From the Winnipeg Fringe Festival July 2007
RAVE REVIEWS FOR RUTHERFORD'S SINGING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
"Brilliant... inspirational... sheer magic..." - Uptown Magazine (BEST
PICK) FIVE STARS
"Master storyteller... gorgeous mosaic of (a) memoir..." - Winnipeg
Free Press (BEST PICK) FIVE STARS
"Sincere and satisfying..." - SEE Magazine (BEST
PICK) FOUR 1/2 STARS
"Intimate, moving, delightful... a triumph..." - Edmonton Journal (BEST
PICK) FOUR 1/2 STARS
"Defiantly deft finger-picking... an intimate and moving portrait." -
CBC (BEST PICK) FOUR 1/2 STARS
"Like a folk song... intimate... evocative and sincere storytelling." -
Vue Magazine (BEST PICK) FIVE STARS
Monday Magazine. -Randy
Quiet Beauty
By —John Threlfall
Aug 22 2007
Listen closely, because Fringe veteran Randy Rutherford can’t hear you
His shows have always been met with great applause, but longtime Fringe performer
Randy Rutherford can no longer hear it. Due to a progressive congenital hearing
loss, Rutherford’s entire Fringe career has been hushed—but that
hasn’t stopped him from making a well-earned name
for himself as a musical monologuist with shows like Weaverville Waltz, My Brother
Sang Like Roy Orbison and This May Feel A Little Funny.
“I don’t think I ever had perfect hearing,” says Rutherford. “I
always said ‘Huh?’ and ‘What?’ a lot as a child. They
thought that I was slow.” Over the past 30 years, he’s lost more
than 70 percent of hearing in both ears. “My ears should be in wheelchairs,
but it’s
an invisible disability.”
As Rutherford talks, I begin to hear the slight slurring of his words. On stage,
I had always just assumed it was an American accent of some kind; speaking to
him directly, however, I realize it’s part of his hearing impairment. “Helen
Keller said a blind person loses their connection to things, but a deaf person
loses their connection to people,” he continues. “And that’s
one of the things I’m
trying to get across in this show.”
Some are calling Singing At The Edge Of The World—Rutherford’s latest
acoustic autobiographic ramble down memory lane—quite possibly his best,
and there’s certainly enough material to warrant such acclaim: a folk singer
in Alaska in the early ‘70s, young and in love, discovers he’s losing
his hearing. It could be a Nick Drake song, it could be a Hallmark Hall of Fame
episode; instead, it’s just Rutherford’s life. “I started having
this ringing in my ears and having trouble hearing what people were saying back
to me from the audience,” he recalls, but even though we know the story
doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending (spoiler: he doesn’t regain
his hearing), don’t think it’s
a downer. “This is an inspiring show for anyone who feels stuck in their
life or that they can’t deal with something,” he insists. “It
doesn’t
have to be a hearing-loss kind of thing.”
It’s rather ironic that Rutherford has made his name on the Fringe circuit
over the past decade, as he’s always felt like an outsider. “Hearing
loss is very isolating,” he says. “There’s a
lot of camaraderie between performers on the Fringe circuit, but I tend not to
do that—because I can’t hear them that well.” And in order
to “hear” other people’s shows, he needs to read the script
first; but given the inherently frantic nature of the Fringe, that often doesn’t
happen. Last year, for example, he wanted to catch Audible, a show about hearing
impairment by the Kamloops troupe Saucy Fops. “But no one gave me the text,” he
recalls, “so I couldn’t go see it.”
Performance comes with its own wrinkles too. “A lot of solo performers
never talk directly to the audience as themselves, but I do that throughout my
pieces,” he explains. “And a lot of times they’re
quiet, and they’ll say afterwards that they loved the show, but I don’t
know that. I just think they’re not liking it.”
Rutherford says he’s fortunate to have had some hearing in his life—consider
his guitar work. “A lot of it comes from memory,” he says. “If
you know how to type, for example, you can type and think about other things
at the same time. So I can play my guitar and think about something totally opposite
because my fingers know what to do. And your whole body is like that; I’m
using my whole consciousness when I do these shows.”
He’s tried sign language (“It’s a foreign language,” he
laughs), wears hearing aids (“They help me hear the guitar better on stage—if
it’s completely quiet”), has a visual digital tuner for his guitar
and frequently sells out his shows, but there are times when it all still gets
Rutherford down. “I think the human condition has a certain amount of loneliness
to it, but my loneliness is amplified because of my hearing loss,” he admits. “It
separates you from people; you can’t
be in with the crowd.”
Fortunately, for both Rutherford and his audiences, he’s still out there
on the Fringe. “These performances are my biggest connection to people
in my life,” he says, “and they have been for the past 10
years. Because for the 90 minutes I’m up on stage, I’m not hearing-impaired.”
