If you want to go to at least one good party this holiday season, spend $20 and invite yourself to "500 Clown Christmas." This show has music, dancing, drinking and disaster. In short, every requirement for a really memorable yuletide bash. The three clowns that make up the troupe (500 here being not a number, but an adjective of uncertain meaning) are enthusiastic if careless hosts. "We don't have people over very often" says clown Kevin (Molly Brennan), grinning shyly while her peers tussle in the background.
The 500 Clowns, (the other two are Shank [Paul Kalina] and Bruce [Adrian Danzig]) show a lack of forethought that is downright alarming. They suspend themselves from ropes and swing perilously close to the light rig. They do things with a ladder that should not be done with a ladder.
Most circus/stunt performers, aiming for an illusion of grace and ease, seem like hard-bodied masters of gravity. The 500 Clowns, who aim to put themselves and the audience at "extreme physical and emotional risk," seem like clumsy maniacs two seconds away from breaking their necks. It makes for a riveting, if nerve-wracking show. Due warning: The entire evening is highly interactive. If the thought of talking to a post-modern rock n' roll clown makes you pale, you might want to stay home.
The clowns also sing tuneful, off-kilter carols about politics, death and the holiday spirit. They perform with gusto and surprisingly nice voices. (Kalina sings his anthem to loneliness in a toasty baritone, while Brennan has an adorable rock-goddess wail.) Both the pretty tunes and the stupid-smart lyrics were written by John Fournier. Fournier also leads the three-piece back-up band and deserves full credit for making this unusual holiday musical sound great. With his professional cabaret air, he also makes an excellent foil for the three unbridled spirits at center stage.
These clowns, despite their punkish aesthetic and dangerous habits, are not so different from the cast of any other holiday show. They have two main objectives: to show you a good time, and to teach you a lesson. The lesson, drawn from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," is summarized early on in a song called "Don't be Such an Asshole." Of course, being clowns, they have a lot of trouble getting the lesson right, and the end result bears little resemblance to the source material. Who cares? No amount of failing or falling over could prevent them from delivering the good time.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
