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Bawdy Game Show
by Iris Blasi
This or That! reviewed February 4, 2005
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| Photo Credit:Laure Leber |
| Everyone wants his or her 15 minutes of fame, and those desiring an hour and a half can find it at the Belt Theater in This or That!
Parodying a low-budget game show, This or That! is a strange hybrid of game show, burlesque performance, and reality television. It is hosted by The Great Fredini (Fred Kahl), a wonderfully formulaic host dressed in a purple polyester leisure suit and a gaudy gold chain. Also hosting is his sidekick (Julie Atlas Muz), who plays up her significant physical assets in just a purple bustier, thong and fishnets, and whose comedic facial gestures are worth a thousand words, though she stays mostly silent. The production is clever and has great stock characters, but it's also raunchy. There is definitely an audience who will enjoy the show tremendously, even if it doesn't include this critic.
The game's gimmick is choosing real audience members. Four men and four women are plucked from the audience and told to fake an orgasm onstage. The audience then votes on the one female and one male whom they want to participate in the show. The audience vote cleverly rigs the situation, as, without fail, they choose the biggest hams.
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| Photo Credit:Norman Blake |
| The selected audience members are just as funny as the actual performers; these seemingly normal people morph into real characters when thrust into the spotlight. In fact, one would swear they had been planted. (They're not, but I was only sure of that after asking later.)
The audience's involvement is one of the highlights of This or That! The Belt Theater is not a large venue, but it is ideal for a show like this. The house lights stay on throughout the performance, and alcohol flows freely (you can refresh a drink during brief commercial breaks). Some competitions involve the entire audience, as Fredini promises a prize to the first person to produce a Texas quarter, a blue lipstick, or a colored condom. Theatergoing is seldom so communal an experience.
One man and a woman competed for $500 in "absolutely worthless This or That! dollars," as Fredini explained. They traded clothes onstage and picked cherries out of whipped cream using only their mouths, and the winner got to choose between the "This" or "That" curtain. Depending on which curtain they chose, either a great or awful act would come out, Fredini said. (Earlier he had admitted during a spin-the-wheel game that "where the wheel stops...makes absolutely no difference at all," acknowledging the fixed nature of much of the game despite the randomness in the audience participation.)
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| Photo Credit:Laure Leber |
| It was during the banana-eating contest between the two participants (both teamed with burlesque performers) that I started to feel uncomfortable. It descended into a potassium-ingesting orgy, with people putting bananas in all sorts of unmentionable places and then writhing in a heap onstage. Whereas prior acts had been in a spirit of fun, now I just felt bad for the poor souls who had somehow been seduced by the spotlight's lure into humiliating themselves so profoundly. (The production is actually taped and played on a New York City cable channel on Sunday at midnight, so the audience witnessing any humiliation is even larger then.)
In the moments when the bawdier aspects took a backseat and true burlesque talent was on display, the show really shined. The special guest performers—picked from the local burlesque and sideshow scenes, and performing on a rotating basis—would be worth the price of admission alone. On the night I attended, there was a breathtaking knife-throwing performance from The Great Throwdini and a marvelous flamenco performance by the very talented Katerina, a former performer with Cirque du Soleil.
Fredini said at one point, "If you liked the show, tell your friends about it. If you didn't like the show, then keep your big mouth shut." I would recommend the show to others, but I would send them with a warning. It's funny when the background music is traditional game-show theme songs cut with soundtracks from pornographic movies. But some line is crossed when a girl performs a trick involving a wide-rimmed glass and her nether regions, something I would be embarrassed to discuss in print.
Burlesque is supposed to be sexy and fun, and it's hit perfectly when a giant, pink-stuffed creature does a striptease despite its utter lack of correct anatomical parts. But it is perhaps best left to professionals. When audience members got involved, sometimes it just seemed pitiful. I'd recommend this show for a night of naughty fun, but just be sure to leave the kids (or the more prudish) at home.
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Belt Theater
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Category: Revue
Written by: The Great Fredini & Julie Atlas Muz
Directed by: not available
Produced by: not available
Opened: January 14, 2005
Closed: October 1, 2005
Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. No intermission.
Theater: Belt Theater
Address: 336 West 37th St.
New York, NY 10018
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $20.00
price includes 1 drink
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Creative Team
Created By: Fred Kahl, Julie Atlas Muz, and Marc Cyr
Cast
Fred Kahl as The Great Fredini
Julie Atlas Muz as his co-host
Brian Fisherman as the bandleader
Bambi and Bunny Luv as the "This or That" girls
Marc Cyr as the producer
Special guest stars: Throwdini and Katerina
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