LAURA MCKENZIE FEELS LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE
nytheatre.com review by Joel Treick
August 15, 2002
Performing on a sweltering night in New York City, Chicago import Laura
McKenzie manages to transform her stage into a playground of memorable
characters each viewing love and femininity through their own unique
eyes with their own unique voices. And make no mistake about it: from
the moment the lights come up, it is her stage. From the wild P.
Diddy-esque tome "I Wanna Be My Husband’s Ho," to a side-splitting turn
as the leader of a husband-finding seminar, to a subdued and remarkably
effective look at a woman struggling to get out of bed for the first
time in quite a while, McKenzie uses her strengths as a writer and
performer to take the audience along with her without the over-the-top
abrasiveness that can often poison the "written and performed by" genre.Laura McKenzie Feels Like Makin’ Love is most effective when McKenzie plays characters that allow her to reveal her intelligence and vulnerability. For example, an academic examination of Bad Company and the entire "cock rock" phenomenon referenced by the show’s title is smart and funny, while a ghetto-accented performer accepting a Grammy Award seems a bit forced and falls flat.
Perhaps a function of the show’s direction, the early moments of Laura McKenzie Feels Like Makin’ Love struggle to find a crisp thematic unity that is present later on in the piece. Once McKenzie hits her stride however, the show flows nicely from one vignette to the next, providing not only a showcase for a fine individual talent, but a poignant and entertaining look at the many faces and voices of femininity. And all this without a single pair of acid washed jeans or a mullet. A certain collection of 1970’s English rockers would be so proud!
