Abdication!
Like Monty Python, this show combines a little drama, song and dance with a whole lot of comedy. Does it work without English accents and dry British humor?
By Andrew Andrews
The fictional story collection Mumm’s Tales of Abdication serves as the source for three “episodes” tied together by a singing, dancing Narrator (Trenton Clark) in the style of a 60’s or 70’s TV variety show. In the first piece, a loser from Staten Island horrifies his family by announcing his plans to sign up for a full-time,
Abdication! reminded me a lot of those old stop-action animated Christmas
Intermixing low-res 4:3 video on a big ol’ tube television with alternating vignettes on an otherwise empty stage, the perfectly-cast actors (under the direction of Lucia Bellini) had the whole audience cracking up, myself included.
Currently part of Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, not only do I hope Abdication! reappears with a run of its own, I’d love to see it expand into an ongoing series, perhaps with a different theme each month, but always hearkening back to the days of analog television comedy variety shows.
Andrew Andrews attended Abdication! at Theater for the New City Johnson Theater in Manhattan on Friday, September 6, 2019 @ 6:30pm to write this review.