NY Mirror

In step with cabaret history, the Duplex's 50th anniversary was an extremely worthy get-together (see number 2) celebrating the Village spot that's launched as many superstars as it has drunks singing "Memory." To commemorate the event, talent booker Leah Sutton put together a fabulous variety show-benefit filled with people who've worked at and/or drunk at the Duplex. The tall and caustic Judy Gold was a riot, talking about her "Hadassah arm" (the flabby area no trainer can help) and saying, "I performed for President Clinton—and I did stand-up comedy for him too." And our MC—the campy, rubber-faced comic Mario Cantone—was manic, hilarious, and unstoppable, whether impersonating various famous women doing The Vagina Monologues ("My vagina is an oven," he said as Julia Child) or explaining that he turned down the meerkat role in The Lion King "when I realized there'd be a puppet pinned to my fucking scrotum." He even did Liza Minnelli jokes—this on the very day she was announced as having encephalitis—and made them work through sheer nervy sparkle.

The same principle lifts The Full Monty—a/k/a Broadway Bares—out of its middlebrow aspirations and makes Buffalo rock more than it seemed possible. Despite the ugly sets and uneven music and the fact that no lighting's pinned to the guys' scrotums when they're finally revealed, the show is extremely pleasing—a real winner—and it's especially hard to resist touches like veteran actress Kathleen Freeman demanding to see the black guy's dick. (I could certainly relate.)

If you want to get really fucked, try Game Show, which is an extremely authentic taping experience, right down to the utter torturousness. The faux program, replete with pseudo-backstage antics, is that rare satire that doesn't satirize anything! But hey, maybe the opening-night party was fun.


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