Singing at the End of the World
(part of the Victoria Fringe Festival)
Mon., Aug. 27-Sun., Sept. 2
St. Andrew’s School, 1002 Pandora
Tickets $9, plus Fringe Visa button
www.victoriafringe.com • 507-2663 Randy Rutherford
Venue 9 (WCD Studio Theatre), to July 27
If it's very quiet, Randy Rutherford can still hear his guitar.
A blind person loses his connection to things, the San Francisco native
(This May Feel a Little Funny, 2006) says in his newest solo show.
A deaf person loses his connection to people.
What this fringe veteran, troubadour and master storyteller gives
his audience in this gorgeous mosaic of memoir, music, and homespun
humour goes well beyond entertainment.
It's truly a gift to Rutherford on this heart-felt reminiscence of
his days in 1970s Alaska, where he began living his "ramblin'
man" dream, found (and lost) his true love -- and got diagnosed
with congenital hearing loss.
Today he uses a digital hearing aid, and mental and physical cell-memory
to compensate for his impending deafness.
But what makes this show truly unforgettable is how a simple gift
from his girlfriend, Molly, helped him reconnect with the world, and
with himself.
Rutherford might be accused of making Molly ("She's a beautiful
day") into a saint. But isn't that how we all remember the one
that got away?
(Tip: If you're a sensitive sort, bring Kleenex.)
-- Carolin Vesely - 5 stars Winnipeg Free Press
A blind person, Randy Rutherford says in this one-man act, loses their
connection to objects. A deaf person loses their connection to people.
Rutherford should know: he was finally paying the bills as a folk singer
and living the boho dream in '70s Alaska when congenital hearing loss
sucked the sound from his world. Three decades and one digital hearing
aid later, he recounts his struggle with impending deafness in this
show. If it’s quiet, Rutherford can still hear the guitar, and
so he peppers his monologue with bits of song and defiantly deft finger
picking. While that gives Singing an uplifting heart, his one-dimensional
characterization of breezy girlfriend Molly grates; luckily, Rutherford’s
self-effacing wit and dramatic metaphoric imagery of ravens and gray
Alaskan afternoons (as well as audible signs of his hearing loss) make
this an intimate and moving portrait of one man’s struggle to
connect with a life going silent.
CBC Rating: Four Bars
Reviewed by: Melissa Martin
Uptown Magazine Picks ‘Best of the Fringe’
Grade 'A'
Singing at the Edge of the World
Venue 9
The brilliant Randy Rutherford returns to the fringe with this
inspirational tale about a folk musician coping with severe hearing
loss. Written and performed by Rutherford, accompanied by his guitar,
this autobiographical story is sheer magic and the entire audience was
captivated by Rutherford's lucid storytelling.
“BEST PICK”
-
Liz Hover, Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg)
-------
San Francisco Bay Guardian Review:
Monologist and musician Randy Rutherford (My Brother Sang Like RoyOrbison)
returns to the Bay Area with his latest autobiographical piece, the
story of his love affair with an age-defying vegan sprite
known initially as “the hummingbird lady.” Rutherford first
encounters
her when, as a newly divorced 40-year-old, he suffers a sympathetic
friend’s gift of a weeklong retreat at a dance lodge. Shaky on
his
newly single legs and living with degenerative hearing loss, Rutherford
finds this free spirit enchanting to the point of otherworldliness,
as
the name he invents for her suggests. Indeed, she leads him into
undreamed-of territory when they eventually meet again (their more
than
merely mind-opening relationship includes Rutherford’s initiation
into
the pleasures of the colonic, for instance, whence the title of the
play). The real transformation takes place in another organ entirely,
of course, as the affair cracks open the rusting armor around his
vulnerable heart. Codeveloped with and gracefully directed by David
Ford, Rutherford's engaging solo play is sweetly stirring without being
cloying, genuinely funny in a deceptively offhand way, and aptly
punctuated by the former folksinger’s smooth, melodious guitar
and
sonorous croon. (Avila)
The Marsh theater presents Randy Rutherford’s critically acclaimed,
sexy, comedy, “This May Feel A Little Funny” about his
life changing
encounter with a mysterious hummingbird woman who wants to broaden
his
middle-aged sexual horizons. The 16 times ‘Best of the Fringe
Festival” winner takes us on a hilarious romp though the strange
ways
of California’s alternative life. Come and see just how far a
guy is
willing to go for love. This is a great couples, date show!This May
Feel A Little Funny has been extended until Dec 16th.
REVIEWS:
"This is a touching love story with interludes of wryly observed
foibles. Randy's energetic, fully inhabited character shows no lapses
of attention. In this up-close space, the audience can feel like he
is
telling his story just to them. His singing and playing leave one
wanting more. It is an evening spent with an accomplished
story-teller." - SF BAY TIMES
"While Mr. Rutherford addresses the insecurities of being middle-aged
and suddenly alone (and who, really, is adequately prepared for this?),
there's something extremely reassuring about his charming delivery.
