Duck Soup

By T.E.K.

SCRAMBLED FEET

A revue by John Driver and Jeffrey Haddow

This is a dartboard of a spoof concerning all things theatrical. There are probably enough unemployed actors in Actors' Equity alone to keep off-Broadway's Village Gate comfortably tilled for some time to come. But it does not require that much stage expertise to relish the show. Any halfway knowledgeable theatergoer will find it thoroughly diverting in its breezy mixture of barbed sense and absurdist nonsense.

The trials and tribulations of the suburban theatergoer form the basis of one of the skits: the quest for the babysitter, the snarl of traffic, parking traumas, reservations that have evaporated, and the final securing of seats in an abysmal location. Each sequence is set to some theater tune; singing "I can't believe these seats" to the melody of I Could Have Danced All Night doubles the fun.

Driver and Haddow, who wrote the show, are good at zany little bits of dialogue. In one skit, Jesus Christ shows up for an audition. "You don't look like your picture, Christ," remarks the casting director. "I shaved for a commercial," answers the beardless deity. There is a delicious lampoon of Joseph Papp's Public Theater. A character walks onstage carrying a case labeled P.T. PLAYWRIGHTING KIT. Its contents include "bogus charisma" and a promise to "turn your meaningless tripe into a crock of art."

All four performers, Evalyn Baron, John Driver, Jeffrey Haddow and Roger Neil, play the piano in addition to their other chores. They are fun to be with. At one point, the quartet is upstaged by a duck named Hermione who is put on the piano. A delirious discussion ensues about whether or not the duck will fertilize it. Be that as it may, the evening is well fertilized with laughter.

T.E.K.

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