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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

One-Man Star Wars Trilogy in Chicago 145

Posted by CmdrTaco from the you-can't-make-this-stuff-up dept.
xueexueg writes "Although the Shoggoth on the Roof was C&D'd by the authors of A Fiddler on the Roof, there's still some hope for dorky theatre in Chicago: last night I saw the One -Man Star Wars trilogy at the Studio Stage at the Noble Fool Theater. I was expecting it to be a kind of embarrasing hour of this guy jumping around reenacting Star Wars and doing voices and that it would be terrible. Instead it was a thrilling hour of this guy jumping around reenacting Star Wars and doing voices and it was wonderful, and he brought the whole audience along." xueexueg's brief review follows.

Apparently the One Man, Charles Ross, was a hit at the Vancouver and Toronto Fringe Festivals in 2002. Now he's in Chicago until January 3, 2004. I took my girlfriend for her birthday, a little nervous because she's a theatre snob and a huge Star Wars geek; luckily this production satisfied her on both counts. Coming onstage all in black, with elbow pads (he has many occasions to throw himself to the ground) he sings/hums the music, does all the special effects and sound effects, and acts all the parts. Skeptical? A reviewer who saw him in Toronto said "If George Lukas [sic] could see this, he'd rediscover the secret lost in the two most recent films: that it's imagination -- and not computer driven imagery -- which made the original Star Wars so great." I couldn't agree more: every scene he performed was brilliantly evocative of the original, and the audience -- on this second night of the run, a mix of hard-core fans and newspaper reviewers with press kits -- never ceased to be surprised at how spot-on he was, the whole way through. Other reviews raved about his "energy", which I feared would mean he was like my first roommate, a huge Star Wars fan but also way too energetic for me and didn't use deodorant. But his energy just kept the show moving along and by the end his sweat showed that the choreography of the visual effects was not easy.

Every article about the show says that Mr. Ross has seen the Trilogy "over 500 times", and his performance leaves little room for doubt on this point, but those who have also seen it as many times may find a few quibbles -- every now and then, reciting a memorable line, he changes it just a little, which would sometimes break my immersion in the world he created, but only for a moment. It did take a little time to get warmed up to him, but at 20 minutes per movie, he gets up to speed fast, so by the time he had Luke sullenly watching the double sunset on Tatooine, I -- and the rest of the audience -- was putty in his hands.

I highly recommend that anyone in the Midwest take a chance on this show. It's only an hour long, so if you're a total loser who hates it, you won't be stuck there for as long as you were stuck in The Phantom Menace. And, don't worry, the prequels never come up in the show: this is only the Real Star Wars."
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One-Man Star Wars Trilogy in Chicago More

One-Man Star Wars Trilogy in Chicago

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  • I guess... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...everything is better than the original thing since Ep1, Ep2 and certainly Ep3.

    All thanks to George Lucas and the "CG" labeled crackpipe in his hand.
    • It's odd---you're the second person I've seen refer to Episode 3 as if you've already seen it. I have come to the conclusion that there's a time-traveling group of movie connoisseurs who frequent slashdot. I have only one thing to say to you: if you give me a time machine, I'll keep quiet about it.

  • And the backers? (Score:5, Funny)

    by mariox19 ( 632969 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @10:17AM (#7428608)

    No doubt his relatives -- after being subjected to little Charlie's performances every holiday dinner, year after year -- put up the money to produce this show.

    At least it gets him out of the house ;-)

    • Star Wars is only the beginning... (Score:4, Funny)

      by kaan ( 88626 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @11:50AM (#7429002)
      And he probably told his family that after he's done with the Star Wars trilogy theater version, he's gonna tackle the Lord of the Rings trilogy one-hour theater play, and then he'll do The Matrix trilogy one-hour version (this is where his slow-mo special effects stunt work will shine).

      And then they probably kicked him and his computers straight out of the basement, "By God, we told you that you wouldn't live at home forever, no matter how much of a nerd you think you are! We found you an apartment and we'll pay the rent, just get out and take your caffeinated beverages with you!"
      • There is an improv show in Chicago called Frodo-A-Go-Go which is supposed to do a parody of LOTR in maybe an hour and a half. It is as bad as the reviewer thought the one man Star Wars was going to be. Although seeing "Giblet" and "Legoland" become transvestites in blond wigs was amusing, the price just isn't worth it.

