​"GO!" LA Weekly

(more reviews below...)

​

​"Horray for the Tuneful and Ireverent Doomsday Cabaret!"

​Back Stage Review

by David C. Nichols  10/29/2012

​

​"It’s December 21, 2012, and something cosmically unhinged is erupting at the San Bernardino Community Center. Proponents of various end-of-the-world itineraries have gathered together, their theories including the Mayan calendar, the Book of Revelations, the I Ching, interplanetary collision, Native American augurs, technological meltdown, and the shrinking bee population. So why not come to “Doomsday Cabaret, where every day is closing day”?

That’s the sardonic gist of “Doomsday Cabaret,” and as evenings of rock ‘n’ roll and nihilism go, it’s wildly exhilarating. Michael Shaw Fisher’s mordant assessment of the End of Days, a smash at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival, is unique, uproarious, thought-provoking, and superbly performed.

Before it begins, symposium organizer Gerald Cox (an endearingly fretful, dulcet-toned Nic Nassuet) follows emcee Ed Suddick (author Fisher, who is going places), who invites us to vote on the likeliest cause of global catastrophe. With the arrival of their fellow experts, this “rock musical of apocalyptic proportions” begins its tuneful, irreverent trek to eschaton.

Nathan Dugan (Joe Fria, as hilariously unfettered as ever) and Lorraine (versatile, rich-voiced Sarah Chaney), his wife, are a Christian couple who make their money decoding Bible prophecies. Gale Reed (Jake Regal, equal parts Woody Allen and Steve Carell) is a techno geek devoted to computer-generated statistics. This unsettles Deedra WitWit (the wonderfully hangdog Leigh Wulff), a crunchy-Granola scientist who resents being called bee girl. Then there’s Lady Vavoom (Liza Baron, archly sultry and soaring), the meta-Wiccan oracle of Planet X, and The Messenger (Mark Bemesderfer, deadpan and dead-on), a Hopi prophet of nature’s ordained disintegration. Rounding out this chaotic collective is pyromaniac Kurt Billie (scene-stealing, rafter-raising David Haverty), who, though uninvited, ultimately has as much reason to be here as anyone.

In the light-fingered hands of director Chris Raymond and musical director Michael Teoli (who provided additional music and the sharp arrangements) the show walks a perilous tightrope between sketch comedy and genuine comment without flinching. The band is incendiary, the designs suitably makeshift—particularly Matthew Richter’s deliberately cheesy lighting—and the comically and vocally ripe cast goes for the jugular with spine-tingling harmonic convergence.

As for the material, such song titles as “If You Love Me Light Your Car on Fire,” “I Ching Is the Thing” and “What Kind of World Makes You Feel Like an Asshole” give you some idea. Fisher’s lyrics aren’t always the most graceful, but they make their points smartly enough, with his melodies exactly the right side of generic. If there’s a flaw, it’s that the show reaches its final transcendence a tad hastily, and, as someone who voted in the pre-show, I question the absence of a number about falling plasma. These are quibbles, because overall “Doomsday Cabaret” is as effective a rock musical as anything since “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Armageddon itself won’t be half as much raucous fun.

​

Critic’s Score: A

​

​

​Accessibility Live Review (*excerpt)

Rich Borowy 10/31/2012

"...This one act musical production with book, music, and lyrics by Michael Shaw Fisher, was first performed as part of the annual Hollywood Fringe Festival, held in early summer along the many
theaters that dot Santa Monica Blvd, and grew into the current presentation as seen on the Blank's stage. The entire show holds a whole lot of brilliance and genuine wit, and the music is upbeat and
shows originality to its theme and pacing! It rocks loud, but unlike past end of world predicaments, the music score does not disappoint! Michael Teole, who contributed some of the score heard within this production, takes upon the musical direction adding to the (non)sense and sensibility (Not silly  by any means either).."

 

 

"Extreme Entertainment"

WeHo News Review

Bill Kamyar 11/5/2012

Writer Michael Shaw Fisher has created a hilarious rock symposium where the proponents of various theories concerning our impending doom get together in the San Bernardino Community Center on December 21, 2012.

Here they will duke it out with song and comedy to determine which of these theories will be the last one standing on the last day of the world. After all, only one can be right. Right?

....For two years I wrote the radio show for a psychic. During that time she taught me candle magic and to read the Tarot cards. She was a frequent guest on the radio program “Coast to Coast,” so I know these types.  But now I can see them and hear them sing with great show voices.

....Director Chris Raymond works with an incredibly talented cast that showcases Liza Baron as Lady Vavoom from Planet X and Mark Bemesderfer as the Hopi Messenger. Raymond directs with energy and utilizes the small space creatively.

....The audience gave the cast and the band a well deserved standing ovation.

“Doomsday Cabaret” won the best musical award from the Hollywood Fringe in 2012.

On the way home as I was thinking that’s the most fun I ever had in San Bernardino, I noticed a triangular shaped object overhead…with three blinking red lights.  OMG it’s the UFO Linda Mouton Howe described on “Coast to Coast.”

Cool, I’m being abducted by aliens!  I wonder if it’s really aliens or the cast of “Doomsday Cabaret.”

It doesn’t matter, either way I’ll be entertained.

 

​​"New Improved Doomsday Cabaret - better than ever"

Examiner Review

Bob Leggett 11/13/2012

I previously reviewed Doomsday Cabaret ("DC") during its Fringe Run and then again during its Best of Fringe run. I was thoroughly impressed with the cast and crew - they truly earned their Best Musical and Best of Fringe awards!