He
has a habit of addressing the audience directly, interrupting himself
often to ask how we're doing. In the wrong hands this device could
be
intrusive and annoying. But Mr. Rutherford presents his monologue as
though he's telling a story to a group of kind-souled but skeptical
listeners; ultimately, he wins us over." - KQED
Vancouver Sun, September 11, 2006
Randy Rutherford returns with another slice of his life. Once againthe
soft-spoken guitarist gets under our skin with a deceptively simple
approach to storytelling, one that speaks of casual comedy finely
rehearsed.
The title refers specifically to “the cleanse”, one of those horrible
made-in-California creations that promise life changing results – in
this case, through a daily 20-gallon enema. But Rutherford is also
feeling a little funny about hitting 40, newly divorced, and being
pushed by a friend to “mingle” at a dance camp, where the guy who
can’t
dance falls for a woman with the moves of a hummingbird.
As we know from previous Fringe entries as Weaverville Waltz and My
Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison, Rutherford’s journey through life takes
many funny twists. But a serious side always lurks beneath, to remind
us this is not a black-and-white world.
His worsening hearing problem, for instance, is woven so seamlessly
into the way Rutherford works that I didn’t know, until reading his
program notes after the show, that the artist can only sing and pluck
the strings (both done beautifully) in absolute silence – and that’s
exactly what we had given this sweet guy when not laughing or
applauding.
Peter Birnie - Vancouver Sun
2006 Winnipeg Fringe Reviews
Winnipeg Free Press Wed, July 26, 2006
This May Feel A Little Funny
PTE – Colin Jackson Studio (Venue 17)
San Francisco-based fringe perennial Rutherford offers up a music-laced
memoir about letting go, in the emotional sense and also…well,
suffice
it to say, the last third of the 90 minute work recounts “the
cleansing,” a lower-intestinal irrigation involving 24 gallons
of “pristine” water.
The title makes sense now, right?
The procedure is recommended to our hero by the “hummingbird
woman,” a
dazzling, sexy 50-year-old lover who introduces Randy to a) fabulous
midlife sex, and b) the “open marriage” lifestyle of the
California
swinger. (He really likes the former, but he’s not entirely sold
on
the later.)
It’s funny and sad but unfailingly entertaining; Rutherford
demonstrates you’re never too old to feel like an awkward adolescent.
He is the kind of fringe vet who makes it all look easy, but you only
have to see one bad one-man show to appreciate how very good he is.
Randall King
See Magazine (Edmonton)
August 21, 2006
Catalyst Theatre
Four 1/2 Stars
It does feel a little funny, this show, like climbing into a tub
of warm cream of mushroom soup: it may be comfy, but… you know… it’s
mushroom soup.
Randy Rutherford engenders that kind of uncomfortable comfort, gently
and winningly revealing the intimate details of his emotional, sexual,
and colonic life in this one-man show.
The fringe veteran recounts his experiences as a recently divorced
late-forty-something, lonely and a little horny but uncomfortable with
people—feeling especially closed amidst the physically and sexually
open inhabitants of California—until he’s seduced by the freest
of the
free, the hummingbird woman.
He’s achingly honest—about his insecurity, his jealously, his bruised
heart, or his badly maintained intestine—but without the taint of
exhibitionism. Maybe that’s the hallmark of true honesty.
Rutherford’s buildup doesn’t exactly draw an entirely logical line
to
his simple but dramatic climax, but the show’s sustained equilibrium
between joy and sorrow feels right.
And, oh yeah, despite being hearing impaired, Rutherford punctuates
his monologue with tenderly sentimental songs, accompanying himself on
guitar. Utterly unflashy but quietly smart.
(Best of Fringe Pick) 4 1/2 Stars Kevin Wilson – See Magazine
Reviews for This May Feel A Little Funny
The London Free Press, Monday, August 7 , 2006
Randy Rutherford’s This May Feel A Little Funny probes the human
condition in a lively and amusing way. Of course, Rutherford will make
news when he fails to bring a special solo show to the Fringe. His
previous offerings - Weaverville Waltz (2003), My Brother Sang Like
Roy Orbison (2004) and One Frigid Shiny Knight (2005) – were
major festival hits.
His status as a Fringe favorite was evidenced by the enthusiastic crowd
of applause which greeted his appearance on the Spriet Family Theatre
stage Saturday evening. “I guess I’m off to a pretty good
start,” quipped the San Francisco actor-writer-musician before
beginning his autobiographical monologue.
The 80-minute presentation profiles the midlife crises confronting
the 50-ish Rutherford. They include the unpleasant side effects of
aging, divorce, time spent in therapy, and an awkward return to single
life. His dating chances are doomed by woeful pick-up lines: “I’m
Randy. That’s my name – and I’m a little randy, too.”
The shows central issue emerges when he encounters a sexually liberated
Samantha, whose non-stop energy earns her the nickname Hummingbird
Woman. Rutherford’s pursuit of this beautiful, flighty creature
produces hilarity as she introduces him to the “wacky” California
lifestyle, complete with uninhibited sex, vegetarianism and various
rejuvenating health measures. Among them is the high colonic, an intestinal
cleansing procedure that produces the show’s most hilarious scene,
opening with the line “This may feel a little funny.”
