We had tickets to see "Tuna Does Vegas" at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center last night. As we were driving home, my husband and I discussed the fact that we've seen all four of their shows: Greater Tuna; A Tuna Christmas; Red, White and Tuna; and Tuna Does Vegas. And we've enjoyed each one.
My husband said, "do you think they do the same show over and over again?" Possibly, I looked askance at him--"Yes. I'm sure they do. They've done four shows in the past twenty years. They are doing the same shows over and over again."
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Joe Sears and Jaston Williams have done other stage work during the past twenty years, but they have made a living playing the wide cast of characters that IS Tuna, Texas.
I was first introduced to this type of theater by a small, local company in Houston, Texas, called The Radio Music Theater. In this small, personal format, I saw three actors play the multitude of characters that inhabited the small town of Dumpster, Texas. The Fertle family have been through all kinds of big doin's, including Weiner Day at the Rollercade and Just Shut Up and Drive.
Both Tuna and Dumpster are populated by many Southern stereotypes acted by just a few people. In the case of the Tuna shows, the actors have complete costumes and wigs to aid in the transformation. In the case of Dumpster's personalities, often a hat and glasses are the only props to aid the actors in making a personality shift. Both are fascinating exercises of the actor's art. The audience loses itself in each unique character with assorted tics, traits and speech patterns.
Eventually, you don't see that the actor beneath is the same, you see only the change the writer wanted when the new character walked on stage.
There will always be a soft spot in my heart for live theater--but I believe that as far as acting goes, it's harder to play a cast of characters believably than to perform a single role each night. The casts of Tuna and Dumpster have my unending respect and admiration. I should be so talented.
--Sandee Wagner
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2 comments:
You've got to quit tell such stories about your man. You'll have women lining up to talk him into polygamy. What a great guy! I don't think mine would go see that pair if they were paying us to watch.
We don't go hear the musicians I enjoy, either, but I do get to pick a movie now and then.
In case you're wondering, he picked our kids' names, too, except for the last one's middle name. (I got to choose it.)
After all these years, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern. LOL.
Susan, my DH is a saint. But you know that. He and I have always enjoyed comedy. It's something we shared back when we were dating and thirty wonderful years later, we're still seeing comedy shows. I'm not sure he'd raise his head up enough to notice them, but when I point them out, he's willing to go see them. spw
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