“The Dresser” and “Being Victor Borge”
Our two most recent “West End” theatrical dates have been the drama “The Dresser” and a premiere of a one-man comedy production done as a tribute to the late Victor Borge.
The dresser in the play of that name is the man who serves as the personal valet to a stage actor – cares for his costumes, gets him dressed, watches over him. The actor in the play is a man of huge ego and the dresser, at first, appears to be a humble, dedicated servant. The story very cleverly involves the gradual recognition that the dresser really exercises a great deal of power over the entire theatrical company and even “Sir” – the form of address he ever uses for the actor. I won’t go any further with the plot – in case you decide to see it some time.
On Saturday afternoon we were strolling in the Trafalgar Square area (it was a lovely spring-like day) when we were handed a flyer advertising a production entitled “Being Victor Borge” at a theater we knew nothing about – called “The Venue”. The flyer said it was a 2-show preview and starred an unknown named Rainer Hersch, “bringing together his comedy and music in his personal tribute to one of the world’s greatest entertainers” – Victor Borge.
There are things like this going on in London all the time – sort of “off-off-Broadway” theater. But we’d never followed through on one and, when someone put one of the flyers in our faces, we usually took it and threw it away.
Well, we’re not going to tell you the show was great. There were a lot of places where a little more writing would have greatly strengthened it. But Hersch was a pretty good comedian and an excellent classical pianist. He had worked as a stand up comic for some time and, at one point, decided to use some of his musical skills in his act. After one very successful show he got three different reviews which compared him to Victor Borge – or said his show was reminiscent of Borge. Hersch, being sickeningly young, had no idea who Victor Borge was. Some time later, when he was “doing a gig” in Copenhagen he found that Borge was playing in a concert hall just up the street. Hersch went to the stage door and asked to meet him and Borge posed for a photo with him. (Borge was in his late 80s at the time and died a couple of years later.) Hersch’s curiosity was aroused and he began collecting all the Borge CDs and videos he could get his hands on. He fell in love with Borge’s work and developed the current show to try to “keep Borge’s memory alive”.
All-in-all it was reasonably good fun; and we hope the show, which is good fun, will get even better.
The dresser in the play of that name is the man who serves as the personal valet to a stage actor – cares for his costumes, gets him dressed, watches over him. The actor in the play is a man of huge ego and the dresser, at first, appears to be a humble, dedicated servant. The story very cleverly involves the gradual recognition that the dresser really exercises a great deal of power over the entire theatrical company and even “Sir” – the form of address he ever uses for the actor. I won’t go any further with the plot – in case you decide to see it some time.
On Saturday afternoon we were strolling in the Trafalgar Square area (it was a lovely spring-like day) when we were handed a flyer advertising a production entitled “Being Victor Borge” at a theater we knew nothing about – called “The Venue”. The flyer said it was a 2-show preview and starred an unknown named Rainer Hersch, “bringing together his comedy and music in his personal tribute to one of the world’s greatest entertainers” – Victor Borge.
There are things like this going on in London all the time – sort of “off-off-Broadway” theater. But we’d never followed through on one and, when someone put one of the flyers in our faces, we usually took it and threw it away.
Well, we’re not going to tell you the show was great. There were a lot of places where a little more writing would have greatly strengthened it. But Hersch was a pretty good comedian and an excellent classical pianist. He had worked as a stand up comic for some time and, at one point, decided to use some of his musical skills in his act. After one very successful show he got three different reviews which compared him to Victor Borge – or said his show was reminiscent of Borge. Hersch, being sickeningly young, had no idea who Victor Borge was. Some time later, when he was “doing a gig” in Copenhagen he found that Borge was playing in a concert hall just up the street. Hersch went to the stage door and asked to meet him and Borge posed for a photo with him. (Borge was in his late 80s at the time and died a couple of years later.) Hersch’s curiosity was aroused and he began collecting all the Borge CDs and videos he could get his hands on. He fell in love with Borge’s work and developed the current show to try to “keep Borge’s memory alive”.
All-in-all it was reasonably good fun; and we hope the show, which is good fun, will get even better.
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 5:19 PM
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