David Dean Bottrell Makes Love: A One Man Show
by Yvonne Tutelli
“BOTTRELL’S “MAKING LOVE” TAKES US BEYOND HIS CHARACTER ACTING GENIUS AND SHOWS US WHERE ALL OF THE HILARITY BEGAN. THE 75-MINUTE SHOW CURRENTLY ON A LIMITED RUN THROUGH THE END OF MAY IS PACKING THEM IN AT THE TRIAD”
YVONNE TUTELLI, THEATRE TATTLER
Who: David Dean Bottrell, David Dean Bottrell Makes Love: a One Man Show
Where: The Triad, 158 W. 72nd, bet. Columbus and Amsterdam
When: Wednesdays at 7:00
Ticketing: TriadNYC.com
Open seating upon arrival
What is it about the solo artist, the storyteller-as-artist that draws us like a moth to the flame, or in this case, flamer?? Bottrell’s apparent legions of fans are showing up in droves, as they say, and I was there to experience his unabashed celebratory performance. How cool is that?
David Dean Bottrell Makes Love: A One Man Show is a truly uproarious 75-minute romp. Bottrell craftily story-weaves how he got to be the man he is today…or the many men, I should say.
In our evening together David Dean Bottrell’s up-front-and-‘Out’-there-attitude sidecars with some truly personal sharing as well as some universally sound life lessons, adding a focused emphasis on life as a gay man. Bottrell’s apparent legions of fans are showing up in droves, as they say, and I was there to experience his unabashed celebratory performance. How cool is that?
From Kentucky state-of-mind to a bus ride that landed him in NewYork, as a young actor, to LA, and then, back again, it’s David’s telling of the tale, his tale, that sent the audience I was surrounded by in waves of mounting laughter effortlessly brought on his recounting of one true-love up-and-down escapade after another.
On the performance I sat in on, Bottrell performed, for the first time, a newly developed story, recounting his relationship with his father, from youth to funeral parlor. From the beginning of his father’s non-acceptance of his preference for men to David’s own absolute alignment and ownership of his own preference for men– the audience listens, and laughs. Not all audiences do, you know, especially in a cabaret room that comes with its own special warnings–not everybody listens.
Tonite’s audience is all in, transfixed, as Bottrell rails through a full head of memories from the life of an younger innocent to the ever-present not so-innocent Now. The evening unfolds as he vignettes his life-long search for love. Bottrell’s magic is not just that the tale is universally familiar, but that he lives it onstage in a way that his story is universally familiar in a way that keeps the wails of self-identifying audience recognition coming.
David’s one-way-my-way life recollections are simply side-splitting because he appears so physically unassuming, so almost preppy. When he hits the stage and the gates of memory open, gales of laughter follow. One ‘Big Boner’ of an event takes over his monologue, the gates of memory open, and the fun begins.
Things are not what they seem when a young Bottrell exits a brush with mental health only to be mentored by a volunteer do-good-er at a well known Texas psychiatric facility. A lot of sheep’s clothing topics are herein discussed. The predictable happens in this episode, but it’s all in sa’laams to Mr. Bottrell’s comfortability factor with himself in the telling of the tale.
Three generations were present the nite when I last saw the performance, laughing along side each other. Not so shabby for a hump-day one-man show. Bottrell’s latest rendition of Making Love is now just four –count ‘em– or- only 3 weeks if you don’t make a space on your calendar tonite to laugh your asses off.
“Well known for the characters he’s inhabited on tv shows including Mad Men, Modern Family, and a host of others, David Dean Botrell’s Makes Love: a One Man Show shares his journey. An a celebratory piece– with an ejaculatory surprise or two! Onstage, Bottrell inhabits the reason you can’ t always tell a book by its cover.
Words4Culture 