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August 13, 2006

Marc Shaiman, Genius

This afternoon we saw Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. Response from a friend in the biz when I told him we were going: "For free, I hope."

Needless to say, my expectations were nil. Perhaps that's why I was so pleasantly surprised.

Martin himself was just ok. I can definitely see the critics saying that ironically, it's the ensemble that makes this one man show go. But for me, the real star was Marc Shaiman.

I first became a fan of Marc Shaiman when he was Bette Midler's musical arranger and accompanist. I then started keeping an ear out far any arrangements for which he was reponsible and continued to be impressed. Then he did South Park and it was clear that this man was not only crazy talented, but hilarious and smart as hell and to boot.

The many layers are what made the show a hit for me. People who love one man shows by movie stars got just that, plus a surprise celebrity cameo. Folks who just simply love Martin Short got to see all of his signature characters - some for extended periods. Musical theatre regulars got to see and hear many a reference. The musical theatre nerd, thanks to Marc Shaiman, was perhaps the most rewarded audience member of all. Many a musical salute graced the stage, and all very subtly delivered in the context of the show. Example: after Martin meets his wife in an off-broadway production of Brother de Jesus which ends in an orgy scene under a giant tie-died sheet and the cast in line drawn body suits, she next appears on stage in a wedding dress singing a quick paced patter song called "Married to Marty." The whole thing was funny, but for those who got all of the musical references, it was brilliant.

And then there was the completely random and wonderful side splitting wrongness level of humor which included an asian baby adopted by a gay male couple, and the song lyrics reminding the white people to refrain from clapping on the 1 and the 3.

I,m not sure what the critics will have to say about the show when it opens Thursday night, but the word of mouth will be strong. As long as the marketing firm can keep up and the producers stay focused (*cough* all shook up *end-cough*), it should do more than a little ok.

Side note: The whole musical within a musical sash musical theatre makes fun of itself thing is now officially a genre. Let me jus remind ourselves of a little musical called Joe!, which if opened now would be called a copycat, but truly in 1996 would have been the fist of its kind. I still think there's room for it...

Posted by nikl at August 13, 2006 05:42 PM

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