and gained their freedom.

Writer Bill Russell takes liberties with the Hiltons’ story. He makes an empresario the ticket to freedom, as well as a love interest.  The opening act of “Sideshow” features a variety of freak show performers, in fantastic and grotesque costume: “Come look at the freaks, that God forsakes”. The singing and appearances are flamboyant: bearded lady, cannibal king, sheik and harem, dog-face man.
It amazes me that Jensen can get so much action on such a compact stage.

The sisters are played by Gracie Anderson and Bree Taylor whose duets and symbioses are nothing short of terrific. Escaping the sideshow, the twins enter the vaudeville circuit. Choreographer Amber Burns (did you see “Spring Awakening?) and costumers Jensen, Kathy Grady, Linda Veillet and Jamie Snyder outfit their dancers with high energy Egyptian, follies and New Year’s vaudeville routines.

Bittersweet love stories approximate real life. In the production, Terry, Buddy and Jake are off and on suitors. The vocals of Gabe Green (Jake) and Nathan St. Germain (Terry) are super. I’ve seen St. Germain in a lot of shows and never knew he had such a voice. Mike Pederson plays a freak show boss. He’s rough and tough, except for his last song that reveals such a tender voice.

This show exposes us to a slice of life most are unaccustomed to. It makes human those we are unfamiliar with. I can’t recommend it enough. It will run Thursdays through Saturdays, 7:30pm and Sunday matinees, 2pm till July 29.

Finally, don’t do as I did, and fill up on a sour cream and mushroom burger at the Anchor before you arrive. There’s quite a menu offered by BlackWoods before the show and during intermission: wings, brats, nachos, kabobs. There are sweets and to drink: 1919 rootbeer floats, brewskis, wine. I had a top flight violet martini.