BY PETER HUMMERS | Joey and Brian Gurl brought their revue “Laughing with the Legends” to the Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts Saturday. A dozen characters trod the boards of the stage at the First Flight High School in pursuit of laughs and nostalgia, all played by Gurl and Girl.
Husband Brian played piano and guitar to move the evening along and wife Joey (“the real girl”) sang. Brian introduced the third member of the troupe as Igor the Tape Deck, which enhanced some of the music and provided a bit of prerecorded announcing.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for ‘Laughing with the Legends,’ a musical and theatrical adventure, starring the unique and talented team of Gurl and Girl,” began Igor on a darkened stage.
Brian entered in a 3-piece gray suit, to the sound of a show-orchestra playing “Personality,” which fortold some of the nice details and touches that would mark the evening’s entertainment. He picked up on it, introducing one legendary “personality,” who would gather the nation together in their living rooms on one special night of the week. Turning his back to the audience, he turned back in the persona of Ed Sullivan, a shtick that hasn’t been seen probably since the ’70’s.
But his wit sold it. Those in the audience too young to remember Sullivan, who hosted an archetypal television variety show in the days of three networks, could appreciate the surreal words placed in his mouth by Gurl, which wasn’t a stretch from the outlandish acts Sullivan might actually feature, and the role he played in popular entertainment back in that day.
“Tonight we have the International Association of Sumo Wrestlers presenting a reading from William Shakespeare … oh, I’m so sorry; that’s last week’s show. Tonight we have the multi-tempermental – er, multi-talented, Mr. Brian Gurl.”
Admitting that that may be the only chance he’ll ever get to be introduced by Ed Sullivan, Gurl suggested the audience sit back and enjoy the memories, merriment and music of the fabulous fifties.
He stepped over to the piano and gave a florid reading of “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing,” steeped in the style of music that was popular on the very eve of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution, when “family friendly” was still an unnecessary and indeed unheard-of description, even when the wholesome entertainment was delivered by such winking subversives as Liberace.
Subversion was the subtext of the evening. “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” was overtaken in short order by the revolutionary “Rock Around the Clock” before Joey Gurl came onstage in a three-quarter-length dress set off by a pillbox hat, gloves and pearls. In the course of the evening she became “Lucy Ricardo” in Lucille Ball’s brilliant “Vitameatavegamin” skit, in which Lucy, auditioning for a tonic commercial, gradually becomes pie-eyed from numerous takes involving taking spoonsful of the alcoholic brew.
She became a giant “Old Gold” cigarette pack (dancing cigarette packs were a staple of fifties TV advertising) in white go-go boots and the young innocent actress who was happy to wear it; she became fresh young Norma Jean Baker, who came to embody forbidden values as Marilyn Monroe.
None of this was preached; indeed, the evening was very entertaining: light and funny, with brilliant music from both sides of the transitional divide well-represented.
Some musical interludes showed the very positive side of the fifties: between impersonating Liberace and the scandalous Elvis Presley, Brian sang, beautifully, the Platters’ doo-wop opus “My Prayer” and played his own Rodgers and Hart medley on the piano.
The evening’s extended final skit summed up the theme of cultural change: a sweet, square pair of high-school nerds are transformed by the revolutionary music into a couple of sweet, knowing hipsters in a leather jacket and a poodle skirt on the verge of a new world.
More photos from the evening can be seen at Flickr.