Now performing at the Second Stage Theatre, home of The Blank Theatre Company, DC has been recast with four new actors while keeping five of the original actors. The play has also been partially rewritten to give a couple of the actors meatier roles. The net result is a production that is head and shoulders above the previous "Fringe" version.

I attended the play on opening night (the play will run through December 21 - the Mayan Armageddon!) and fully intend to be there on closing night as well.

​

Liza is the recipient of some of the meatier rewrites in the play, which permit her to more fully express her character, Lady Vavoom, who wants to go out in mid-orgasm. Liza oozes sexuality like a ripe peach, and her portrayal electrifies the room like no one else.

The band is first rate, and ably turns Michael Shaw Fisher's dramatic score into incredible songs. Among my favorite singers were David Haverty (a cross between Meatloaf and Creedence Clearwater Revival), Sarah Chaney and of course, Liza Baron.

This is a fun romp, full of thoughtful dialog and incredible performances. I highly recommend it - I know I will be back again!

​

​

EDGE Los Angeles

Tatum Regan 11/13/12

.

..Though all of these characters might be representative of a kookier swath of society, Michael Shaw Fisher, writer of the book, lyrics, and music and playing the part of Cabaret MC Ed Suddick, recognizes their predicament as universal. In his characters, he sees the struggle to make real, intimate human connections; he sees their obsession with the end as a retreat from a humdrum life journey that has left them feeling alone.

​...With a winning combination of music, bawdy humor and compassionate treatment of quirky subjects, this production is genuinely entertaining.

 

 

 

"IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE END OF TIMES"

LAist Review

Mia Bonadonna 11/30/12

 

Michael Shaw Fisher's apocalyptic song revue, Doomsday Cabaret, is back for a second fleshed-out run after taking home this year's Best Musical Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Fisher's hour-long wonder-spectacle portrays a convention of doomsday scenario experts presenting their impending end of the world theories through music and lounge lizard antics. The show's energized cast injects catchy and weird, brain-penetrating lyrics into the brain as they tease and heckle each other on the last day of Earth. While simple and unassuming in character, Doomsday Cabaret is charmingly seedy, fun, kitschy and infused with local Angeleno underground sensibilities.

The cast of Doomsday Cabaret is quite large and capable, but by and large, Fisher is the heart and soul of the show as Mayan Calendar junkie Ed Suddick. Falling somewhere between Blue Velvet and your endearingly weird uncle that let you sneak sips of beer, Fisher's energy and enthusiasm work like an audience contagion, drawing viewers into his finessed humor and dark reveling. Nic Nassuet is enticingly quirky as Ed's sidekick and I Ching expert, Jerry Cox. As arsonist Kurt Billie, David Haverty is a winsome musical performer with a strong, mellifluous, room-filling voice. Finally, Joe Fria (as TV evangelist Nathan Dugan) and Liza Baron (as Lady Vavoom) render their roles with lots of charisma and theatrical precision.

...We love the kinda sleazy underbelly glam aesthetics that Raymond and set designer DeAnne Millais bring to this rock musical. Overall, at the end of the day, er, um, end of the world, you can't really go wrong with live music, catchy tunes, and quirky satire, all of which Doomsday Cabaret plays up to the hilt.

 

 

 

Hollywood Fringe Reviews

​

“BEST OF THE FRINGE — I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS ROCK MUSICAL DOOMSDAY CABARET – I’M A BELIEVER”
-Sandy Fury

​

“Every member of the cast has a tremendous voice – my socks were knocked off over and over again…Don’t miss this Top 10 show.”
-Bob Legget LA Examiner

​

“Just good old rockin’ infectious silly fun.”
-Colin Mitchell (Bitter Lemons)

​

“The end of the world is here – and it’s a riot”
-Kurt Gardner (STAGE MAGE, Blogcritics)

​

“Like other edgy age of Aquarius rock-fests like “Hair,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Hedwig amd the Angry Inch” with much more comedic bent… It’s hilarious, really."
-Tracey Paleo (LA Theatre Review)

​

​

​

Cinesnatch Review

6/12/2012 (Hollywood Fringe Version)

​

 

“Everyday is closing day,” announces Eddy Suddick (Michael Shaw Fisher, who also wrote the book, lyrics, and music), the host of Doomsday Cabaret!  It’s a new 60-minute rock musical of apocalyptic proportions (opera really, as most of it is sung) about a convention involving a motley congregation of zany characters sharing their own passionate, individual beliefs of just how exactly Armageddon is going wipe us all out.  He kicks off the audience interaction with his organizer Jerald “Jerry” Cox (Chairman Barnes, dressed in a silk jacket and ponytail) greeting the audience into the house with a table of End of Days symbol choices (Barnes hilariously has the IEC 5009 power on/off button stamped upside down on his forehead).  Much to my surprise, the band was already playing on the set of Fool and the Red Queen's Act I, complete with lancet windows (which work for the production’s purposes).  The same monitor hanging from above played various images and text, until the house closed and the duo emerge atop wooden boxes with their arms spread open like rock gods.

(back row from left to right) Jake Regal, Mark Bemesderfer, Sarah Chaney, J. Todd Howell, Michael Shaw Fisher, Lauren Andrea Nelsen, David Haverty, Sarah Key, (in front) Chariman Barnes

The writing is humorous.  While it goes for gimme’s (regarding The Rapture, one character snidely comments in the Christian couple’s direction, “Did someone get left behind?”), the lyrics are smart and the cast full of energy and vigor.  When the florescent lights come on giving the effect that the show is over, the group sings “We’re Still Here,” including the line “I feel like an asshole.”  The proceedings are a great deal of fun and it’s quite likely that you will leave the theatre singing the refrain from a couple of the songs (namely, the title theme and "Webbot").