In recent years, Broadway has been sadly in need of a hit show. Theatergoers, your messiah has arrived. Lily Tomlin and her potpourri of entirely new characters gives a gratifying evening of theater. The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe will soon be a very hot ticket indeed.
Gone are the days in which Ms. Tomlin snapped her brassiere strap and sang out "One ringy-dingy" from a telephone switchboard. Instead we receive a collection of characters ranging from Edie, a gravel-voiced feminist (Ms. Tomlin's most extreme transformation), to Angus Angst, a punk new wave runaway (who's story seems somewhat extraneous when it is all said and done).
Written and directed by Ms. Tomlin's longtime friend and associate, Jane Wagner, the two have some very funny things to say about life when told from the point of view of people both like and unlike ourselves. In Chrissy, the light-headed aerobics devotee, the production gives us a prototype of someone we have inevitably met in the course of our life. Then, in contrast, we are given Trudy, the bag lady we have surely seen but with whom we've never spoken (until now). She tells us her view of some very wonderful and true things she has observed while on this planet and then negates it all by saying, "But what do I know? I'm crazy…"
Search is an impressive display. The show, a modern-day history of attitudes and trends, is quite stunning in its portrayal, especially considering that there are no costume changes. Aided by a reverberating rocket of sound effects, Tomlin effortlessly leaps into character after
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