What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Maybe not. A three-word summary: funny, funny, funny. The classic clueless couple’s lounge act is Max & Maxine, thinking they’re nailing it when they’re flailing or failing, assume they’re coasting when they’re near crash landing. When they’re falling apart at the seams, many were splitting their sides laughing. M&M are brilliantly played by Bryan Scott Johnson and Jennifer Perry (both currently in Broadway’s Mamma Mia!), bringing back an act they began in 1997, reuniting with co-conceiver Gary Adler, again playing sour pianist Shecky Sheckenstein (and the piano). Typical tacky show biz excess and smarm reign as the over-the-hill married performers do their cheesy act, with desperation, becoming frazzled and passive-aggressively unwound.

Wildly inappropriate stylizations for a Phantom of the Opera medley, songs from (reference points?) Steve & Eydie’s Broadway outing, Golden Rainbow, plus originals by Johnson, like “My Wife’s a Drunk,” keep the madness rolling along. Malapropisms abound (they mangle the venue’s name). Max looks Heavenward, dedicating a song to a star he once worked with…who is very much alive. He, tuxedoed, tries to be suave; she’s a blowsy belter with flash preferring a few belts from a flask. Barbs fly. Something else hits the fan. No wonder old fans returned. The actors and director Martha Banta, who put them through their paces, know how to pace this hilarity, exactly how close to over-the-top to go and how to top themselves. Zany little moments count (too many to count). An out-and-out hoot-a-rama!

Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
September 13, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org