One cold January night in 2007, it happened. I was forced to see “Triple Espresso.” After all the years, ten maybe, of making fun of a production which no one I new had seen and which no one I knew could remember not being on that stage. There I was, the audience of said show, being prompted to give me, us really, and round of applause for being late.
I had just bought a house and for some reason had not yet deduced the fastest and easiest way to the part of Minneapolis containing the Music Box Theater. As such, I was entering late, after being asked to wait for five minutes with the other late arrivals. Knowingly, it seems in retrospect, we were ushered into the to theater and what turned out to be a gaping hole in the monologue into which we “humorously” blundered, one “Bobby Bean” recognizing our late entry and asking the audience to clap for us, which they, of course, obliged.
For the entire show the audience participation/interaction breaking the dynamic of actor and audience was done time and again. For a movie like “Orlando” and an actress like Tilda Swinton where this tactic is used sparingly, it works to great effect. The cudgel of the night’s interactions, only served to beat the audience to defensive laughter and by the end of the two hours, nearly jeers. I’m not sure the couple in front of me will ever recover from one of the more extreme moments of “audience participation.” The fresh faced male of the couple returned from his humiliation on the stage, in which he held lyrical cue cards for an audience sing-a-long reenacting the early years of Bobby’s career, only to be berated by Bobby; to the relentless laughter of his female companion. Fun. Thank God it wasn’t me. I didn’t even mind Bobby pointing out my relief to the audience, ha-ha, thanks Bobby.
The structure of the show is of an overarching sit com comprised of a series of sketches which make up the history of the trio until this, their reunion show. There is feigned drama and constant overacting which is supposed to be overacting to comedic effect, but to me, came off as over the top cheesy. There are simple sight gags and even simpler verbal puns. To give credit where credit is due though, everyone stayed in character, delivers the story, such as it is, convincingly. I actually think those men have talent. Unfortunately, those talents are buried somewhere under the soul killing script.
Robert O. Berdahl (Hugh Butternut) can actually play the piano and sing, rather well too, as showcased in one sketch, he can even do it blind folder with classical music while someone else is pretending to be a gorilla (Bobby) and the audience is, distractingly, going into hysterics. George Tovar (Buzz Maxwell), was distinctly the most convincing and least overacted of the trio and he has some very nice slight of hand skills as show cased in several segments of his back story as a magician. Brian Kelly’s Bobby Bean was the hardest for me to appreciate as he had to play an unrelenting dolt, but in my favorite and based on the reaction of the rest of the audience, possibly their favorite sketch, he showed of his skills as a shadow puppeteer. I know it sounds corny, rrright, shadow puppets?! Really though, until you see a dog lick your face and a gorilla pick and eat a booger in shadow puppets, you have not lived. Juvenile, probably, but without audience participation, thankfully, yes!
So, as I sat in a row by myself in an increasingly cold theater on an aisle, towards the front, trying not to be chosen out of the crowd as a parent or professor or bad singer, I wondered how on earth I ended up in this situation. Firstly, somehow, two coworkers and their spouses were conveniently excused for birth and death type situations. It was also my office’s attempt at a holiday party, but it turned out to be the brain child of a single new employee who had not been to see Triple Espresso, once or even twice, but twelve, yes, twelve times.
Foolishly, I even attempted to dodge this coworker at the end of the show, but she managed to catch me despite her bulk. Fortunately, I had just shaken Brian’s hand and in all earnestness looked him in the eye and told him, “thanks.” I mean you must need something to get through the day when you are in that situation. So, when she asked what I thought, I was ready with, “those men have some skills!” It’s true but, do yourself a favor and have a triple espresso at intermission, they server them right there in the lobby and for good reason.
