So I drove 25 minutes to a little outpost called Monroeville to a place that reminded me of the Georgia Square Mall in Athens. It seemed the least likely place for Ira Glass lovers to congregate. I had no idea what to expect- would the great throngs of podcast listeners make a pilgrimage to small towns surrounding Pittsburgh to witness this once in a lifetime spectacle? No, it turns out that it was in fact the least likely place for Ira Glass lovers to congregate, and I could take my pick of empty seats in the theater. Seth Lind was the producer and host, and one could hardly have picked a more awkward person to stand in front of an 800 person live audience + however many other live simulcast theater goers. I just wanted to be like, "Be cool Seth." But the show he put together was pretty awesome. Reply All did what I expected of a live cast podcast-- a duo performing a carefully timed scripted narration with a sound engineer (on stage) playing the clips and background sounds as scheduled. It is pretty impressive considering that this all is usually done with the benefit of mixing and cutting and layering of sounds, and they pulled it off very well. Invisibilia raised the bar however with Lulu Miller performing a memorized monologue (no script) and adding her own sound effects with an Ipad like device she carried and controlled. As if this wasn't impressive enough, about halfway through her monologue about a man overcoming all odds to run a four minute mile, an offstage voice challenged her to finish her monologue, with clips and sound, in 4 minutes. SPOILER ALERT: she did it!
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| Lauren Lapkus in OITNB |
My absolute favorite was With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus, where the actress who plays one of the less funny characters of Orange is the New Black does an improv comedy set where she plays the guest on a talk show of the actual guest on her podcast, who does not reveal the topic of the podcast or the character she plays until the moment the performance starts. This time, Bobby Moynihan from SNL played the host of a celebrity sightings talk show, and Lapkus plays her guest of the day, reporting unlikely celebrity sightings (e.g. Michael Jackson) because, as we learn as the sketch goes on, she has 2 glass eyes. I laughed so hard I cried. I laughed in a way that is embarrassing to laugh by yourself, but hopefully the few other audience members appreciated it too.
And the moment everyone was waiting for, the famous Radiolab performed the closer, but I was disappointed a few minutes in to realize, wait, I have heard this podcast before. I have a terrible memory, and I don't even listen to Radiolab that much. But indeed, it had been done before, and I must have caught it at some point. However, they did improve on their show, about how Beethoven wrote his symphonies in a much faster time than modern audiences feel is comfortable to be played or listened to, by having a live string quartet play parts of Beethoven's 5th symphony at faster and faster paces that were truly uncomfortable to watch.
The podcasts were interspersed not only with Lind's supremely awkward commentary, but also with AH-MAZE-ING performances by Cocoon Central Dance Team, and music by the horn quartet The Westerlies, which I personally found less compelling although talented.
All in all it was a great use of an evening. I would encourage you to go, as I did some of you beforehand, but it was one night only, SUCKAS. Unless you drive to Canada where they will be showing it in theaters tomorrow.
Love,
J
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| Accompaniment: California rolls I made myself! |
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