    • Done before as "Star Wars in 30 Minutes" (Score:4, Informative)

      by Scareduck ( 177470 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @12:52PM (#7429303) Homepage Journal
      This has been done, and to equally thrilled audiences, by the Star Wars In 30 Minutes [swin30.com] guys, who started at USC and premiered at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival (in a galaxy far, far away from George Lucas's lawyers). I saw it when it was in LA last year and it was hilarious.

  • One man show? (Score:5, Funny)

    by awarnack ( 665425 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @10:17AM (#7428614) Homepage
    His name wasn't Ghyslain [jedimaster.net] was it?

  • Thank God... (Score:5, Funny)

    by aredubya74 ( 266988 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @10:18AM (#7428615)
    ...the Puppetry of the Penis [puppetryofthepenis.com] guys didn't think of this first.

    "Is that supposed to be...Jabba?! Oh man *retch*"

  • in the tradition of reduced shakespeare company (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dj_virto ( 625292 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @10:18AM (#7428623)
    I saw a show just l like this in London.. a two man re-enactment of all of Shakespeare's plays done very rapidly. This was very funny. I wonder who started this genre? Maybe bards used to sing the Illiad super fast to entertain each other?
  • I find myself wondering at the validity of that statement for about 5 seconds.

    Quite how one could be both a theare snob and star wars - ahen - person - entirely slips my well defined features.

  • OK, I'm intrigued beyond reckoning (Score:3, Interesting)

    by YetAnotherName ( 168064 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @10:24AM (#7428645) Homepage
    It's hard to imagine one guy on stage singing "doo-dooo-da-da-da-deeeee-dooo-da-da-da-deeeee-doo o..." and reciting "Luke, I am your father," being at all decent.

    This has got to be a joke, right?

    Anyone have a .torrent to prove me wrong?
    • I saw this show when it was in vancouver, and I have to admit, it was much better than I thought it could be! He captured the spirit of the saga, sound effects and all, cutting out the boring parts to make it flow well from one movie to the next.

      At the end, he gave away a free original starwars record to a person in the audiance who could answer his question... Simple for any starwars nut. What does TIE stand for? Unfortunatly, I was not quick enough to get my hand up. Oh well.

      Anyway, if this is in your
      • Twin Ion Engine! Twin Ion Engine! Oh, too late...=(
      • At the end of the show I attended he gave away an original 1970's figurine to the first person to correctly identify the only "underwear shot" in the trilogy -- who showed their underwear and in what scene...?

        The post said that some might quibble with the changes he made to a few memorable lines. I have to point out that he didn't make mistakes, but simply took license with them to add some humour. I loved the bit he added toward the end of the third movie where Mark Hamill realizes his acting career is

    • Can I mod your sig -1 stupid? ;]

  • well (Score:1, Funny)

    by s33l3t ( 722580 )
    I took my girlfriend for her birthday, a little nervous because she's a theatre snob and a huge Star Wars geek; luckily this production satisfied her on both counts. im glad you got laid

  • One-man hilarious live Star Wars parody (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jesrad ( 716567 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @11:00AM (#7428768) Journal
    Frederic Martin gave a one-man live radio show parody of both Star Wars Prequel movies, on the regional french radio OuiFM. This guy has a thousand different voices, and he sings very well. And the result was a lot, lot more enjoyable than the original. He also did the same with Spiderman, XMen, Xmen2, XXX, XXX2, Star Trek, Daredevil, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, UFO Robot Grendizer, the Fantastic Four, The Jungle Book, Matrix Reloaded, Austin Powers: the Spy who shagged me, Men in Black, the Bible (!), Air Force One, Gladiator, etc...

    If you understand fast-spoken slang French, you can find them on emule with the keyword "LMDMF".
  • All right, based on the good Commander's review, I'll bite. I'm going to be in Chicago next month, and since my neice lives there, maybe I can get advance tickets. Nobody who wasn't there can know what it was like to be ten years old in 1977 and watching Star Wars on the big screen. It sounds like Charles Ross has recaptured some of the magic. Lucas has certainly lost it. It can't possibly be any worse than what my family has put up with from me (Star Wars lines-wise) for the past 26 years.
    • It sounds like Charles Ross has recaptured some of the magic. Lucas has certainly lost it.

