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Sock Puppets Gone Wild
by Jennifer Ernst
Harvey Finklestein’s Sock Puppet Showgirls reviewed October 15, 2005
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| Nomi's infamous pole dance |
| Photo Credit: Harvey Finklestein |
| Everything you need to know about Harvey Finklestein's Sock Puppet Showgirls is contained in the title—this is a theatrical re-creation by sock puppets of the 1995 Joe Eszterhas-penned flop. Much like the movie, the sock puppet version relies heavily on vulgarity, silliness, foul language, and lots of offensive slang terms for female genitalia. It features nude puppets of both genders and simulated puppet sex, and it treats date rape, sexual exploitation, and showgirl-on-showgirl violence with a cheerful mien. In short, there is much that backs up Sock Puppets Showgirls's claim to be rude, crude, and unspeakably obscene.
That said, this is no sock puppet retelling of The Aristocrats. In replaying the rise and fall of a feisty and ambitious young drifter named Nomi who hitches into Vegas (where she aspires to become a dancer, as is often pointed out in both the original and sock puppet version, not a whore), Sock Puppet Showgirls is certainly raunchy. But those with basic-cable access have seen worse, especially if they've ever caught The Robin Byrd Show.
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| The infamous pool scene |
| Photo Credit: Harvey Finklestein |
| Sock Puppet Showgirls is also funny, but there's not really that many laughs to be had from mocking a movie that is, in itself, a mockery. The show's charm is the juvenile delight in seeing a dirty-talking sock puppet with mammaries wield a knife and pole-dance with equal aplomb.
The script hews fairly close to the original, although it does take some shots at the paint-by-numbers script (urging Nomi to do the right thing by her best friend, a character cries, "Nomi, you've got to! She's the closet thing this show has to a heart!") and at the movie's more florid moments. (In the re-creation of a scene in the movie that showcased Nomi performing an impressively athletic routine, Nomi the puppet cries, "Are you ready for the most violent lap dance you've ever had?") Howlers from the original, including lines such as "There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you," are left intact, but they don't go uncommented on.
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| Nomi goes to Vegas |
| Photo Credit: Harvey Finklestein |
| First performed as Sock Puppet Showgirls in February 2002 at Chicago's Side Studio, the show moved to another theater and enjoyed a loyal following during a nine-month run. It was restaged under its current title in July 2004 (the show is now hosted by a red-nosed, overall-wearing clownish puppet, the "Harvey Finklestein" of the title"), and in August it was part of the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival.
As befits a show with such a lengthy history, the production is loose and assured. The voice acting is pretty good—the human beings behind the socks and children's puppets are never revealed beyond the wrist—and the sock puppet acting isn't too bad either.
But no matter how confident a production Sock Puppet Showgirls is, it's still an unauthorized re-creation of a cheesy movie performed by homemade sock puppets. It's all in the title. If you aren't attracted by the name, then you're not the audience this show is looking for. But if the idea of sock puppets and Showgirls brought together at least makes you smile, a good time is in the offing.
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Ace of Clubs
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Category: Comedy
Written by: Harvey Finklestein - adapted from the screenplay by Joe Eszterhas
Directed by: Harvey Finklestein
Produced by: Harvey Finklestein’s Institute of Whimsical, Fantastical, and Marvelous Puppet Masterage
Opened: October 15, 2005
Closed: October 30, 2005
Running Time: 75 minutes
Theater: Ace of Clubs
Address: 9 Great Jones Street (Between Broadway and Lafayette St. )
New York, NY 10012
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $15.00
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Creative Team
Created by: John Shaterian, Stephanie Shaterian, Andrew McNeal, Sasha McNeal and Jimmy McDermott
Based on the movie Showgirls by Joe Eszterhas
Puppeteers:
John Shaterian, Jason Marshall, Joe Basile, Kelly Holden, Cera Jane
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