And here's an endorsement:
What the orphean circus exactly is, was a mystery to me. Having heard about it from my invincible friend {nightclub dwight}, and heard her many converts extol the virtues of the unique brand of fun only found at the Orphean circus, I really wasn't sure what to expect from it. Was it a circus? A play? A party? Moreover, you might also say that the whole affair was a bit hyped up. In my own little corner of the world, this thing became as big as "The Matrix 2" or "Episode 1: the Phantom Movie" or "Paris Hilton/Nicole Lenz Munching Rug as filmed by Simon Rex"--so you can understand my resultant skepticism. See, it's simply impossible for these huge spectacles to really live up to the overwhelming hype, as cool as it is watching Nicole Lenz eat Paris out, in the end it's really not the life-changing experience you expected as you were downloading it for 3 days on the file-sharing network of your choice.
So I expected the same from the Orphean Circus, which was finally explained to me over some sausages and beer at the nearby Lowenbrau. It is a musical, directed and concieved and written and choreographed by a childhood friend Ken, who apparently has a healthy dose of superstar charm, smiting the hearts of those unlucky enough to be in the path of his ravenous war machine of charm as it marches towards the Carolina coast. A lamented, "If it's a musical, I'm probably gonna be bored." I myself wondered along with A if i was going to be bored--since musicals tend to do that to me, no matter how many times you catch me singing showtunes in the shower. And truth be told, it's the evidence room, which means it's a small time local play directed by hip silverlake citizens and only cared about by the guy that covers "Stage" for the LA Weekly and the 3 non-actors that actually read his articles.
Alright, so the stage is set. I'm a pessimist, and I have an unfounded, irrational, and unfair lack of respect for the local play scene. This is gonna suck. We arrived at the Evidence Room right at 9:30 (The second of 2 nightly shows) and paid $15 for my ticket. I looked at the program, scanned the crowd, looked at some of the regalia, headshots, and waited for the house to open. Briefly reminisced about the first play i saw at the evidence room, a year ago featuring none other than shut the fuck up charles.
I took my seat, and the house was full. I mean, it was really packed with people, and it wasn't opening night. The stage and its surroundings were covered in paraphenalia from the "99 Cent Only" store, the same geniuses that brought you "Low Prices are born here and raised elsewhere", which might just be the greatest marketing slogan ever dreamed up. I was then told that the 99 cent only store actually sponsors the Orphean Circus by providing the costume crew free reign with any and all of the products they carry. As a result, the whole set, and costume is constructed with raw materials found at the NNCOS. Awesome.
The curtain is drawn, and a man resembling a clown in a latex apron welcomes us to "Ninety Nice Cent Only Village" and literally "blah blah blah hardy har's" a brilliant 2 minute soliliquy. Charming Ken's charming musical sets the stage with a refreshing amount of absurdity and a healthy encouragement of audience participation. As we meet more and more of the townsfolk and listen to their wonderfully melodic songs, we hoot and holler and throw up the goat horns (or at least i was), and most of all laugh. Strangely reminiscent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, though not in that "stank ass UC Theater/People that need to move on with life" kind of way, the music is fun, the people are fun, the Orphean Circus is fun.
At least it's fun until the Peace Squad Shows up.
Because at that points, all bets are off. Fun begins to lose all meaning--this is a whole new level of fun. From their entrance in NNCOS shopping carts, to their opening song, to their awesome costumes, to their side-rending introductions, it is both a musical foray into "next level fun" and the late 60's/early 70's, as well as a visual stampede only executable using NNCOS materials. I'm telling you, my life practically ended when they came on stage, mouth agape, eyes fixed, and in literal awe.
And then i actually died when the peace squad performed their cover of Shin Seung Hoon's "Like a Romeo", which is a korean pop song of considerable stature from the late 90's. The singing, choreography, overall execution was straight out of CaYo Top 10--these white guys in vinyl chaps and big vinyl butterfly collars in the middle of echo park, were singing and dancing and harmonizing a song so well that if i closed my eyes, i could see the highlighted bangs of channel 18 flopping to and fro--and when i opened my eyes, i saw 9 white guys, in echo park, singing in korean. It was a spectacle. A life changing moment-the one I never got from all of the overhyped bullshit messes that preceded the orphean circus. The one i never got from downloading paris hilton porn. My cup ran over. My heart nearly burst. I was in love again at the evidence room.
There was more of the circus after that moment, and it was all certainly memorable--the beach ball curtain calls, the uber-70's-cute anti war song, the hokey resolution, i mean, it was fun. But in a room full of supercars, there can only be one porsche 959, and it was "Like a Romeo." |
and member numbers soared from 2000 to 5000!!! a few more 'lithers in LA now?