      You can end up losing lots of things when people put fat sacks of cash money in front of you.
      • You can end up losing lots of things when people put fat sacks of cash money in front of you.

        Especially when it doesn't matter how much you suck, people still flock to see your latest creation. If Lucas lost it, why does he still make so much money on the new Star Wars stuff? Shit, everybody loved KOTOR..
    • The One Man Star Wars Trilogy sells out just about every performance. When Charles was held-over for the "Best of the Vancouver Fringe Festival" the entire week was sold out almost immediately. He was then held-over after the "Best Of" run for another sold-out week. The only reason I got to go at all is because his brother arranged to have two family passes set aside for me.
  • Will this show be visiting other cities? I can't get to Chicago right now, but would love to see this show.

  • Thank you /. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Smitedogg ( 527493 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @11:07AM (#7428800) Homepage
    Thanks for bringing back news for nerds...it doesn't get nerdier than this!

  • Can I take my kid? (Score:2, Informative)

    by mistert2 ( 672789 )
    It sounds like the ultimate Father/Son road trip. We drive from our rural Wisconsin home town to a train station. Take the train [metrarail.com] to downtown Chicago. Go to Navy Pier and see the Matrix on the Imax [imax.com], then go to the play.

    Take the train back home. Get home about 4 in the morning. My kid is a night owl.

    Any other suggestions?

    • Any other suggestions?
      Gino's East [ginoseast.com], man. Can't go to Chicago without getting pizza. And what geek visits the Windy City and skips MSI [msichicago.org]?
      • I haven't been to gino's East in ten years. Premium suggestion. My son and I went to MSI last August, another great idea. The field museum is off the list...it is not what I remember it to be. I was thinking the Apple and Sony stores, as well as the Border's Books. Keep the ideas coming!! Thanks!
        • I was in the Apple store a couple weeks ago for the first time and was pretty impressed. Even as a PC user, I had tons of fun poking around the different products and playing with the tech toys.

          I was less impressed with the Sony store, because it seemed to be more of an effort to get every Sony product in the smallest space possible, rather than actually display them in a tastefull manner. The Apple store has more space and it's obvious the design layout reflects the Apple GUI style of smooth functionality
        • Gino's East? Bah.. Take him to Giordano's instead. It's WAY better than Gino's! Or, if you want to explore a bit more, there's a really great non-chain place in Evanston called Carmen's. But Giordano's is a VERY close second.

          No matter where you go, you definitely must order the "stuffed special."

  • with a DV camera? ;P

  • With all the attention he's getting, why wouldn't he just go on tour with it? A one man show needs what...three people to prepare every night? It could probobly be done with just two. I bet most people here would go see him if he came to your home town. This guy should think about it...
  • I can't be the only geek who saw the quote from George Lukas [sic], and thought it would have been fun to write sik instead

  • Saw it at Vancouver fringe festival (Score:5, Informative)

    by bug-eyed monster ( 89534 ) <bem03NO@SPAMcanada.com> on Sunday November 09, 2003 @11:45AM (#7428983)
    I saw this show at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. It's awesome, if you go to see it, believe me you won't be disappointed.

    At the festival, the show sold out most of its performances, then sold out its "pick of the fringe" shows which is reserved for the best of the plays, and was held over again (not sure if it sold out there).

    Charles Ross goes through the entire 3 movies, does a fantastic job of reenacting the battle scenes (yes without any props) and touches on all the aspects of the trilogy, including all the jokes we throw around here at slashdot.

    Even if you're not a big Star Wars fan, the guy's performance is something to see. Oh and, it's not the kind of boring "theater" you might be thinking of.
    • I also saw it in Vancouver, and also loved it. However I feel compelled to point out what you and the orginal reviewer did not: this is good because it's goddamn FUNNY. This wasn't a case where I saw the performance and was impressed with his talent in a pretentious way (though he is of course very talented), this was a case when after it was done I could barely walk because my stomach hurt from laughing uproariously for an hour without stopping.

      The best $12 CAD I ever spent, I dare say.
    • Ditto on seeing it at the very end of the Vancouver Fringe. It was very good.

