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Pulp
Reviewed by Al Bresloff
May 9, 2007
About Face Theatre has brought back their"cult" musical "Pulp" but this time, upstairs at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse. Most of the original cast is back and in this larger venue, the audience truly gets to be part of the show."Pulp" is set in the 1950's , in Chicago. It is pure camp and played to the hilt by some very talented ladies. The action takes place at "The Well" , a delightful "club for women" ( back in those days they didn't call them "Gay Bars") and each of the characters in this story is special. Our main character, Terry ( The lovely Julia Neary recreating her original role) has left the military, quickly, after having a "thing" with a Generals daughter and ends up sitting on the train with Pepper ( Hanna Dworkin, another alumni of the original cast) who brings her to The Well and offers her a job there. The other characters are Winny ( Patricia Kane, the author and lyricist of the play, who was not in the original) a sweet lady who likes doing male drag and male "stuff" but has not discovered who she really is ( much to Pepper's chagrin), Bing ( the very sexy and sensual
Lesley Bevan, who like a fine wine has become even better with age), the sex kitten and last but not least, Vivian ( Amy Warren, another returnee who also composed the music along with Andre Pluess ) who owns the club and as it turns out the hearts of all the others.
Directed by Jessica Thebus, "Pulp" is just as funny today as it was back in the 2003/2004 season and much to my surprise, the house was filled with many students and potential theater people ( interns, actors etc) who "got it all!". Nothing was missed by these sharp youngsters. Camp is either over the top silly or solidly good and in this production's case it is more than good, it is played to perfection. Every little detail is just right- J.R. Lederle's lighting, Janice Pytel's costumes, Meghan Raham's set ( the bar was originally designed by John Dalton) and I even want to give credit to Meleokalani Ortiz, the prop designer ( there are lots of little props in this one). While this is what is called a remount, it is in a way a new show- new venue, new Winny ( who is even better than the original), some new songs and what appears to be a more knowledgeable audience who can enjoy a show that deals with Homosexuality far better than those even three years ago.
"Pulp" will run through May 27th ( a week longer than announced) with performances as follows:
Wednesday,Thursday and Friday nights at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets range from $20-$40 ( Wednesday all seats are $20) and can be purchased by calling 773-871-3000 or visiting www.aboutfacetheatre.com . This is a pure delight!
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