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    Short North Stage’s Last Night of Disco is a Fizzy Delight for Nostalgia Lovers

    Short North Stage’s The Last Night of Disco is an odd bird in a few ways. Jointly devised by Edward Carignan, Rick Gore, Peter Yockel and the cast, it’s a rare attempt for the company at a completely in-house creation. It’s also the first time I’m aware this company has worked with immersive theatre, trying to create an experience where things happen all around the audience. At the same time, The Last Night of Disco an interesting bridge between the themes of last year’s shows of people precariously balanced on the edge and next season’s shows largely concerned with memory and the painful transition between eras.

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    The Last Night of Disco is set on the last night Studio 54 was under the ownership of original owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, on February 4, 1980. As such, it’s a disco-era jukebox revue and the focus is on the songs. The 12 songs are very well-chosen, while none of them go in the direction of deep cuts, it nods at the diversity of sounds under the disco umbrella. It’s especially a reminder how much impact ballads had in the genre and era.

    Kendra Lucas plays Kendra Andrews, a composite of club singers who never quite broke out into wider audiences. She’s the undisputed star here, singing six songs, and her performance is jaw-dropping. Lucas’ character is one side of the “democracy of the dancefloor” Andrew Trimmer’s Steve Rubell mentions, someone able to rub shoulders with the rich, famous, and powerful through a combination of talent and charisma, not a list of references. Lucas also brilliantly walks that line between exuberant joy and melancholy the show goes for. That balancing act is underlined in the spoken sections with a knowing reference to her character being signed to Casablanca Records, in 1980, the year of Casablanca’s decline. It also echoes through her songs which swing from ebuillent fantasias like EWF’s “Boogie Wonderland” to a sparkling, gorgeous read on the slow burn of Stephanie Mills’ “Never Knew Love Like This Before.”

    Edward Carignan’s choreography (he also directs) more than any other element, is the star of the show. He uses the space, audience members both sitting at tables and standing/dancing on the main stage, very effectively and the individual dance moves are impressive but not superhuman. Cate Owens, as Crystal Chandelier, is the breakout star here, on a version of the infamous Studio 54 trapeze and a duet with Cornelius Hubbard over a hard funk-based instrumental that speaks to a desperation, a coke-frenzy to push the limits of one’s body to escape mundane reality, her performance is thrillingly human, enough rough edges intact that it helps the audience identify and also makes he acrobatics more impressive. The moment where the elements of the show best cohere is the intro to “Car Wash” where two go-go boys, Hubbard and Luke Stewart, come through the audience doing that iconic hand-clap opening and dance with towels to that liquid bass line behind Stewart, finding something pure and bright that turns what’s basically a novelty song into an anthem.

    The spoken pieces are basically interstitials and they’re mostly a weak link in the show. What I think is intended as the emotional spine of the show – a reporter, Julie (Kathryn Miller) and her small-town boyfriend Chris, now a go-go boy (Stewart) dealing with new temptations and hypocrisy in the big city – is largely cringe-inducing, saved a little bit by the charm and likability of the two actors along with not ending where you’d expect and a terrific “More Than a Woman” sung by Stewart. Eli Brickell’s Liza Minnelli is terrific and a nice reminder of how close Studio 54, Broadway, and larger pop stardom were in those days, and Jason Craise’s Truman Capote is a fine, charming caricature. Trimmer’s Steve Rubell is just about perfect, a cocaine patina over a self-awareness that will no longer be ignored.

    Where I think The Last Night of Disco misses its opportunity is in not quite going far enough. For immersive theatre, there aren’t quite enough things happening in the fringes to really feel immersed, the audience could be forgiven for thinking the most they feel a part of things is in the incredibly slow moving line of the bar on stage. For a narrative show/musical, the book’s thinner than it should be. I would have liked more darkness triangulating the melancholy and the joy, I very much wanted something a little more apocalyptic, some Nero fiddling while Rome burns, something big to off-set the human elements. However, even for someone like me, who’d take the Eddie Floyd version of “Knock on Wood” over the Aimee Stewart any day of the week, there’s a lot to enjoy in The Last  Night of Disco and if you have an affection for the material or the era you owe it to yourself to check it out. 

    The Last Night of Disco runs Thursday through Saturday with shows at 9:00pm through August 15th. Tickets and more info are available at http://shortnorthstage.org/calendar/v/483

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    Richard Sanford
    Richard Sanfordhttp://sanfordspeaks.blogspot.com/
    Richard Sanford is a freelance contributor to Columbus Underground covering the city's vibrant theatre scene. You can find him seeking inspiration at a variety of bars, concert halls, performance spaces, museums and galleries.
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