Bukowsical! [Broadway]
Yes, Bukowsical is earthy, vulgar, and often sexually explicit, as only befits the titular man on whom this show is a riff - the one and only Charles Bukowski. Taking place in the form of a backer"s audition of a new musical about the one and only Charles Bukowski, presented by a fictional Los Angeles-based theatre company called The Sacred Angel Fist Circle Of Note Gang Theatre, the show opened in early 2006 at the tiny Sacred Fools Theater, where, as a late-night fifty-minute piece it garnered excellent reviews - "An uproarious romp" (Los Angeles Times), "riotously funny" (LA Weekly), "It"s terrific fun and so wrong in all the right ways" (Backstage West) - and had a sold-out four-month run. The show was then expanded into a full evening"s entertainment, and it re-opened at the Sacred Fools in late 2006, where it had another successful run. Bukowsical was invited to perform at 2007"s New York International Fringe Festival, where it created a sensation, had to add additional performances, and won the award for Outstanding Musical. Had Charles Bukowski lived to know of these kudos he probably would have promptly thrown up on the floor. Despite the earthy, vulgar, and often sexually explicit book and lyrics, the score is filled with tuneful numbers that have a wry and often earthy, vulgar, and sexually explicit sense of humor - in fact, they are occasionally laugh out loud funny, delivered by a top-notch cast of great singing actors.