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Margaret Cho: Notorious, Live in Concert
Right now on Broadway at the Royale Theater, John Leguizamo is performing his critical and popular
hit, the sold out one man show titled Sexaholix. Last season saw Lily Tomlin's revival of her
Tony award winning one woman play, Search for Intelligent Life .... Also there was Liza
Minnelli's solo show at the Palace. Looking ahead we have Elaine Stritch and Bea Arthur coming to the
Great White Way in their autobiographical one woman shows. So I have to ask, "When is Margaret Cho going
to do her one woman show on Broadway?" Believe me, that production would sell out and would most likely
earn Cho a Tony Award !
I have never considered Ms. Cho a "comic." She is so much more than that. She is truly an actress in
every sense of the word. She can make you laugh so hard that your cheeks, face, and sides ache, but then
in one soft switch of emotion and delivery, she can cause your eyes to well up in tears. Cho has done
all mediums of entertainment: on TV she stole an episode of Sex and the City as a foul mouthed
fashion show director, in film she was both funny and moving in the under-appreciated It's My Party,
and of course she has graced the stages of comedy clubs and theaters all over the world.
For the opulent Majestic Theater stage here in Dallas, she brought her new one woman, for adults only
performance piece titled perfectly, Notorious. Cho discusses such topics as colonics, Sept 11,
traveling in Scotland, sex, orgasms, love, boyfriends, gay men, lesbians, her father, diets, and of
course her mother! The piece is hysterical beyond measure. Personal favorite stories are: her night at
the S&M Sex club, memories of her two gay best friends in high school, and the hilarious monologue
concerning a late video tape and "Video Hut." There is graphic, frank talk and profane language, but it
perfectly fits what Cho is trying to say in her work.
Something that makes Cho stand far apart from the concept of a "stand up comic" is that she uses her
face to create characters, contorting, squinting, and adjusting her eyes, cheekbones, her entire face to
create a totally new character, but then she adds a character voice to give the "role" more depth. Thus
you believe in her zany world of characters. It's no longer Cho, but instead it's the boyfriend who
can't understand his girlfriend's needs in bed, or the air head colonic girl at "Water's Gift."
Cho has a huge gay following, and she so rightly earns their respect and love. She is one of the few
stars who wraps herself around the rainbow pride colors of the gay community. She understands the
emotional fights and scars that a gay person carries. She says in her piece that she has had gay friends
since high school, and you honestly feel her love and dedication to them. She even says she "learned
about sex from gay men."
In Notorious, Cho discusses that as a child she had no true images in film or television of
Asian actors in leading roles or in "non-traditional" roles that she could look upon. She said, "I mean,
what did I have? I would look into the mirror as a little girl and say, 'I want to grow up and be an
extra on M*A*S*H!.' " While you laugh out loud, you also feel the brutal honesty of that comment.
Cho's final monologue is full of compassion, honesty, and is heartfelt beyond measure. She speaks on
issues of self-esteem and how society is so hard on people who "don't look like them." She comments on
how films, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, billboards, print ads, and other media outlets force down
your throat what is the "right" way to look. Cho then discusses the personal issues of how she thought
that if she were thin, she would be loved by her father. She talks about how these people who do not fit
the picture of what society wants you to be and look like need to create a revolution "and that
revolution starts now!" The monologue is followed by complete silence. You can feel the audience take a
few seconds to really absorb what what she just said, and then in one large tidal wave, they applaud
with passion.
I hope you will catch Cho's Notorious. It will make you laugh hard, but with her brutal
honesty and rich, personal emotion, she will also bring a lump in your throat.
Cho's next stop is New York's Carnegie Hall on January 16. Visit
Concert Hotline for more information.
--John Garcia
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