Note: The following review was published Aug. 5, 2003, when Rattlebrain Comedy Theater first staged “Almost Denver: The Songs and Failures of Jim Aurora.” In the current remount at the Avenue Theater, original cast members Dave Shirley, Jane Shirley, Michael O’Shea are joined by Eric Mather and Dave Johnson. The ticket information at the bottom pertains to the current run, now playing through July 12, 2008:
During the Rattlebrain Theater Company’s shamelessly clever new parody of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s recent homage to John
Denver, a Muppet-looking “Ruppet” puppet puts its furry finger to our protagonist’s lips just as he is about to utter that dreaded, copyrighted “M” word.
“Don’t say that!” the puppet gasps in one of the most brilliantly absurd moments of an altogether brilliantly absurd evening. “We don’t want to get sued!”
Good luck. But I say, bring it on, DCTC, the estates of John Denver and Jim Henson, and purveyors of good taste everywhere.
Litigation will have never been so much fun.
If the DCTC is smart, it will not only take the high road when it comes to “Almost Denver: The Songs and Failures of Jim Aurora,” the irreverent comedy that’s ringing its D&F clock-tower bell – it’ll use it like a Raggedy “Annie” doll.
“Almost Heaven: The Songs and Stories of John Denver” was the DCTC’s most surprising hit last season, playing to nearly 30,000 people. It will return to kick off the new season Oct. 2, with the hope that it will run at the Ricketson Theatre through next May.
So having this parody in production down the street in the weeks leading up to “Almost Heaven’s” reopening can only help the DCTC. Imitation is the highest form of flattery – and the most effective method of marketing.
John Denver was a brilliant songwriter and an unashamedly optimistic advocate of basic human kindness, which made him vulnerable to downright savage satire and scorn that only grew after his death. An entire website is still dedicated to tasteless Denver jokes. As a result, his defenders are almost paramilitaristic in their defense of his memory and legacy. I learned from my coverage of the nearly suicidally sweet “Almost Heaven” last year that you don’t mess with a Denver fan scorned. There ain’t no Rocky Mountain high enough that can keep them from you.
So while Rattlebrain’s caustic, bizarre, mean and merry “Jim Aurora” treads on sensitive ground, if Denver were still alive, he would buy out the first row of seats. I can say this only because Denver was famously self-deprecating (when the jokes weren’t personal), and because the two ladies sitting in front of me at the Rattlebrain – self-described fanatics who even recognized the parody of an unreleased Denver song – told me so.
“Jim Aurora” is told in the same treacly narrative style as the DCTC’s “Almost Heaven” – only here, it’s funny in a good way. When the lights come up on five actors flashing repellently fake, ultrawhite smiles worthy of a Christopher Guest film, you are laughing before they utter a word. The five sit in chairs five across the stage surrounded by instruments they play themselves, as well as the 25 hats and wigs they will use to change characters.
Their story is based on the mythical folk legend Jim Blickenschtoffer (John Denver was born John Deutschendorf), a peacenik who lasts just 24 hours in Vietnam but while there learns of the virtues of Aurora, Colorado: “tract housing, traffic congestion, prairie dogs and not a tree in sight.” Why, it’s almost heaven.
All five actors take their turn as Jim, who changes his surname to match his beloved adopted hometown and pursues a musical career (his first band is called Black Dog Death). You can pretty much guess where things go from there. Well, actually, you probably can’t, especially when the troupe mocks Denver’s experimentation with a self-realization movement called Erhard Seminar Training (EST).
The only reason Rattlebrain gets away with all this borderline savagery is because it is not savage when it comes to Denver’s music. Yes, they create wildly inappropriate lyrics to go with Denver’s classic tunes, but there is a reverence and integrity in the way the music is played. Thanks mostly to Micheal O’Shea (guitar), Dave Shirley (drums) and Tim O’Shea (keys), with additional vocals from Kris O’Shea and the devilish Jane Shirley, these five sound really good.
But the songs are very funny. “Country Roads” becomes “Parker Road”; “Back Home Again” becomes, “Hey, it’s good to see tract homes again”; “Rocky Mountain High” becomes “Let’s All Get High (In My Eldorado”). Other songs that get the Rattlebrain runaround are “Matthew,” “Lazy Little Stream,” “Like a Sad Song,” “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” “Follow Me,” “Country Boy,” “Calypso” and “Annie’s Song.”
Not all of them work. The world could do without “Leaving On a Jet Plane” becoming, “I’m Heavin’ on This Jet Plane.” And, strangely, the most easily lampoonable Denver-associated song of all – John Sommers’ “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” – is spared.
Sometimes the humor goes from off-color to off-putting, and some of the biographical references are too obscure. But, in many ways, “Jim Aurora” is the best Rattlebrain offering yet because it represents such growth in the company’s development.
Rattlebrain has made its mark so far as writers of funny, brief bits of sketch comedy. “Jim Aurora” succeeds with a higher mission – taking a single comic concept and executing a brilliant through-line that carries an entire evening.
“Almost Denver *** 1/2 (out of 4 stars)
Musical parody. Presented by: The Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave. 90 minutes. Through July 12 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; also Thursdays May 29, June 5 and June 12; also 2 p.m. Sundays June 8 and June 15. $20-$24 (303-321-5925 or avenuetheater.com).
