The TBA 08 book says that this show intended to play Millie Jackson’s songs “with uproarious, unabashed frenzy,” and on that point, Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman certainly succeeded. In particular, Everett has the pipes and the attitude needed to carry out Jackson’s oddly practical tales of cheating lovers, married lovers, cunnilingus lovers, and all the rest.
For me, though, there were three problems with this show–ranging from a problem of personal preference, to a deeper level of what we are trying to do with this festival (and even time-based art as a whole)–that overshadow the energy and talent of the cast.
1. At it’s heart, this is a diva show. I should have guessed that–or rather I should have kept in mind that I don’t like diva shows. The over-the-top, incessant nudge-wink routine doesn’t work for me, and in this show, it feels like a waste of folks with this caliber of talent. When you’re working with songs that involve choruses like “You gotta lick it–before you stick it” or employ a particularly raunchy take on “didn’t I blow your mind this time?” you can either play it quite straight or really ham it up. This show lives somewhere in the middle, and that choice doesn’t seem completely conscious. Do we want Bridget to be that diva? Or is this Bridget trying to “be” Jackson? How much of the between-song patter is straight from the source material, and how much is written by the performers? And most importantly, what makes a tribute show something suited for a multi-night run at the TBA Festival, rather than a spirited one-shot at the Works?
2. On another, more uncomfortable level, this show raises a lot of feminist questions for me that form a huge missed opportunity. Jackson’s songs clearly celebrate female sexuality while containing a really weird “stand by your man” undercurrent that Sexercise didn’t address. While it might be a tribute to the “profound Millie Jackson,” this show throws a whole career-load of issues of power, sexuality, fidelity, and nastiness at the audience without actually mining the golden opportunity to subvert, discuss, or at least direct our attentions to what makes Jackson profound.* That’s a little bit heartbreaking.
3. Do we want this festival to simply/only be “the festival that takes its shirt off?” Because if so, I can understand why Mark Russell introduced as the centerpiece of the festival, a show that was emblematic of what TBA is all about, the real TBA deal. I for one, however, do not look to the TBA Festival to be raunch for the sake of raunch–if I wanted that, I would go to Sinferno at Dante’s on any given Sunday night.** At TBA, I’ve seen–and I expect!–shows that have totally made me scratch my head in unforgettable ways, shows that considered nudity and sexuality intimately and with beautiful wonder, and artists that addressed politics and the status quo with intelligence and inspiration. Sexercise was a show that had a ton of potential to hit every single one of these points that mark those great TBA performances–and missed them all.
At Tim Crouch’s England, we were constantly, incessantly, brilliantly told to “Look. Look!”
Sexercise settles for an exhibitionist “Look at me!”
Posted By: Jim Withington
*And lest you think that these songs simply weren’t profound, they were. They talk about relationships in a harsh, real way. I just don’t think that the richness of the material got the full treatment it warranted.
**This is in no way meant to say that performers at Dante’s are not performers–and damn good ones!–in their own right.
