by Billy Crystal
State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
October 22, 2013
Billy Crystal tells a good story. Who knew?
Billy Crystal's Tony-winning one-man show returns to Broadway in November. Its pre-Broadway run opened in Minneapolis tonight. Originally running in 2004, and based on Crystal's autobiography of the same title, the show primarily tells the story of Crystal's relationship with his father with a sideline of jazz history. As a boy, Crystal's favorite day of the week was Sunday because of the time spent with his father. As he died when young Billy was 15, he estimates they only had about 700 of these times together.
The first act of the evening shows off Billy Crystal's virtuosic timing and impressions. We laughed again and again. In the second act, however, Crystal's sentimental side comes out. In telling of his father's death, his subsequent guilt and mourning, and then his mother's death nearly forty years later, he brought the audience to tears. The very moving story, while uniquely his, carries all the elements of universality which allow it to resonate with any audience member who has experienced loss.
The book is a good read, but the performance adds all the sparkly elements of Billy Crystal an audience who has seen his film or award-show-hosting performances would expect. We laughed, we cried, we saw a comedy genius at his best. Five performances left in Minneapolis before the Broadway transfer!
No comments:
Post a Comment