March, 11th 2011
By: toto_too514
Edited by: Marcy

Yes, This report on the SWAN!!! reading might be the hardest report I’ve ever written… mostly because I haven’t stopped laughing since I sat down at the show over 3 ½ hours ago! This Reading almost defies description! It’s frenetic and energetic, and hyper and absolutely hysterical from start to finish! Attending tonight’s performance meant traipsing through a deluge of near Biblical proportions – but it was SO worth it!

The Reading took place I the same building as one of the Notes!!! Reading last June, but it was upstairs in a much larger theater. I’m guessing there were about 200 people in the audience. And at last check both tonight’s show and Friday’s show were sold out. As we sat down all the actors were on stage going through various ballet steps… and yes, Randy can fouette! At one point he fouetted from one end of the stage to the other! He spun and leaped and stretched… and he almost, but not quite, repeated his “Boq” high kick at one point!
Yet, once the Reading started, all dancing stopped!

Oh, and the outfit! Tight, but apparently fairly stretchable blue jeans w/ cuffs… black socks w/ white stripes at the ankles – no shoes. A black, gauzy, fairly large tunic w/ a low cut neck and a gray V-neck Teeshirt underneath… and what looked like a black necklace. At one point, he folded the front of the tunic up over his head so only the tee was visible from the front. (Think tank top from King of Babylon) His hair was parted down the middle w/ barrettes or bobby pins holding back the front! It was a sight to behold!

As Nina’s crazy mother, Randy was over-the-top funny! Some of the more memorable scenes involved stitching Nina’s injured toe, complete w/ biting off the thread… feeding Nina a cupcake to congratulate her on her role. He fed Jenn Harris, “Nina,” a dollop of icing from his finger, which she promptly spit out. He fed her another, which again got spit out! He then fed the entire cupcake piece by piece stuffing her face until it was gone. Yes, that got spit out too – all over the stage!   When he was cutting her nails to prevent her from scratching herself, he licked the “blood” from her cuticles and somehow wound up w/ Nina’s entire hand in his mouth while he tried to speak his lines!

He cried and moaned and growled… he twitched and jerked and bounced… he laughed and rolled his eyes like any good maniac should! At one point, while talking to Nina as her friend Lily comes over to visit, he begins to put scotch tape on his eyelids and both his upper and lower lips to hold them open… it made him look like a deranged chipmunk! (Apparently this was an old-fashioned method of preventing wrinkles!) Randy plays insane quite well!!!

Oh, and remember that short little video of the drawing of the girl w/ the movable eyes? Well, here there were several that were the paintings the Nina’s mother made! And they all had movable parts!

Randy also donned a black headband to play “Veronica,” one of the other solo dancers. He seemed to enjoy playing “bitchy!” One scene involved the dancers pretending to do make-up as they gossiped about the other dancers. If you’ve seen the movie Black Swan, then you’ll remember a scene where the choreographer comes to choose dancers for the show. He moves around the room touching the ones he doesn’t want… but as he enters the girls all try to get his attention by showing some skin. Well, tonight was no different… Jack Ferver, Matt Wilkas and Randy all drop their pants!!!! (White and black striped briefs w/ black seams.)

Randy did have a fairly large part between playing the Mother, Veronica and a small scene in which he played guy at the bar that is interested in Nina… along w/ some narrating. At one point near the end, as Nina is going completely off the deep end, he and Matt start to discuss what’s going on… “So is she dead?” “Yeah, she killed her.” “You mean Lily?” “Yeah, Mila Kunis, she just killed her.” “Killed her, killed her?” “Yeah, stabbed her w/ that mirror shard.” “She’s really dead then?” “Uh, huh.” “She didn’t just imagine it?” “No. I think she’s really dead.” Of course, those of you who saw the movie know she’s not really dead, so Randy and Matt have a similar conversation later!

And in a fitting and utterly hysterical ending, as Nina prepares her final dance as the dying black swan, she stops, holds up an Oscar replica and launches into an acceptance speech.

This had to be one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time! There were several occasions where the actors just completely lost it on stage! Randy once literally turned red from laughing! Jack Ferver actually gave himself a fairly small role as Lily, but he was wonderful. And Jenn Harris… she is probably the best comedic performer I have ever seen!  

This was such a wonderfully creative and inventive show; I cannot possibly do it justice here. I just don’t have the writing talent to get across how truly amazing this was. The actors got a very long and very well-deserved standing ovation! If you’re lucky enough to be going, you are in for a rare treat!  

Oh, and sitting in the front row... thoroughly enjoying herself, was Bridget Everett from Our Hit Parade! 



March, 12th 2011
By: toto_too514
Edited by: Marcy

I had the opportunity to attend tonight’s performance of SWAN!!! with a friend. And yes, on second viewing there was A LOT that I missed… so much so, that it’s not even worth trying to get caught up. I’ll just say that the show was just as hilarious second time around, in some cases even more so. Tonight when Randy taped his face he did it with more, how shall I say it… effort! The faces and the voices he made had Jack Ferver in hysterics, which of course sent Randy over the edge whenever he looked at him. And when he talked, the piece of tape on his chin just wiggled and jumped! Too funny!

There was the same fouetting and spinning and stretching as the audience filed in and at the end of the show tonight the cast danced off stage… And since Randy’s wardrobe is also cause for interest – black socks w/ a red plaid design and black briefs.

Since the monsoons of yesterday were pretty much over, my friend and I were able to wait after the show. We spoke to Jack, who is a really nice man… very funny and appreciative of our parise. Randy came out a bit later w/ Jenn Harris. We spoke to them for a few minutes. Randy was very happy and relaxed. He said that they are having a lot of fun doing this Reading and we told them that it shows… we once again congratulated him on Tommy… he signed a few things for us, and then agreed to a picture w/ my friend. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn on the flash – again! But I think he looks adorable in his helmet. He and Jenn were heading home on Jenn’s two-seater motor scooter!



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Written by Trish edited by Marcy