Theater Three's revival of last season's hilarious hit musical, The Big Bang, by Boyd Graham and Jed Feuer, is every bit as riotous as it was last season. Two of Dallas' top talents, Gary Floyd and K. Doug Miller, reprise their roles as Boyd and Jed, respectively.
The back story is that while Sid and Sylvia Lipbalm are away on vacation, they have generously loaned their elegant Park Avenue apartment to Boyd and Jed to use as the setting for performing their Broadway musical to a group of prospective backers - the audience. This will be the most expensive Broadway musical ever produced with a budget of $83M, a cast of 318, and thousands of wigs and costumes. With such an elegant setting the menu has to match, ie. Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz. Some "backers" at Saturday night's preview enthusiastically imbibed on these 'gourmet' hors d'oeuvres.
As the anticipation grows, Boyd (Floyd) and Jed (Miller) proceed to tell the story of the history of the world from Adam and Eve up to the present, enacting all of the roles. Anachronisms abound as Floyd and Miller romp about on Jac Alder's whimsical set untilizing available furnishings as props. It's an 80-minute, non-stop tour de force. Enhanced by the costumes designed by Mark Guerra and Bruce Coleman and the narration and accompaniment by Albert (Terry Dobson), The Big Bang is literally a laugh-a-minute production. An early number that brings down the house has Floyd and Miller in the Garden of Eden singing, "Free Food and Frontal Nudity" (and no, they aren't).
One of the funniest shticks is two mothers, Mary and Mahatma Gandhi's mother, kvetching to each other about the tsuris they are having with their sons:
Mary: "After the loaves and fishes, guess who did all the dishes."
Mrs. Ghandi: I don't know why you're so hyper; my son still wears a diaper."
Ba-da-bum! Their duet of "(Motherhood is) One Helluva Job" sums up their shared angst.
A sketch between two chefs for King Henry the VIII, "Cooking for Henry," tells us : "We're glad he eats like a pig; this has been one sweet gig."
The laughter continues as two braves cruise down the river for squaws while Minnehaha and Pocohantas cruise for braves in the Lobby Bar of the Algonquin Hotel.
The absolute top, side-splitting number of the evening comes when Miller, as Eva Braun, laments "Loving Him (is Where I Went Wrong)" while draping "herself" over an armchair that simply does not co-operate. My take: Leave it in.
Suddenly Albert (Dobson) gets a phone call that The Lipbalms are back in town, and their arrival is imminent; so Boyd and Jed are left to cover all world events from the 1960s to the present in five minutes. This they manage with frenetic energy and humor.
The Big Bang is a great antidote to any end-of-summer blues; its laughter-provoking antics will carry you all the way until Christmas.
