Playwright: Philip-Dimitri Galas
Directors: Anne Meighan, Lynne Griffin
Cast: Sean Sullivan
Performed at the Lyric Theatre
Review by: Jessica Perkins
Lynne Griffin and Sean Sullivan of Baby Monster Productions are no strangers to Baby Redboots’ Revenge. This dynamic husband and wife team have been performing and polishing Philip-Dimitri Galas’s one-man show for over twenty years -and it shows.
Sullivan stars as Baby Four Strings, an aging former child vaudeville star desperate to be rid of his former partner, the eponymous Baby Red Boots, and to once again bask in the glory of audience adoration. Although I’m sure Sullivan was more than capable as Four Strings in his first crack at the role, he is absolutely breathtaking in the current version as a mature performer. His age extenuates the stakes in Four String’s struggle for fame AND marks the tremendous energy of his performance as that much more impressive.
In five acts Sullivan leads the audience on a whirlwind post-modern vaudevillian journey through performance. Whether you’re familiar with Galas’s avante-Vaudeville style or not doesn’t really matter, as Sullivan rises to the occasion as the audience’s worthy chaperone to this cocktail of classic entertainment mixed with pop culture and a few tabs of ecstasy. Tap dancing, monologues, music, mime and biting satire?
What more could an audience ask from one man alone? See this play if you get the chance. You will not regret it. A special nod goes out to designer Anne Meighan, whose playfully interactive set added to the many jaw-dropping elements of this play brimming with artistic talent.
Hamilton Fringe Festival Community Reviews 