Hey, let's put on a show!

Okay, so I went to a play on Friday. I heard about it through my Daily Candy e-mail. It was a small theater company with a new comedy featuring a mad scientist. And let's face it, mad scientists are just catnip for me. Plus, at $12, it was about the same price as a movie ticket. In these tough times, I feel like if I can use my small cache of discretionary cash to feed a starving artist, and get some entertainment out of it, that's my definition of fiscally responsible.

Was it a good show? Mmm. Technically speaking, . . . no. The script was uneven. There were several times when they'd really get swinging, and I found myself giggling quite a bit. The recurring bit about the attack cats (simulated by someone standing behind a bit of scenery and waving stuffed animals at the actors) just didn't get old. Not every bit could say that (surprisingly, the girl dressed in bee costume with yak horns (don't ask) wore thin pretty fast). Unfortunately, in this kind of show, if you're not laughing, you're really just sitting there. I'm assuming that the longer they do the show, the more it will tighten up.

But the cast really strove make sure you got your money's worth. Even adding the scenes that they cut as a bonus "out take reel" to the end of the show. Overall, it was a good time. My only real quibble would be that 1 - I don't do audience participation - even a mid-show sing-a-long; and 2 - the space was so small that even though I had cleverly positioned myself at the back of the audience to avoid my phobia about eye contact with performers, that placed the hunchbacked henchman character frequently in my sight line. Luckily, the character was cross-eyed in the great Marty Feldman tradition, so no real eye contact, per se. But if he'd focused for even a second, I was at hazard of being seriously weirded out.

Any way. I got that rosy glow of having supported the local arts community. And at $12, it's a cheap glow.