“Shakeslesque (To Thine Own Cherry Be True)” (A Review)

Hollywood Fringe Festival 2017 imageBy Ernest Kearney — Shakeslesque is a playfully amusing blend of Bard and boobs; a racy, randy raucous romp in which the buxom babes of Cherry Poppins Caburlesque join with some of the Fringes best known rascals.

Michael Shaw Fisher, one of the Fringe’s resident Bardologist plies his talents in the form of “Sexpeare” a playwright bled of ideas of what to pen for his next play. Finding himself at the door of a knocking shop, he enters and partakes of some heady brew, is enticed by the “soiled doves” of the establishment and finds himself plunged into a deep sleep and dreams of a realm he rules as King Queer, where his daughters Juliewet (Alli Miller), I’ll Feel Ya (Shannon Glasgow) and Beabitch (Heath Butler), are set to marry a rather worthless lot including the very narcissistic Ham On Rye (Schoen Hodges) and the very villainous Tightass Androgynous (Cory Robison). There’s plenty of music and mayhem and a mass of mammae massive and otherwise.

The boys Robison, Hodges and Fisher all have fun, and we join with them in having it. K.C. Lindley flounces Silver Medal (via The TVolution)fabulously about, the girls all swirl seductively especially Miller, Glasgow, Megan Esber and Kim Dalton as the schizoid trio of witches, and we are treated to stomping renditions of “Come Together,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and other tunes all very tongue in cheek…and tongue elsewhere.

Written, directed and produced by Miller and Sarah Haworth Hodges (who also kills as Lady Macbreast), with a cast of 22 with a cast of a 1,000 costume changes provided by Kelly Stevenson and Alli Miller. The evening is fun, fun, fun, music and boobs.

At ninety minutes, it felt a tad over-played but otherwise it was a good time had by all.

A SILVER MEDAL.

 

♦    ♦    ♦

 


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Written by

An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

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