The skilled performer punctuates his anecdotes with nostalgic, romantic
songs played on his acoustic guitar. As for his fiery relationship
with Hummingbird Woman, it inevitably leads to painful disappointment.
Yet, from that heartbreak emerges the sage life lessons detailed in
the show’s bittersweet, closing tune, The Glory of Love. This
May Feel A Little Funny is a masterful blend of humor, poignance and
music that’s become Rutherford’s reliable trademark.
Noel Gallagher – The London Free Press
Reviews from the 2005 Vancouver Fringe Festival
Vancouver Sun, Friday September 9, 2005
Deft acting, belly laughs make Knight shine
As hard as it is to believe, there was a time when the puffy shirt
made the man. In his latest solo show, One Frigid Shiny Knight ,
folk singer/actor Randy Rutherford focuses on his two first love affairs-
one with the guitar and the other with the guitar teacher's woman.
Rutherford is a charming storyteller who skillfully weaves the details
of his youth, (spent as a bartender-in-training driving the only convertible
in Alaska), with the comic tale of love and admiration.
Grant, Rutherford's first guitar instructor, is the puffy-shirt-clad
antihero. Although his wardrobe and warbling have the ladies-a-swoonin',
in the end, Grant proves to be more attuned to his music than to any
one woman. One Frigid Shiny Knight is at its brightest when
Rutherford meets the forbidden fruit, Grant's girlfriend Cassandra.
The script turns poetic as Rutherford's description of Cassandra summons
the awe and naivety unique to a young man still mystified by women.
Rutherford also flexes seasoned acting chops as he morphs from character
to character; through well-defined shifts in posture and gesture, this
performer is able to establish each persona before words are required.
One Frigid Shiny Knight deserves further credit for its
comedy. While the show charts Rutherford's search for his "one and
only", there are plenty of belly-laugh-inducing pit stops. Things get
especially silly when Rutherford embraces his innocence and awkwardness
of his first make-out session: "We pressed so much we could've opened
a cleaners!"
Melissa Poll - 4 stars
The Georgia Straight
Publish Date: 8-Sep-2005
ONE FRIGID SHINY KNIGHT— AN ARCTIC ROMANCE This new show from
storyteller Randy Rutherford is a bittersweet tale drawing on Rutherford’s
experiences as a 22-year-old in Anchorage, Alaska. Randy idolizes his
guitar teacher, Grant, but ends up unwittingly caught in a love triangle
with Grant and his girlfriend, Cassandra. Rutherford excels at creating
distinct characters—Grant speaks in a basso profundo voice, his
every utterance a pronouncement from on high—and at providing
memorable descriptions: a bartender “looks like a swollen sausage
in a vest”; a fellow guitar student has “thick glasses
that make her look wall-eyed, like a perch”. He communicates
complex emotion through well-chosen details, such as the contrast between
Grant’s hands and those of Randy’s violent stepfather.
Brimming with humour, youthful yearning, and the occasional song, this
one’s a quiet gem. At Stage 4, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on
September 9 (6 p.m.), 11 (6:30 p.m.), 12 (9 p.m.), 14 (3:45 p.m.),
15 (7:15 p.m.), and 18 (4:30 p.m.) > Kathleen Oliver
2005 Victoria Review
One Frigid Shiny Knight
Monday, August 29, 2005 Through Sept 4 th
For CBC Junkies craving a good yarn while the lockout dulls
the airwaves, Randy Rutherford's One Frigid Shiny Knight is
just the remedy.
Rutherford's saloon-style storytelling about his youthful encounter
with a hunky guitar mentor in Anchorage, Alaska, in the '70s is brought
to life with music and his ease on stage.
Shiny Knight chronicles the young Rutherford's introduction
to guitar-playing via Grant, a blue-eyed blond-haired troubadour
teaching a finger-picking class at the local college. Grant
takes Rutherford under his wing, sharing his guitar playing secrets,
dilapidated log cabin and even his girlfriend with the star pupil. He
tells young Rutherford the key to success is "discipline," a haunting
mantra as his own life later falls apart.
A folk singer in the '70s himself, Rutherford is a competent
and comfortable player and singer. His renditions of Me
and Bobby McGee and Mr. Bojangles draw
in a nostalgic air to the show and provide some entertainment relief.
Shiny Knight proves San Francisco based Rutherford as both
a veteran story teller and musician. As an actor he has ease
on stage and even throws a few one-liners to the audience. However,
the nature of the show doesn't visually lend itself well to the stage. Not
much happens, physically, that moves the story along. You
could close your eyes and listen to the whole show with equal enjoyment
and understanding.