      Thanks, Tynan!

  • Hope he fares better than Star Drek (Score:5, Interesting)

    by serutan ( 259622 ) <snoopdougNO@SPAMgeekazon.com> on Sunday November 09, 2003 @11:57AM (#7429031) Homepage
    I was one of the fortunate few who saw Star Drek [jadelake.com], a musical takeoff featuring funny songs, nailed characterizations and cheesy special effects. The transporter beam, for example, was a handful of glitter tossed in the air under a spotlight. The show ran about a year and a half (94-95) before Paramount shut it down. Act one was the original series, act two was the next gen, with Q bringing Kirk forward in time on a bet with Picard that Kirk would be better able to cope with a plot to addict the crew to a traditional Romulan beverage called "jav-ya."

    The night I saw it in Seattle the place was completedly packed, people sitting on stairs. Except there was a block of really good empty seats in one row. As the lights went down, four hooded figures shuffled in and sat in the seats. During Intermission they left, and the host came out and announced that it had been Nimoy and his friends, who were in town for one of his rare convention appearances. They had snuck in so as not to create a scene. The place went nuts.

    I still remember parts of the theme song:

    On boooooaaard the Enterpriiiiiiiise,
    Our paaaaaants don't have any fliiiiiies...

    ...another culture has been destooooyyyyed,
    but weeeee know Star Fleet won't be annooooooyyed,
    becaaaaause,
    We're Right!

    Not long afterwards Paramount shut the show down on the grounds that it wasn't a parody of Star Trek, it was Star Trek. The producers had to fork over all the money they had made.

    Repeat after me:
    Paramount is run by soulless, clueless Assholes.
    • I wish I had mod points today. I'd give you at least a +1 interesting.

      Nice story. Wish I was there. :)

      And yeah, Paramount is f*n clueless.

      wbs.
    • "Not long afterwards Paramount shut the show down on the grounds that it wasn't a parody of Star Trek, it was Star Trek. The producers had to fork over all the money they had made."

      "Repeat after me: Paramount is run by soulless, clueless Assholes."

      Uh no. Star Drek really sounds like a parody. If Paramount won the case they aren't the clueless ones.

      • Apparently Paramount didn't win the case, they just waved their bully stick and the producers didn't have the money for a fight. At least I may have been wrong about them having to give up all their profits (see other comment above). That info came from an old article on the web.

    • Re:Hope he fares better than Star Drek (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Scareduck ( 177470 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @01:07PM (#7429376) Homepage Journal
      Repeat after me: Paramount is run by soulless, clueless Assholes.
      But not to worry. Is the Star Trek franchise gaining strength or weakening in the face of their repeated legal assaults that prevent such fan-inspired spinoffs? I would say that the declining ratings of shows like Deep Space Nine and Enterprise relative to the strength of TNG are indications that Paramount has (a) wrecked the franchise by allowing said soulless, clueless assholes to run it, and (b) have reduced fan interest by making it apparent that the source thereof is a bunch of soulless &c. Part of the fan experience is that harmless derivative work stuff that keeps their franchise front-and-center in their audience's mind. Lucas, whatever his other faults as a producer and filmmaker, has treaded with a pretty light hand in that arena, to his credit. The same cannot be said for Paramount.

      Some years ago, I recall reading an interview with a Disney executive after the unspectacular financial returns came back from Pocahontas. The spine-without-a-cerebellum observed that the movie was a failure because there was no male hero in it and therefore audiences rejected it. Uh... hello? Remember Little Mermaid, one of your biggest hits? Well, no, and it goes to show that in the entertainment business, people make all kinds of false attributions. They may as well use a Ouija board.

    • Re:Hope he fares better than Star Drek (Score:5, Informative)

      by mikedaisey ( 413058 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @01:26PM (#7429506) Homepage

      I know the producers of Star Drek--they did get a cease and desist, which they didn't have the resources to fight, but no one made them give over the proceeds from the show.
  • Well, not exactly, but I know where he got the idea from [imdb.com].

  • C&D-ing Shoggoth?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by po8 ( 187055 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @12:53PM (#7429308)

    Quite aside from being legally questionable and ethically bankrupt, isn't C&D-ing Shoggoth On The Roof [cthulhulives.org] a bit...risky? I mean, I sure wouldn't be reading the response from the Old Ones' legal team. (Does anyone doubt that the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, J.D., would be drafting counsel?)

