I took my daughter to see “Jay Johnson: The Two and Only” tonight at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Whether or not you think you want to see “a ventriloquism act,” you should see this one if at all possible. Johnson is “a ventriloquist” the way Michelangelo was a painter. It’s an astonishing show. Johnson can make voices, noises, sound effects, singing, echoes, and every other sort of sound imaginable arrive seemingly anywhere on the stage. What Ricky Jay can do with cards, Jay Johnson can do with his voice.

But the show is more than that. Johnson gives us a history of ventriloquism that stretches back to the dawn of mankind, illuminating the connections between the Oracle at Delphi, seance mediums, village exorcists, and nightclub performers (all of whom practiced ventriloquism). The history that is even more revealing, though, is his own, as he takes us through a boyhood in Texas spent talking to himself in his room, to countless adolescent performances in his small hometown after getting hooked by the first laugh he got from an audience, to a chance telephone meeting with the much older man who will prove to be his mentor, to his eventual great success on television and the stage. It’s the story of someone who finds his own voice by throwing it into so many different objects. He’s a consummate writer and performer, and a very funny one.

Here’s where to get tickets. (It runs for just ten more performances.) And while, sadly, I can’t embed the trailer to the show, here’s the link so you can watch it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Theatre, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.