4 stars -
Sarah Petrescu Victoria Time Colonist
Theatre review in the Winnipeg Free Press July 25, 2005
One Frigid
Shiny Knight, An Arctic Romance
Randy Rutherford
The Conservatory (Venue 7) to July 29th
Rare is the storyteller that can hold an audience through a 90-minute
one-man show, but Randy Rutherford is such an engaging performer he
not only succeeds, he makes it look easy.
The San Francisco raconteur/folk singer weaves an engrossing tale of
a love triangle between a naïve small-town boy, the talented troubadour
whom he idolizes, and the beautiful girl who loves them both. Rutherford
wraps the audience under his spell as he brings to life a full cast
of characters set amidst the cold, remote landscape of Alaska. You
can’t
help but be taken in by this fascinating story of love, betrayal, loss
and coming to terms with the fact that our heroes
often fall short of our expectations. FIVE STARS!
- Cheryl Binning, Winnipeg Free Press
Fringe Review Uptown July 28, 2005
When you go to see a one-person show at the Fringe, this is what you
hope for. Randy Rutherford’s story of living in Alaska, learning
guitar and falling in love isn’t all that compelling (until the
shocking epilogue), but his style is. He effortlessly makes you see
the people, the details of the log cabin in which most of the story
is set, even the teacher’s fingers plucking the strings. Rutherford’s
style is casual, and about halfway through he nonchalantly breaks the
fourth wall to comment on his own storytelling. There are plenty of
laughs built in, with Rutherford demonstrating a perfect
sense of timing and joke construction. The story is broken up with
songs and guitar playing, making you wonder if this guy’s talents
ever end. He manages to make it seem like this is the first time he’s
told the story, and the play feels fresh and vital. A (Highest rating)
- Sharilyn Johnson, Uptown (Winnipeg Weekly)
August 1, 2005 FRINGE FEST SOLO SHOWS DYNAMITE
London Free Press theatre
critic Noel Gallagher discovers a pair of stage gems.
It doesn't take a cast of thousands to cast a spell, audiences discover.
A pair of exceptionally fine London Fringe Festival entries are
currently on view at the Spriet Theatre.
One Frigid Shiny Knight and the Strange History of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
provide worthy showcases for two uniquely gifted stage artist. Shiny Knight
features Fringe favorite Randy Rutherford while festival newcomer Joorn-Bjorn
Fuller-Gee uses his formidable dramatic talents to re-create the classic Jekyll
and Hyde tale.
Rutherford's offering is a sequel to My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison, hid
nostalgic-rich creation which drew the most outstanding performance and best
solo performance prizes at last year's Fringe and a Brickenden Award as the
top touring show to visit London in 2004.
That's also a very challenging act to follow, but the San Francisco actor,
writer and musician scores again with this autobiographical monologue, subtitled
An Arctic Romance. It chronicles Rutherford's early adulthood in Anchorage,
Alaska, during the 1970s. While working in a local bar, young Randy meets Grant,
the charismatic guitar teacher who quickly becomes the budding folksinger's
mentor and idol.
"I absolutely worshipped the guy. I swear I never would have made a move
on his girlfriend if he hadn't suggested it," recalls Randy, referring
to the angel-eyed Cassandra, the fair damsel in love with Grant, her knight
in tarnished armor. As in his previous works, Weaverville Waltz and My Brother
Sang Like Roy Orbison, Rutherford punctuates his story with memorable folksongs
of the period, such as Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice and Gordon Lightfoot's
Ribbon of Darkness. They provided a mellow, musical backdrop for his bittersweet
recollection of a doomed love triangle...
Nole Gallagher - London Free Press
My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison' reviews from
the Orlando Fringe Festival 2004
When you listen to Randy Rutherford, you hear the music in his head
-- not just because he sings little snatches of it, but because he makes
you see it and feel it the way he does. Music is Rutherford's touchstone,
and in My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison, he gives you not only Orbison's
crystal-clear tenor but also the way his brother Denny looked as he
drove his classic cherry-red Corvette convertible -- left arm resting
on the open window, voice cool and low and as fatherly as a fatherless
boy could wish.
Rutherford seduced Fringegoers last year with his low-key tales of growing
up with an adored mother and an abusive stepfather in small-town northern
California; now he's back with his second tale in a projected trilogy,
in which the 15-year-old boy is sent to live with an unknown older stepbrother
in Oregon. Rutherford beautifully conveys the innocence of the boy he
was, and the man he becomes is still in thrall to this benevolent older
brother. If you can listen to this evocative tale without getting teary-eyed,
you're a stronger soul than I.
-- Elizabeth Maupin - Orlando Sentinel - May 24, 2004
Weaverville Waltz reviews from the Winnipeg Fringe Festival 2003
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Weaverville Waltz
by Randy Rutherford
Venue 14
Rating: 4 stars
My dad had a .303. That was the rifle's calibre, and it was given to
him as a retirement gift. Not the kind of gift you'd give to a dissatisfied
employee, is it? And it wasn't till years later that it struck me. It
would have been the same weapon he was issued in the last great unpleasantness,
World War Two.
