By Ernest Kearney — John Fleck is an imposing figure in the history of Los Angeles theatre and beyond.
Along with Karen Finley, Holly Hughes and Tim Miller, Fleck was one of the “NEA Four” at the center of a fire storm between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Congress over funding for artists. Fleck was viewed as too vulgar, too obscene, and too homosexual. All of which, he was, gleefully, to the point of causing the likes of Jesse Helms and Pat Buchanan to be thrown into paroxysms.
Fleck and his three fellow artists were ground zero in the culture wars. Their case would go all the way to the United States Supreme Court before the artists would win their grants, but the outrage would lead the NEA to stop funding individual artists.
In the past his shows, such as Mad Women, Johnny’s Got a Gun, Blacktop Highway, Blessed Are All the Little Fishes, and Mud in Your Eye, have shocked, repulsed, enticed and entertained audiences across the nation and the world.
Fleck has even been called “legendary,” and he was, and is.
But the past is the past.
In It’s Alive, It’s Alive now at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Fleck assumes a number of characters from the “QAnon Shaman” to the COVID-19 virus. He sings and dances with Kyle G. Fuller and Tomoko Karina. But it’s all for naught. For those interested in knowing what was “legendary” about John Fleck, there is the documentary John Fleck Is Who You Want Him to Be.
Sadly, that legend is not on stage at the Odyssey.
(Featured Image: John Fleck / Photo by Cooper Bates)
(Click HERE to learn more about the “NEA Four”)
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It’s Alive, It’s Alive
Conceived, Written and Performed by John Fleck
Directed by David Schweizer
Music Direction by John Snow
On Stage
Now thru March 20
at
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025
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Saturdays at 8 p.m.:
March 5, March 12, March 19
Sundays at 5 p.m.:
February 27, March 6, March 13, March 20
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For Tickets and Additional Information:
(310) 477-2055 ext. 2 or www.OdysseyTheatre.com
NOTE
Proof of vaccination required for admission.
Masks, covering both mouth and nose, must be worn throughout the performance
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