Playing through September 5, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY — How do I begin? Saturday’s Voyeur is nothing short of one of the cleverest, wittiest, most irreverent musical revue I have ever seen – and I loved it!
Voyeur began in 1978 at the Salt Lake Acting Company and has been an annual installation to their season ever since. Each year the show is re-written to reflect the past year in Utah politics and cultural happenings by its original authors Allen Nevins and Nancy Borgenicht. The two have the Voyeur experience down to an art because this year’s show entitled “The Year That Was” delivered everything to be expected from a great musical revue.
My previous experiences with SLAC have been phenomenal, so my expectations for Voyeur were high, but definitely met. Performed in their larger upstairs theatre, tables are installed around the thrust stage where those lucky few to sit in the premium table seats bring food and drink to enjoy before and during the show. Voyeur is written in a cabaret revue style ripped straight from Utah headlines with parodied songs, larger-than-life characters and spoofs on current events. In fact, I felt the show to be reminiscent of a musical version of Saturday Night Live. On the list of those being roasted this year were Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Orrin Hatch, Gayle Uzicka and the entirety of the Utah legislature.
Before I delve further I have to commend the cast for an absolutely superb performance. The opening number “The Year That Was” opened the show with a high energy, cheeky production number where the vocals were spectacular and the rest of the show followed suit. Performed in three acts with two intermissions the show runs 2 hours 40 minutes (approx.) and shows for well over 2 months. The actors are to be applauded for giving such a fantastic performance every night. One of the most stand-out performances came from Victoria Elena Nones giving not only a fall-on-the-floor funny rendition of Sarah Palin, but also a show-stopping interpretation of a money loving, morally bankrupt Republican legislator complete with evil cackle and facial contortions.
Another not so happy headline involving a woman murdering her husband in Orem was satirized by Shannon Musgrave as “Mini-Drinker” (a drunken Mormon housewife) and Jesse Pepe, aptly named “the Fool” (her pretentious, self-righteous husband). Musgrave was seen constantly reading the horoscopes and sipping her “special herbal tea” laced with liquor while her husband put all their money into a Ponzi scheme at the suggestion of guys in “the ward.” Both actors gave fantastic performances in all their roles, but shone as the dysfunctional couple.
Hands down, however, the best moment of the night was the scene in which Steven Fehr appeared onstage in large-breasted drag as Gayle Uzicka and began to interrogate Utah teachers for “liberal teachings” and speaking out against Sen. Buttars. Reminiscent of many of the late Chris Farley’s drag performances on SNL, Fehr had me nearly in tears with his parody of Uzicka. Truly there was not a bad performance all night. Each moment was filled with energy and actors putting 110% into the dozens of characters they were asked to portray.
Now be advised, Saturday’s Voyeur in no way attempts to hide any sort of bias or agenda (In the finale two characters flashed the audience wearing t-shirts turned into underpants saying “Vote Corroon”) and at times they take very open stabs at the LDS church, the Republican party and anything involving the conservative right. If you are not up to date on Utah political happenings in the past year then you may miss a few jokes, but that didn’t stop me from laughing the entire show. However, it is all, I feel, in the spirit of fun. I am definitely adding Saturday’s Voyeur to my Must See list for the upcoming year!
