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By Dawn Januszkiewicz
Bernhard emerged on stage to an audience warmed up by her guitarist's solo, which manifested into a cover of Christina Agueliara's Beautiful. Beautiful served as more than a current, powerful and popular crowd pleaser; it set a precedent for her act. She continued to discuss her travels in various accents and periodically broke out into song. She took the newcomers by surprise with her eloquent prose, which was recited so quickly and naturally that her dialogue, like a humming bird, was worthy of chasing but hard to hold.
Well known as a comedian, Bernhard's skills as a musician complement her act very well and take her audience by surprise. She sings with passion and conviction; her voice, however, may not compare to those she is covering, but her performance is lively and diverse. She transitions from comedy skit to prose to song naturally and with much ease, directing the audience through a labyrinth of ideals and objections.
Bernhard is known for her loud, crude comments, radical liberalism and rampant feminism. Her long-term friendships with Roseanne and Madonna have created a crude image that she is challenging with her intelligent, stream of consciousness prose. Although the rampant feminism and occasional vulgarity are present, they are both a matter of attitude and conviction, and they give us something to love.
Many of her jokes were centered on motherhood, her childhood and her seven-year relationship. Berharnd confessed she has found complete happiness with her life. She wanted to have a child, do something important and make a contribution and she has. Her seven-year relationship with a woman has filled her life with romantic love and an overwhelmed inbox. Romantic love is accompanied by a steady e-mail correspondence that borders on obsessive stalking - we've all been there.
One of the most charming childhood stories shared with the audience pertained to her ardently faithful, Jewish family, Bob Dylan and marijuana. It was discovered that one of her brothers smoked pot and her father blamed the liberal rock icon Bob Dylan. "I never want to hurt you!" cried a young Bernhard to her parents. She followed this with a gesture she'd never forget - she burned all of her brothers Dylan LPs. She later recalled a conversation with Dylan (or a convincing fraud) over the phone that recalled the incident. Dylan also complimented her work, telling her that he "love[ed her] voice!"
She also spoke about her travels oversees, and mentioned a trip to the Middle East. "My heart goes out to these kids in this useless war," she said, segueing into politics. She added, "My head's still spinning from the last election."
After discussing her inexhaustible support and contribution to the John Kerry campaign, and her disappointment in his easy dismissal of her when she approached him at an airport, she responded, "I didn't want you anyway. I wanted Howard Dean, you *&@@@#$&**@@***$$##@!" The audience roared.
Her stream of consciousness then diverted down a road less taken and dedicated more dialogue to discussing the competency and role model status of the first ladies. A fan of Kerry-Heinz, she commended her for her elegance, poise, intellect and prestige, especially in handling the news of her husband's loss in the election. "Mrs. Cheney wrote Sister, [while] Laura Bush sat in a stupor in the first term," she said. The audience, again, roared.
When it came time to end the show Bernhard sang the names of her band members and each one walked off stage after a short solo. She had LaFrae Sci, musical director and drummer, John Pahmer on keyboard, Eric Hauptman on guitar, Mark Vanderpool on bass and Stefani Lippman as back-up vocalist. Each and every member of the band demonstrated impressive and astounding skills.
She left us with playful images throughout the show. She pushed the envelop twice, once stripping on stage, casually of course, changing into a T-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots and later when she put on a short dress and flashed the audience numerous times. She flashed us farewell.
A Side Note on the Theater
By Damien Monaco
It's a shame that such a wonderful show is being held at such a bad theater. On June 29 four members of Perpetual Toxins went to this show to review it. The theater lost two of the tickets. When we asked the person at the ticket booth to speak to a manager to clear things up, we were told that he was too busy to see us and that if we came back in an hour (five minutes before the show began) he would be available to speak with, and that "if he [was] feeling nice, maybe he would be willing to help us out." After already getting soaked, two of us left and decided to do other activities, not wanting to see if the manager was in a good mood or not. That night Perpetual Toxins contacted the Daryl Roth Theatre to complain about their lack of customer service. In response, the manager on duty, Steve Garcia, said "It's New York. It's live theatre. Accidents happen." That was their excuse, that it is live theater. Perpetual Toxins does not recommend people visit this establishment because of their disorganization and lack of customer support. Refusing to speak with patrons is unheard of.
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Perpetual Toxins © 2006-2007 - All Rights Reserved |
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t was dangerous trudging through the torrential rains at dusk, but the show must go on. On this occasion, Sandra Bernhard performed her latest show Everything Bad & Beautiful at the Daryl Roth Theatre, Thursday, June 29. It could have gone either way; the half full theater could have offered an intimate show or the half empty theater served as an omen of an evening wasted.
