TWAIN REVIEWS

Mark Twain in the 21st Century (“An Evening with Twain”)

By Matthew Sidney Long FOR LA2DAY.COM Aug 7, 2007

Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” booms through the darkness, the lights come up, and a man in a white suit is rocking out to his I Pod. A cell phone sits on a piano, a laptop rests on a chair, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Barry Bonds have just been Googled, and a chia pet kicks back on a mahogany bookshelf.

Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” booms through the darkness, the lights come up, and a man in a white suit is rocking out to his I Pod. A cell phone sits on a piano, a laptop rests on a chair, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Barry Bonds have just been Googled, and a chia pet kicks back on a mahogany bookshelf.

Welcome to the Whitefire Theatre’s production of “Mark Twain in the 21st Century.” Directed by Bryan Rasmussen and written and performed by Tennessee Webb, this is NOT your grandmother’s Mark Twain. Touching on subjects as modern and diverse as the war in Iraq, Viagra, stem cell research, George Bush, gay marriage, the internet, rightwing fundamentalists, and the Dixie Chicks — this is Twain at his uncensored and “ready to rumble” finest. He’s got a lot to say — hell, he’s been away for 97 years!

So let’s all pull up a chair and get to it. And then, just as we are all settling into our seats, something extra cool happens. The image of a river boat materializes on a screen above the bookshelf and Twain asks us if we all want to hop on the boat with him to take a journey down the big, old Mississippi like Huck and Jim. Want to? Hell yes! The riverboat bobs from side to side and we are off (props go out to multimedia designer Gabriel Griego, whose collage of still and moving images add immediacy and context to the performance). As Twain continues to riff, the river morphs into a milky-way solar system full of stars, and we are soon catapulting down a cosmic Mississippi at breakneck speed — Tom Sawyer as astronaut. (Ground control to Major Tom, indeed).

Webb takes the wheel from here. Looking uncannily like Twain in both appearance and manner, he cuts a darker, angrier Twain than we are used to — but the ever present cigar and twinkle in his eye do wonders for his Q rating. He is an inquisitive and opinionated Twain, and this prickly portrayal works for most of the show, however, Webb meanders a bit in the final third, struggling to find traction for his countless ideas. Bolstered by a wonderful, quirky set (Stephen Taylor creates an artsy den of purgatory) and a strong sound design (rock n’ roll, cell phones, and southern spirituals are meshed into a sonic gumbo by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski), “Mark Twain in the 21st Century” has a lot to offer, just like its main character. We get to see our world today through the eyes of one of our most beloved storytellers — it’s a great idea — and Rasmussen and Webb ...pull it off.

“There are turning points in our lives that cause us to rethink ourselves, our views and direction,” Webb quotes Twain. And these turning points are never ending — be it Huck deciding to accompany Jim into the deep south to oppose slavery, or political leaders undermining/changing the Constitution to push their agendas, or government taking away people’s freedoms because they may have different viewpoints.

Mark Twain spoke out against all of these things back in the 1800’s and his spirit is still fighting the good fight in the 21st century.

For more information and booking opportunities please contact:

Patrick J. Alach Esq.

with Longo & Alach LLP

(310) 272-7166

Patrick.alach@lallp.net