A DARK KIND OF ROAST // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE"
Frank Zagottis has worked in the theatre world for quite some time now, singing and dancing through Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, & Pippin (to name a few) and also appearing in the original cast of Lucky Stiff. Now he's returned to the New York stage, not singing and dancing, but to tell us a story. Several stories. Stories that seems just as fresh as when Playwright Eric Bogosian first performed them himself in 2000 at the Jane Street Theatre. Now, 17 years later, Zagottis storms the stage with the still relevant and still surprising one man show WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE.
In the year 2000 (does anyone hear Conan O'Brien's famous sketch in your head right now?) Eric Bogosian first opened his one man show Wake Up And Smell The Coffee at the now-defunct Jane Street Theatre (once home to the original runs of Hedwig and the Angry Inch & tick, tick...Boom!) and it immediately thrust a powerful and hilarious set of monologues detailing the human experience in a fresh and distinctive way. In the intimate space of The Producer's Club, Frank Zagottis shines in a unique style that pays tribute to Bogosian but marks up his own unique style and flair. He shreds immediately into the material, which covers coffee consumption, Airplane complaints, Jesus, and breaks down the finer points of making a deal with the devil. Frank's delivery is sharp and pointed. His comedic timing is gold, and all but one of the sketches still hold a strong grip into our everyday fear of everything around us (unfortunately, and by no fault of Zagottis, the sketch of mocking an Indian man's voice doing Yoga is just not okay to do anymore and I wondered while watching it if the cleverness of the writing might be heightened by getting rid of the now offensive accent).
All in all, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE is a great return of the days you could walk into an East Village or downtown theatre and hear the sometimes chaotic ramblings of a brilliant playwright, vexing on about the state of the world. I'm addicted as anyone else, both to my coffee and my enjoyment of this show, and I truly hope there's a longer run in the future so that more people can experience it.
GRADE: A-
Written by Eric Bogosian Directed by Jeffrey Zeiner Starring Frank Zagottis. Now closed by played at The Producers Club, 358 W 44th Street, Prince Theatre. For more info: http://www.smellmycoffee.com