Charlie Cox ran with scissors tonight in the Fireman’s Kitchen and everybody had a blast. We thought we were watching Charlie work with a problem he had, and that we were watching him deal with his own issue when we began to become aware of the fact that we weren’t watching Charlie Cox anymore, that we were really watching ourselves.
And it gradually began to dawn upon us that were not watching some rare disease that strikes a few people from time to time rack up one more poor soul, we were really watching ourselves deal with a lot of different problems that each of us wrestle with every day, all day long.
Charlie Cox woke up as the play developed and so did some other people in the audience. It’s a play with a great message and besides, it’s a hoot.
Ted Eltzroth played Charlie, and he carried the message very well. Michael Woody played Wally and mesmerized everybody in the cabaret with his facial expressions - when you can show THAT much in your face you shouldn’t even need to speak, but he spoke well too. Charlie Chaplin would be jealous! John Gann played about half the guys I grew up with throughout the south, and he brought back memories that went far, far beyond the Kitchen - and far beyond tonight too. Leanna Teague played Nell Todd and made that difficult role work very well, and Tammy Lail who, as Kiki, came in and changed the whole world. I liked Kiki. I liked her very much. I think I fell in love with Kiki.
