Musical "Vivian Vance" Alive and Serving Up a Surreal Amount of Television Obsession
Monday, June 10th, Los Angeles, CA
written by Entertainment Editor, Dan Ruth
Vivian Vance reached television stardom playing Lucille Ball’s sidekick, Ethel Mertz on the “I Love Lucy” show, which ran on American television for six seasons from 1951 through 1957, and “The Lucy Show,” from 1962 through 1968. That’s a whole lotta Lucy and Ethel, but if you’re intrigued by Vivian Vance, Alive And Well Running Chinese Take-Out, you probably know all of this information already. Vivian Vance is the brainchild of playwright and musician, John Wuchte who, after passing by a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan in 1987 called “Vivian’s House,” decided to take the idea that Vivian Vance faked her death, turn it into a play and a non-musical New York production emerged in 1994. Recently, Wuchte teamed up with musical partner Michael Teoli to create Vivian Vance Alive And Well Running Chinese Take-out, a complex surrealist musical about the American obsession with classic era television.
Upon entering the Broadwater Theatre, the stage is cluttered with an ensemble cast, cocooned in comfy white robes, reading through vintage TV Guide programs. Quietly, yet painstakingly they lounge, milling over the endless programming of the week, with an occasional show schedule pronouncement blurted out from the cast, shattering the otherwise peaceful silence. As the show begins, what started out as something instantly, if not generationally relatable, quickly turns into a cacophony of distractions, with a sober recounting of Nielsen ratings and other disturbing information about the amount of television consumed by said generation. Frenetic musical numbers “Viv is Coming” and “Don’t Touch that Dial” seem to hammer this idea home as we enter the world of “Viv’s Place,” a Chinese take out in 1980’s New York City.
This fragmented world acts as a strange purgatory for this cast to reconcile some semblance of truth amongst the Chinese take-out boxes and chopsticks. Two energetic characters, played by Zachary Antonio Santolaya and Aubrey Clyburn are practicing for a game show, endlessly quizzing each other with television trivia, while a crazed street preacher Casey Alcoser, wearing a plastic coat stuffed with TV Guides, spreads the “gospel of Nielsen.” Add to this mix, a fervent Christian mother and her reluctant daughter from Virginia, played by Dagney Kerr and Maria Swisher, practicing for a national spelling bee. The daughter is no fan of the rigid world of spelling, and after singing the delightful “I-S-O-A-G-G,” she vanishes on what is ostensibly a trip to the Empire State Building. When she doesn’t return, we learn that her distraught Mother is no fan of the sins of television. Singing “Daddy Fly Away,” she tells the tale of her husband, a television addict, who died with the “clicker” in his hand. The daughter eventually returns as what can only be described as her alter-ego, singing “I Wish That I Was Laurie Partridge,” and the musical continues with an emergency meeting of the “I Love Lucy” fan club as the return of Vivian Vance looms large outside the barricaded restaurant. Sound like Fringe? It is.
Yes, there is much to fold over here, but there is a considerable amount of comedy in John Wuchte’s engaging, surreal world, played out by an excellent ensemble cast. While the songs are catchy, and each character is memorable, with some more endearing than others, all somehow manage to turn quite ugly in their own way, when confronted with reality and its consequences. Like Waiting for Godot, this cast is waiting for Vivian Vance, which seems to be a metaphor for the truth. So many people want to blame social media for our distracted minds and lack of focus, but this bold musical goes back much further than the dawn of the internet as it unapologetically turns the mirror towards its audience. From the very top of the show, all actual ties to the title and subject seem to vanish and what plays out serves as structure for, at least from this audience member’s viewpoint, not an homage to, but an indictment of the classic “babysitter” television era. Being a person of a certain age, I understood nearly all of the references in Vivian Vance, others might not be so familiar.
Piano played by Greg Smith, with outstanding costumes by Michael Mullen. Vivian Vance Alive And Well Running Chinese Take-Out is produced by Kick Boom Theatre and plays at The Broadwater Theatre, 1078 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, CA.
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