That memory was sparked by Randy Rutherford's recounting of being given
a .30 .30 by his stepfather, in his marvelous 90 minutes of storytelling
Weaverville Waltz. Now in his case it was to help him become a man,
it was to cement relations between the two, and to serve as a bribe
to get him to call his step-dad Lou, dad. Randy might not have agreed,
but his mom, Loraine Jane asked him to do it. And when you add in that
it meant the rifle was then under Randy's bed and couldn't be used to
threaten his mom with again, you can see why he agreed.
There is an element of menace that runs like a vein through this one
man show, all of it from Lou, and Rutherford brings him to life as he
mimics Lou's voice, Lou singing, it has to be Ferlin Husky or Hank Williams,
and describing Lou.
Now if Lou is the stone in his memory's shoe, thinking of his mom calls
back the best. Her support, protection from Lou, attempts to make a
home in the trailer park, encouragement to her " little man"
, and he was the smallest sophmore at school, are told in warm and glowing
tones.
All of this happens upstairs in one corner of the King's Head pub, with
the occasional lighting cue. I sat at the back of the space and I could
still hear everything and get the nuances.
Kay Stone, who used to teach storytelling at the University of Winnipeg,
says every story is a healing story. There is that in Rutherford's telling,
but there is also the terrible realization that people you love may
die never willing to see someone else the way you do. Are they blind?
Do they love unconditionally? Are they desperate to be a couple?
90 minutes of grim would have everyone sobbing in their beer, Guinness
please, so don't let me finish without assuring you that most of the
memories are couched in a self-effacing, whimsical style. Playing school
football - Lou insisted. Dancing with a blonde vision who is a foot
or more taller. High school chums, returning to high school years later.
I'm high on Weaverville Waltz, but I feel I should add, that it will
carry a special impact for North American men who are in their meandering
middle 50s.
And let's deal with the repeat question. This was here a few years back,
it drew a full house, and deserves the ultimate Winnipeg accolade. It
was value for money. Enough said.
-Ron Robinson - CBC
Weaverville Waltz
Loraine Jane Productions
Venue 14 - The King's Head (seats 100)
Although Randy Rutherford gave seven critically acclaimed Weaverville
Waltz performances at Winnipeg's 2001 Fringe, there's a finite limit
to how many productions even the most monomaniacal Fringer can see while
working full-time, so I regrettably missed them. But sometimes in a
long enough life, good things (as well as crap, which you already know
about and which is not the subject of this review) recycle. Last year
I saw Rutherford's My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison and determined that,
given the chance, I'd make it a priority to see him again.
Linda Harlos wishes to offer Randy Rutherford her profoundest, sincerest
and humblest apology for her failure to review his July 17th performance
of Weaverville Waltz . It's not his fault that this was Linda's fourth
production of the day, or that she downed a beer immediately before
his performance with too little food and sleep to mitigate its effect.
By way of recompense, Christine has graciously offered her review in
Linda's stead.
….
Those who enjoyed last year's Fringe sell-out sleeper, My Brother sang
like Roy Orbison are in for another treat this year with Weaverville
Waltz. Others' superlative praise for Rutherford in general, and for
Weaverville Waltz in particular, is amply deserved. Rutherford's material
is extremely intimate, well suited for the 100 seat venues that he appears
to prefer.
Weaverville is the first of an autobiographical series that look at
small town America in the 1950's - only these shows includes the stories
you didn't see on Leave it to Beaver . And let me assure any folks who
may be concerned that they won't know the 'in-jokes', having missed
last year's show, this show stands on its own merits. Attendance at
last year's show is NOT a pre-requisite to understanding or fully enjoying
this performance.
Weaverville is the story of Rutherford's childhood and early teens,
where he lived in a trailer park with his Betty Grable-with-glasses
look-alike mother, Loraine Jane, and his big-belt- buckled, gun-toting
alcoholic stepfather, Lou, and of his first love, Cheryl. Like last
year's show, Rutherford starts with a recent event, and then takes us
back in time to the events that brought us here. And like last year,
the story is told rather like climbing a tree - while we keep going
up the trunk, there are several side-trips onto related but not essential
branches. However, more than merely anecdotes strung together, these
side stories, alternately funny, wry, ironic and poignant, flesh out
the characters and give us insight into both the people and the now
mostly-forgotten and vastly changed social mores of the era.
Rutherford is both a storyteller and a performer. Just listening to
this tale would happily consume me on one of those never-ending car
trips through northern Ontario. But, while spare, Rutherford's performance
is also visually engaging. With a chair as his only prop, using voice,
movement and subtle changes in mannerism, he creates seven highly different
individuals on a tiny stage - so tiny that he occasionally moves into
the audience. Songs from the era, sung with just the right amount of
twang, evoke time, place and mood - as well as reminding me of why I
was never a country and western fan in my own childhood. Given how Rutherford
'weaves' a story, I thought the 'Weaverville' name would be merely technique.
