Fleck's manic and inspired monologue on the weird and sometimes wonderful side effects of American consumer culture left me wishing for a second act. Drawing from a deep (and deeply funny) trove of cultural references -- from car commercials to campy show tunes to Purcell -- Fleck flexed his comic muscles to their limit on this one.
I'm with Colin. In recounting his 10-day, supposedly karma-changing fast, Fleck spends 10 minutes on his preparation, 40 highly enjoyable minutes on his first day of fasting, five minutes on the next nine - and ends the show without a word about day 11. It doesn't need a whole second act, just another few minutes to tell us the results. He should ditch the sing-song nightmare sequence and add a conclusion, instead.
Fleck's high-energy, sound-effects-filled delivery was funny, pointed and thoroughly entertaining but I felt a balance issue in the piece, too. Day One was drawn out longer than needed and were there really no hiccups to greater self-awareness and fulfillment? With such a tempting and powerful consumer culture, redemption seemed too abrupt.
at first I thought, eh, why am I listening to this. then I reached my BOS moment. I breathed, observed, surrendered. loved it. a fascinating performance of a good essay, or an extrapolation thereof.
agree that the nightmare sequence was weird, but after nine days of fasting, what would one expect?
Fascinating performance. Fascinating performer. Tamer than I expected from one of the NEA 4. Cultural references to lives immersed in banal cultural exchanges moved from interesting to intense, reminding us how deeply we are daily bombarded with advertising and warnings. His technique is masterful - punctuating his story telling with sound effects and recreations of the ads.
Fleck's manic and inspired monologue on the weird and sometimes wonderful side effects of American consumer culture left me wishing for a second act. Drawing from a deep (and deeply funny) trove of cultural references -- from car commercials to campy show tunes to Purcell -- Fleck flexed his comic muscles to their limit on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Colin. In recounting his 10-day, supposedly karma-changing fast, Fleck spends 10 minutes on his preparation, 40 highly enjoyable minutes on his first day of fasting, five minutes on the next nine - and ends the show without a word about day 11. It doesn't need a whole second act, just another few minutes to tell us the results. He should ditch the sing-song nightmare sequence and add a conclusion, instead.
ReplyDeleteFleck's high-energy, sound-effects-filled delivery was funny, pointed and thoroughly entertaining but I felt a balance issue in the piece, too. Day One was drawn out longer than needed and were there really no hiccups to greater self-awareness and fulfillment? With such a tempting and powerful consumer culture, redemption seemed too abrupt.
ReplyDeleteat first I thought, eh, why am I listening to this. then I reached my BOS moment. I breathed, observed, surrendered. loved it. a fascinating performance of a good essay, or an extrapolation thereof.
ReplyDeleteagree that the nightmare sequence was weird, but after nine days of fasting, what would one expect?
Fascinating performance. Fascinating performer. Tamer than I expected from one of the NEA 4. Cultural references to lives immersed in banal cultural exchanges moved from interesting to intense, reminding us how deeply we are daily bombarded with advertising and warnings. His technique is masterful - punctuating his story telling with sound effects and recreations of the ads.
ReplyDelete