Review: Roderick Ferguson Needs No Rescuing In MAN OVERBOARD!!! at Don't Tell Mama

There is something so satisfying about the look on the face of a performing artist who has just entered a nightclub where there are no empty seats. And there were no empty seats during yesterday's performance of MAN OVERBOARD!!!, a new musical comedy cabaret by comedy monologuist Roderick Ferguson. If there is any sense of rhyme or reason in the world, his seven pm performance TONIGHT (#bighint) will also have no empty seats. If there is any justice in the world, Roderick Ferguson and Don't Tell Mama booking managers Sidney Myer & Tanya Moberly have already begun talks in giving the act an extension of some sort (#bighint) because MAN OVERBOARD!!! is a genuinely hilarious program based on the real-life experiences of a man who isn't famous but who, with shows like this, should be headlining clubs, cabarets, and cruise ships all over the world.

MAN OVERBOARD!!! (henceforth, MO) reads like a stand-up comedy special, not like that one that has Dave Chapelle in so much trouble right now, filled with controversy and unrest - more like an hour-long special that Rita Rudner or Paula Poundstone would have on HBO or Showtime. It isn't about setting up the jokes and landing them, getting people to laugh out of shock or profanity, hurting and offending people with undeniably funny but harsh rhetoric. Watching MO is the experience of watching a comedian with a "thing" (and Mr. Ferguson definitely has a "thing") tell a true story in a manner that is so unique that it cannot be told by anyone but them. The story is also, coincidentally, so personal that it should not be told by anyone but Ferguson... others will tell it, to be certain, while in the act of talking about this very show, but nobody should tell this story but Roderick himself. With his wide-eyed, permanently-grinning expression and his very specific cadence and timing, the telling of tales from his life belongs, solely, in his voice.

Reminiscing on topics that range from a very odd relationship with his mother to an obsession with Monarch Butterflies, from a college-years hospital stay to a rather public lawsuit, every story that Mr. Feguson tells centers around two things, and two things only: absolute authenticity and incomparable timing, comic or otherwise. Spectacularly directed by acting icon turned cabaret director Faith Prince, Mr. Ferguson tells the MO story to his happily captive audience with total candor, making use of all the areas of the stage, so as to include every person in the theater, but also by welcoming the clientele into the story with various bits of sing-a-long, direct one-on-one conversation, and continual eye contact. Never aloof or inaccessible, Ferguson is the best version of the public library's Story Lady, nattily dressed in his fitted suit, belting out songs in his best Gay Men's Chorus voice, and dancing about the room in ways so silly that they would make an everyday person feel somewhat self-conscious. Not Roderick Ferguson. One of the comedian's strongest assets is his willingness to look foolish in the name of entertaining his audience, which makes him all the more likable. By combining the comedy gold that is the mixture of his silliness and his timing with an immaculately crafted script that dips just often enough into pathos and humanity, Roderick provides seventy-ish minutes of ongoing laughter, possibly a sniffle from time to time, and a real-life story that touches, amazes and inspires. Everybody has a story worth telling but not everybody has a story worth telling on a stage in front of an audience. Roderick Ferguson does.

The show art for MO describes this comedy smash as "The hilarious yet moving story of a comedian who fought for gay marriage in a small island nation," so there is no possible spoiler in the description of Ferguson's act. It is, indeed, about how Roderick became the face of a lawsuit that challenged his birthplace of Bermuda to embrace Marriage Equality (or, at least, to legalize it). It takes Ferguson approximately thirty minutes to get to that story, but it doesn't matter because the first half of his show lays down a foundation that informs the major focus of MO, a foundation that is vastly important to the entire production (not to mention wildly entertaining), and, throughout, Mr. Ferguson peppers his comedy monologue with some seven or eight musical interludes (cleverly arranged by Beautiful Bobby Peaco and performed by Magical Michael McAssey) that may not always feel like they are furthering the story, but that, deliciously and deceptively, do. The interweaving of the songs (sometimes only snippets of songs) is an essential part of Roderick's storytelling style. The singing voice is interesting and enjoyable, but it isn't a voice that can sustain a seventy-minute cabaret show; fortunately, the MO script, Prince, and both Maestros assisting Roderick have created a precise level of musicality that raises Roderick up to the heights in his show, ultimately acting in complete service, not of Ferguson, but of the story being told. In doing so, Team Ferguson has also acted in service of the audience, the real winners of the MAN OVERBOARD!!! experience.

There should only be more audience for Roderick Ferguson's new show - hopefully tonight, and hopefully many other nights in this club or any other club that books MAN OVERBOARD!!! into their season, because this is definitely a show that people should see and enjoy. And that is a straight-up recommendation, not a #bighint.

See Roderick Ferguson MAN OVERBOARD!! at Don't Tell Mama on December 5th at 7 pm by making a reservation (STRONGLY RECOMMENDED, AS IS AN ON-TIME ARRIVAL) at the DTM website HERE.

THIS is the Roderick Ferguson website.

Roderick Ferguson gets a five out of five microphones rating for performing his entire show without the use of a lyric sheet, tablet, or music stand.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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