Having checked the web, it's a pleasant surprise to find out that Weaverville,
Trinity County, California really does exist.
At 90 minutes, Weaverville is longer than many other Fringe productions,
which, in this microwave-minute age, may account for my occasional lapses
in attention. However, it is a tribute to Rutherford's talent that I
did NOT end up with the dreaded numb-bum - a sure sign that a show is
too long or too boring.
Rutherford told me after the show that he is working on a third 'chapter'
about his Alaska days. I can hardly wait until next year!
As a side note, this is one of two productions in the King's Head Pub.
This means that while you're waiting for the show to begin - since you'll
likely need to show up early to get a seat to either of the popular
performances in this venue - you can grab a quick bite and a drink.
The menu was typical pub food, with a welcome twist. My well-sized fish
and chips were crispy and flavourful, if a little greasy and difficult
to handle on a plate on my lap (there are some tables further back but
I wanted a front row seat), and came with an unexpected side salad of
baby greens with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette - a good value at $8.95.
My Fringe cohorts enjoyed samosas and a veggie 'burger' of portabello
mushrooms, cheese and other good stuff. Most patrons were enjoying Guinness
- I was pleased to be able to get lime cordial with my soda - a refreshing
option on a hot summer's eve.
Venue 14 - King's Head Pub
(Reviewed during 2003 Winnipeg Fringe)
Another contender for the re-gifting award. What is it with this year's
Fringe having so many shows being remounted within 2 years of their
last Fringe presentation? I guess audience demand will determine the
outcome of this trend and it is one way to see good (or not so good)
shows you may have missed. This show was presented 2 years ago. That
said it is an outstanding presentation from Randy Rutherford (Weaverville
Waltz, My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison). The story is of Randy's youth
in the small northern California town of Weaverville. Randy lives in
a trailer park with his mom Loraine Jane and his hard drinking, sometimes
abusive, red-neck step dad Lou. He is smitten with head cheerleader
Cheryl Davey despite bing the smallest boy in his class. This is a wonderfully
told story that perfectly evokes the late 50's early 60's era of swimming
holes, potato chip tuna casseroles, soda fountains, Gary Cooper westerns
and coming of age. There is singing without accompaniment that is always
appropriate and in tune. If you haven't seen this show, certainly check
it out. If you have seen it, you'll likely enjoy seeing it again. One
warning though- it is 90 minutes, so pee first. It is in the King's
Head after all.
- Joe Carney - UMFM
Weaverville Waltz, Loraine Jane Productions - (Venue 14 - The King's
Head)
Randy Rutherford is back in this wonderful story of his childhood and
his relationship with his mother and stepfather. The story is told in
two parts. In the first part Randy is 7 and living in Weaverville California
in a trailer park. Randy loves his mother but fears his stepfather who
drinks a lot and is abusive. The second part of the story takes us to
the time around Randy's 15th birthday. We learn of his first love and
all of the trials and tribulations involved in the relationship, school,
sports, and friends. Mr. Rutherford is a masterful storyteller who transports
us to the time of his childhood through his wonderfully descriptive
prose interspersed with his great renditions of the musical hits of
his youth. A definite must for any Fringer.
4 1/2 stars Ken Gordon - CBC
From The Orlando Fringe Festival 2003
‘Weaverville Waltz' offers nostalgia
By Elizabeth Maupin | Orlando Sentinel Theater Critic
Posted May 17, 2003
Randy Rutherford is a master of the tiny detail: the little gold ceramic
horse clock that is his mother's prize possession, the waitress in a
small-town coffee shop who keeps pushing her eyeglasses up her nose.
In Weaverville Waltz , Rutherford weaves together detail and memory
to create a tapestry of small-town American life - not a life the way
you want to remember it, but a life the way it must have been.
He remembers his mother, downtrodden and loving, and his stepfather,
mean when he's drunk. He remembers the almost-girlfriend he left behind
when his family had to get out of town, the two-block, two-story downtown
of Weaverville, Calif., and the Nat "King" Cole and Eddy Arnold
and Elvis Presley songs that smoothed his growing up.
Rutherford doesn't seem born to the stage, but he has a natural way
of telling a story and a gift for reproducing the sounds of Elvis and
Eddy and Nat. And at his first Fringe performance on Friday, he managed
to do all of this to the cacophony of a band on Church Street right
outside his venue's door. There's artistry in that, as well - in holding
an audience together, against all odds, with nothing but a bittersweet
tale of growing up.
Weaverville Waltz makes you wonder what other stories he has to tell.
Reviews for My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison from The Winnipeg Fringe
Festival 2002
Sunday July 21, 2002
My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison Spalding Gray meets American Graffiti
in Randy Rutherford’s engaging comic monologue about his coming
of age during the Vietnam War.
