[NEohioPAL] Review of "Dixie's Tupperware Party" at 14th Street Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

'Dixie's Tupperware Party' an airtight, raunchy affair

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 10/9/09

 

Tupperware lets out a burp when the plastic airtight seal is broken from its patented preservation of leftovers.  So will audience members when watching Dixie's Tupperware Party, the scripted but largely improvisational bit of traveling performance art currently on stage at the 14th Street Theatre. 

 

It may be indigestion, the result of consuming fast-paced, deep-fried trailer park patter for 90 minutes.  The steady stream of raunchy sexual references, white-trash talk and fun at others' expense can be a bit unsettling.

 

But then again, it may be the result of gasping for breath from non-stop laugher. This is a very funny show.

 

Dixie's Tupperware Party is a clever concept brazenly executed by Kris Andersson, the play-as-home retail party's creator and hostess.  

 

As Dixie Longate, the queen of food storage, the drag queen Andersson congers up a very endearing character-part sincere and knowledgeable spokesperson for plastic paraphernalia and part worst nightmare for those women who subscribe to "Better Homes and Gardens."  

 

For the straight men in attendance, Dixie is a walking, talking contradiction-a guy who looks good in a dress and heels, offering up a glimpse of what happens when the girls get together to drink, chat and shop.  Her high-energy sales pitch is a late-night TV infomercial from hell.  

 

As with Tony and Tina's Wedding and We Gotta Bingo, where audience members play guests at a contrived event, theatre-goers are an active part of Dixie's Tupperware presentation.  They are brought on stage, which is adorned with little more than two couches and a table loaded with colorful plastic containers, to help demonstrate the products.  They are also sought out in their seats and subjected to Dixie's unique brand of well-intended verbal abuse.

 

The abuse is the best part of the show, with audience members simultaneously hoping to be spared and looking to be called on.  With a year of national touring under his belt, and having performed this show since 2004, Andersson is equipped with a full arsenal of hilarious barbs and comebacks for any occasion.  He effortlessly transitions from scripted banter to impromptu exchanges, complete with quirky catchphrases and local references. 

 

The inventive Earl Tupper, who created the plastic de jour in the 1940s, and the clever Brownie Wise who marketed it, have nothing on Andersson.  Like Tupperware itself, he has created a unique product that we can certainly live without but, thanks to its packaging and playful presentation, is strangely appealing.      

 

Can a Mary Kay Cosmetics make-over musical [burp] be next?  

 

"Dixie's Tupperware Party" runs through October 18 at the 14th Street Theatre in downtown Cleveland.  For tickets, which range from $10-$35, call (216) 241-6000 or visit www.playhousesquare.org
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