"Addicted" - not just another staged AA Qualification

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 1/10/04 at 9:36pm

Don't, at your own peril, dismiss "Addicted" at the Zipper. After Stritch's one woman show, which was, in truth, just an AA qualification with songs, and my own award winning play "Judy Garland Park" which was, in fact, my ninty day AA qualification with the addition of the ghosts of my Mommy and Daddy (who were actually there in my head when I was doing the actual speech), when I saw the announcement of Mark Lundholm's one man piece: "Addicted - a comedy of substance," I thought, Oy, not again!
Well, a rave review in Time Out and an irresistable offer by AE, sent me dragging my jaded ass over to the Zipper Theare,and I've gotta tell ya, Gladys was just blown away. The reason Lundholm is funny is that his comedy is born out of a wisdom gained through pain,suffering and enlightenment. I gained more inspiration and insight from his one hundred and some minutes than from anything currently running in Manhattan. I urge you all to give it a try. I notice while it is no longer in need of papering, TDF does have an e-ticket offer on line. I might add, Mark Lundholm is quite the sexy hunk, his boundless engergy and buff body, a terrific advertisement for recovery in itself.
Gladys was moved and laughed her GD head off.
AA hugs to Mark,
Herself

PS By the way, for the uninitiated, an AA Qualification follows the simple format: How it was, what happened, how it is now.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/10/04 at 9:53pm

Does he perform any Lillian Roth or Helen Morgan numbers?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/10/04 at 10:10pm

I saw this show in Montreal last July with my friend The Colonel (don't ask what he does for a living because I don't tell). He's in recovery. He and I have seen lots of one-person shows and after we saw Marc Wolf's "Another American: Asking and Telling" he said to me, "Let's not see another one-person show for a while." Because the structures the performers use start to blur after a while.

Fade in, fade out. We're at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and I see an ad for "Addicted: A Comedy of Substance" and it was up on the one night we didn't have tickets for something else. "Hey Colonel, I said, let's go. It'll speak to you in your recovery."

So we went. Naturally The Colonel grabs a front row seat, which strikes me as dangerous at one-person shows. Lights down, lights up and standing before me in his butch glory is the balding Mark Lundholm with a tight t-shirt stretching across his torso. I have a thing for balding guys with Popeye arms. Anyhoo, Lundholm is intense and energetic. I had a fear that he was going to start asking people what they were addicted to in a confrontational way and I was prepared to say, "Bald guys with nipples that poke out."

So, I didn't hear a lot of new stuff in his stories but I did love the way he told them. I would definitely be interested in seeing it again to see what director Bob Balaban has done with the show, I believe it was directed by somebody else previously. But correct me if I am wrong: isn't it an unwritten rule that male performance artists get naked to express their vulnerability at least once per show? Since Lundholm neglected to do this, I was somewhat disappointed.

Updated On: 1/10/04 at 10:10 PM

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 1/11/04 at 8:07pm

Namo, No, the gorgeous SOB keeps his clothes on. You are shameless. He is no longer balding, he's shaved. You're dying, right? I myself was rather smitten, but at least I can take "straight" for an answer. Had you put your eyes back in your head and paid attention to the dialogue rather than the visual, you would have heard references to "the plaintif" (his ex wife), his daughter and his current main squeeze--A WOMAN!
Seriously, the direction is a tight as--no I refuse to go there--his abs. Do check it out if the opportunity presents itself.
Gladys

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/11/04 at 9:50pm

No, I did really hear all of the text, I swear. "A.D.D. Boy." See?

I can't BELIEVE he shaved his head. I'm addicted to leering at men with shaved heads.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/11/04 at 10:58pm

Getting nekkid was quite the thing for one-man shows - especially if they were GAY one-man-shows. In Dan Butler's one- man play of a few years back, THE SECOND WORST THING YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME, there was a moment when the audience, primed for the expected moment when Mr. Butler would disrobe (or at least remove his shirt) leaned forward in lip-smacking anticipation. Butler, back to the audience, looked over his one shoulder, then the other with a sly grin. Then he looked up - and the lights went out so he dould strip and do a quick costume change unobserved.

The audience groaned, loud and long.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/11/04 at 11:20pm

He's another sexy McNugget. THAT Bulldog.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/11/04 at 11:31pm

Do you how annoying it was to see David Drakes skinny hairless bitch tits and be denied Dan's muscular pelt?! VERY.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/12/04 at 11:26am

For the boys....
Mark Lundholm Slideshow

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 1/12/04 at 8:31pm

Matt, Do not encourge these boys! Overcoming Sex, Drugs, Food Addiction and Homelessness is one thing, but being turned into a straight/gay icon might just be the straw that sends Mark out on one hellava huge slip!
Easy Does It,
Gladys

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/12/04 at 8:41pm

Back off bizeeyatches, if he's gotta surrender his chit he's going to do it to me. To ME. TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.