Occasionally strumming his guitar and employing a few simple lighting
tricks, the 50ish Rutherford recalls how his mother sent him, at age
15, to live with his older “brother,” Denny, with whom he
shared a stepdad “but at different times.” Under Denny’s
tutelage, Randy learns about cars, girls and unconditional love.
Last year, Rutherford charmed fringe-goers with a memoir about his tortured
childhood. This 90 minute show, a tad on the long side, is the second
in a planned autobiographical trilogy. He’s not exactly a trained
actor, but with well-chosen words and his genial presence, Rutherford
brings his past alive.
- Morley Walker 4 stars
Winnipeg - July 18, 2002
My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison Venue 1 - The ConservatoryRandy Rutherford
warmly recalls being a shy, sensitive 15-year-old sent to live with
his drag racing, radio-blaring, good-old-boy older brother, Denny. The
two bond as Denny coaches him on such masculine pursuits as driving
a Corvette, shooting a rifle, and impressing a date.
But when different postings during the Vietnam War separate the brothers
for four years, Randy is saddened upon returning to find their relationship
has changed, perhaps irrevocably.
What's frustrating about the story, which I assume is based on actual
events, is that the brothers' estrangement seems entirely unnecessary.
The play is advertised as the tale of two brothers "torn apart,"
when in fact they seem not torn apart at all, but simply too proud or
lazy or clueless to sort through differences that appear far from irreconcilable.
Still, the show's a winner. Moving … laugh-out-loud funny …
and memorable. This is not a Fringe play you'll forget the minute you've
left the venue. Rutherford's a gifted and involving storyteller who
can hold an audience in the palm of his hand. And despite his apologies
("ok, you have to remember, my brother is the one that can sing
like Roy Orbison"), he has a wonderful voice.
- Dean Jekinson - 4 1/2 stars
July 22, 2002
My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison
(Venue 1 - The Conservatory)
Randy Rutherford does a wonderful job telling the story of two "brothers",
Randy and Denny. Fifteen year old Randy moves in with his older brother,
and the two form an immediate bond. Denny takes Randy under his wing
and teaches him about women, music, and cars. It's easy to get taken
away by Mr. Rutherford's story telling as he kept his audience entranced
throughout the play. A great story interspersed with nostalgic music
and quite a few laughs. Easily one of the best shows of the Fringe.
- Ken Gordon - 4 1/2stars
My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison
by Randy Rutherford Randy Rutherford has once again brought his irresistible
combination of engaging storytelling and convincing detail to the Winnipeg
Fringe. This 90 minute long narrative about his relationship to his
half-brother, Denny, is a lovingly composed and performed coming-of-age
story. I have said before that Mr. Rutherford has a novelist's instinct
for detail, an observation My Brother makes even more apparent. Whether
it's the smell of Vick's, the way a yellow dress with spaghetti straps
looks on a young woman, or the cracking sound of a 1960 candy-apple
red Corvette settling on its suspension, Rutherford recalls the sensation
that brings memory alive and, beyond that, makes it visceral.
While I'm on the subject of the visceral, it's worth pointing out that
his insights into 60's cuisine reach new heights when he lists peanut
butter and Thousand Islands Dressing as a desirable food. The scene
where this odd combination is explained - along with why his sister-in-law
finds him naked and covered with peanut butter on the kitchen floor
- is an example of the fine sense of pacing that Rutherford demonstrates
throughout his show. His art is one of concealment, in which his deceptively
genial manner covers over the tough decisions he is continually making
about how to tell a story, and about how to make conviction natural.
His is also an art of capacious feeling. At one point Denny tells his
younger brother that "your problem is you somehow feel too much,
you got too much heart." He's right, but it's not a problem. Randy
Rutherford tells us, using the Beatles, that there still is a way to
get back homeward - through the simple acceptance of what's decent and
caring in all of us. That acceptance may not answer all the questions
about family and politics delicately raised by this heartfelt play,
but it at least suggests a way that we might begin to address them.
It is a kind of grown-up lullabye that temporarily puts to rest the
demons of longing and confusion that our age is subject to. My Brother
Sang Like Roy Orbison is one of the finest ways I can think of to spend
an hour and a half of my life. It will be for you, too.
- Robert Enright, Globe & Mail
Reviews from The Vancouver Fringe Festival 2002
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Randy Rutherford in My Brother Sang Like Roy Orbison. The art of the
monologue is given both subtle and beautiful expression in Randy Rutherford's
sweet reminiscence of the sort-of brother (different dads, different
moms -- they shared a stepfather) who helped his kid sibling survive
the '60s in Medford, Oregon. The story moves on via Vietnam to Hawaii
and finally Sacramento for a moving finale that adds tears to what has
been good and gentle fun. Rutherford is a master of making all kinds
of characters come alive with just a gesture or snippet of song (by
Orbison and others of the era), and in only an hour manages to conjure
up all that was right and wrong in his America.
- Peter Birnie - 4 stars
Download Past Reviews for My Brother
Sang Like Roy Orbison in PDF format
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