    For a taste of the horror that awaits these litigious fools, check out this 401 page from yog-sothoth.com [yog-sothoth.com]...

  • There was a show called Star Wars in 30 Minutes that played here in Los Angeles for a few months last year. Hysterical, and they run through the entire original trilogy in, yes, 30 minutes. I saw it twice and it was great. More than just one guy, but most of the cast plays multiple roles -- Threepio is also Yoda, Chewie is also Vader, Ackbar is also Jabba, Luke's tauntaun, and several other characters.

    The props were hilarious -- folding chairs with lights on the feet were X-wings (held up in front of th
  • I saw his One Man Star Wars in Victoria awhile ago. Liked it so much I went to see it again the next day. I brought my MD recorder, and now have the whole thing on Minidisc. Its perfect, because the whole preformance lasts excactly as long as my bus commute home!
  • Charles is an old classmate of mine from university. I, too, saw the show in Vancouver, and really enjoyed it. These were my thoughts: Last night I went to the 'Pick of the Fringe' and saw my former classmate Charles Ross use the Force in his excellent One Man Star Wars Trilogy. In an hour, he runs through the essential (and sometimes non-essential) bits of all three movies, pausing twice for drinks of water. It is a remarkably manic performance. He sweats excessively, and never stops moving for the hour.

  • Funny, but will Lucas shut it down? (Score:3, Informative)

    by DaveJay ( 133437 ) on Sunday November 09, 2003 @05:57PM (#7430513)
    I ask, because back in 1997 I was the lighting/sound designer for "Jedi! A Musical Tour De Force", performed at the ImprovOlympic in Chicago.

    It was the trilogy, performed in about an hour and a half (if memory serves) with heavy use of models and such to represent space battles and things -- it contained select dialogue from all three movies, and each installment of the trilogy began with the piano player singing an overture featuring the words that scrolled across the screen to open each movie.

    Oh, wait. Did I mention it was a MUSICAL? Seriously. Princess Leia's "It's hard to be hard" was a particularly good Disco tune performed by the guy in drag playing Leia (there were women in the show, but not for Leia.)

    My particular favorite was Obi Wan's climactic ode to the Force, "Feel The Flow". Feel the flow/feel it from above and below/feel it in every mountain stream/everywhere you go/feel the force/it will never lead you off course...and so on and so on. I actually have the cast recording on a CD-R at home.

    So anyway -- the point of all this is, Lucas shut us down with a cease and desist. Hopefully this guy won't suffer the same fate.
  • Last year my wife and I saw "MacHomer," another one-man show where every Simpson's character is placed within "MacBeth." About 85% of the play is original Shakespeare, with the rest being improvisations by performer Rick Miller. It's hilarious and his Homer impression is right on. He also throws in assorted other imitations for an encore! Visit the site at http://www.machomer.com [machomer.com].

    Helevius

  • I don't know abut anyone else, but I am Sooooo over Star Wars. Lucas should have left it at the first 3 movies. If it wasn't for Moulan Rouge, the last two would be at the top of my all time crappiest movie list.
  • I saw this show in Montreal this past summer during our annual "Fringe Festival". You HAVE to see his impression of an AT-AT getting killed!
  • I went to see this at the vancouver fringe, expecting a comedy, a parody. But you could count the number of jokes in the script on one hand.
    Otherwise, it was a straight readers-digest-condensed re-enactment. The laughs only came from the visual, incredibly energetic, performance. But by halfway, I was bored senseless by this guy leaping about the stage. It was as dull as a room of devout monty python fans reciting "holy grail".
    The actor was great, energetic, excellent voice and accents. No amplifier u
  • I was able to see this performance last night, which was sponsored by the Onion and BASS beer. My many thanks to the Onion for their nice gifts and to BASS beer for the 'Liquid Force'. :) My review: The theater where Mr. Ross performs his piece is surprisingly small and intimate, with probably a maximum of 90 seats---if that many! The stage is small, maybe 8' x 18' or smaller. There is only a plain black curtain as the back-drop. There are no props or anything used for this performance, other than the flo

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