Napkins | 12-04-03 8:52pm Michael West has definitely carved his own niche in show business–most likely, because he simply had to. It’s not every day you see spectacular, wildly funny and somewhat unsettling in the same sentence but that’s precisely the blend that West’s Almost Live offers.
Celebrated for his work in Forbidden Broadway as well as the Crabtree’s unforgettable When Pigs Fly, West literally stops at nothing to please a crowd, thank God. Almost Live is built around his talent for all-out impersonation of entertainers of the old school variety, the likes of Sammy Davis, Pearl Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald–yes, you read correctly, he does all three to a tee. Add to the mix Liza Minelli, Liberace, Carol Channing, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet, and you get the basic idea. The screw-loose and fancy-free organizing principle behind this gathering: an alcoholic shut-in switches on his TV circa 1980 and there he basically stays. Watching Almost Live is to see through the shut-in’s heavy-lidded eyes as a bleary, blurred and somewhat non-sensical parade of old talk shows and telethons (and yes, West does a wicked Jerry Lewis, too) whiz by. Liza Minelli takes you on a tour of her "suite" at the Betty Ford Clinic as well as on a tour of her day (cleaning the toilet and serving up grub, just like the ‘lil people). Carol Channing is stuck out there somewhere, in a groove, doomed to do Hello Dolly, door to door, pushing it like a linen-suit salesman. Pearl Bailey and Ella Fitzergerald scat and sweat in a very special tribute to Merv Griffin. Ethel Merman is crossed with Pee Wee Herman and by now you get the picture and the idea. At various, hyperreal bends in the road, West reminds us, "the collective audience, that we are every bit as much willing hostages of American entertainment as we are its fans." The transition from the Douglas Fairbanks Theater to your own television at home, proves seamless. This is underscored by the popularity of reality TV; we miss live entertainment, even (and sometimes especially) when its awful.
All the same, despite Almost Live’s ever-so-slight tilt toward performance art, don’t worry. West’s first aim is to entertain, chiefly by making you laugh. If you don’t laugh, check your pulse. In Almost Live, the only dead people are supposed to be the entertainers, so don’t ruin it for the rest of us.
(reply to this) |
