[NEohioPAL]Roy Berko did NOT Write this SATIRIC REVIEW of The Foreigner at UATG

Mon Dec 9 20:36:03 PST 2002

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<DIV>What follows is a "Satiric Review".  Anyone offended by this review deserves it.  Also, this is not a Roy Berko review, so the good folks at Cleveland Playhouse need not worry about "wire coat hangers."  This review  has been rated "Commercial Garbage" by Cleveland Public Theatre, and "Mrrrrggg" by a Llama in a mini-skirt. </DIV>
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<DIV>    "University of Akron Casts First Black Actor In Lead Role"</DIV>
<DIV>    By the soon to be expelled JT Buck     </DIV>
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<DIV>       The Unviersity of Akron Theatre Guild, a student organization consisting of all three remeaining UA Theatre majors, has joined forces with Tesla Productions to mount a fresh, charming production of Larry Shue's community theatre budget-booster "The Foreigner".  The production runs one more weekend in Sandefur Theatre at Guzetta Hall on the UA campus, closing December 15.  </DIV>
<DIV>      Give director Jeff Holland and his cast credit for not screwing this one up too badly.  Ah yes, Jeff Holland, creator of the "Mike and Ike Satiric Reviews" and, god forbid, The Rolling Doughnuts comedy troupe.  Anyone familiar with Holland's work knows that he never uses black actors in his work.  He just doesn't.  Is he a racist? A White Supremacist?</DIV>
<DIV>         Rest all fears.  In Mr. Holland's latest Opus, he has forgone all Monica Breedlove references, and has included not one, but TWO actors of color in the stage ensemble.  Jasper Howard (not white) does a dazzlingly focused turn as Charlie, the eponymous protagonist stranded thousands of miles from his British home in a small suburb of Atlanta, GA.  Charlie's friend, Froggy (Vince Stillitano, white and ultra-hot in fatigues) convinces the residents of a boarding house that Charlie is incapable of speaking English, in an attempt to protect the conversation-shy Charlie from too much interpersonal contact.  The plot, predictably, has an opposite outcome as Charlie is gradually fleshed from his (not white) shell by the oddball cracker residents and thier wacky, wacky ways.</DIV>
<DIV>    The rest of the cast may lack skin pigment, but thier performances are far from colorless.  Elizabeth Madden is utterly convincing as a land-locked southern debutante, Chris Boros made me squidgy as a duplicitous minister, and Mike Murphy's considerable flame scorched the rafters as Charlie's mentally retarded gay lover, Ellard. In addition to the first ever casting of a man of color as Charlie, all the proceeds benefit Haven of Rest homeless shelter.  Tesla productions, commited to serving populations in need, apparently contracted Akron Society of the Blind in the creation of the set. </DIV>
<DIV>     The ensemble features another actor of color, whose identity shall remain nameless.  He did offer to build me some bookshelves.  I am not that easily bought.</DIV>
<DIV>     Most productions at the University of Akron involve lesbians in leather, simuated sex (occationaly with fat men and furniture), talking watermelons on pitchforks, gay Jesuses and/or clogging.  This production offers good old fashioned acting, a plot, and lots of laughs. For a clever holiday alternative, come get to know "The Foreigner".</DIV>
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<DIV>  JT Buck is an actor, director, musician, Immediate Past President of UATG and is not, in any way, connected to the production mentioned above.  Please come see his shows.  </DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Help STOP SPAM with <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMHEN/2016">the new MSN 8 </a> and get 2 months FREE*</html>