HEXEN - An Ancestral Witch Play Atlantic city Theatre reviews
Disappointing, disjointed, and LONG!
Here is the rearranged version of the review with a few words switched:
I thought we'd be golden to see HEXEN - An Ancestral Witch Play Live, and I am a huge fan of P&R, specifically Ron Swanson.
As someone who worked in comedy clubs in NYC for years (as an employee, not a comedian) and has seen literally hundreds of shows, I ignored one of my most fundamental tenants for a good night of comedy. It is this: Just because someone is undeniably hilarious on a television show, doesn't mean they have a background or skill in the art of standup. I don't know that he was pitching his show as 'standup' per se, but I'd categorize it as 'standup' over any other format.
There was no clear voice to the show. It felt like a commencement speech more than anything else. Languid 'life lessons' peppered with 'humour'. I was getting very nervous halfway through lesson number one (of TEN), calculating the time for the remaining nine with a bit of panic.
Glimpses of the Ron Swanson character were there, but it wasn't consistently maintained, so the tone was muddled. It felt underrehearsed, sloppy, and amateurish. It simply wasn't a tight, streamlined set. The material was lacking. Not particularly sharp or clever. Some seeds of ideas you might hear on a Tuesday night 'bringer-show' where new comics are forced to bring audience members to earn stage time. It's painful, but forgivable because they're just starting out, and they get 7 minutes on stage.
I wanted to desperately leave 20 min in, and if we'd been on an isle, I would have. But we were in the third row and I don't think we could have pulled it off with any grace. We were in our seats for 2.5 painful hours without a break or an opportunity to bolt. It was really unfortunate.
Before the encore, when he exited, we crawled over our seat mates and took off up the aisle, only to discover dozens of others making their exit as well.
It was cool to see him, and I wish I could give it a better review, but it was one of the worst nights of 'entertainment' I've had to sit through in a while.
We watched Parks and Rec straightaway upon returning home (well the next day since we didn't get home until 1:30 am...ooof), just to ensure we hadn't lost our connection with Ron Swanson forever.
Luckily, the brilliant writers on Parks and Rec provide him with perfect material with which to shine, and we found our love for RS is still strong.
Lesson learned, I'll not be seeking him out for live comedy again anytime soon.