Spare No Effort, Watch Him Work

“SENTIMENTAL GUFF, that’s all it is.  But it’s as wonderful as sentiment gets.  Fringe theatre is so caught up in warding off its encroaching stagnancy with cheap brutalities that it’s all but forgotten how to be pretty.  Simple. Lovely.

            A show like this, comprised just of Bob Karper’s middle-American reminiscences, set to music of his own composition, may be nothing more than an innocent victim waiting to be dispatched by the snarling beast that is hype, but be assured: it deserves better.  Karper takes a familiar form, warms it up a little and manages to engender stories taken from his life, anecdotes from people he loves, and observations of weirdoes, flitting around h is world, with a hint of the unexpected.

            His musical talent is immense, his gift for expression is impressive, his show is a delight.  He is a man you’ll wish you knew.  Spare no effort.  Watch him work.

Thrill: This man makes Sadness seem smaller

Spill: He’s only here for a month”

★★★★★

—John Lyndon, FEST