Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
When You're Down On Your Luck And You're Too Drunk To Fuck...Bukowsical!
()
David Lawrence as Charles Bukowski and Steven Memel as Steven Memel
Haven't you ever wondered what could be learned from the inspirational story of Charles Bukowski's life - alcoholic, depressive, and suicidal poet? Stephen Memel, the auteur/directeur/chanteur/Phantom Impersonateur, did, and he has given the world BUKOWSICAL!, now extended at the Sacred Angel Fist Circle Of Note Gang Theater through July 21.
Yes, it's a musical about Charles Bukowski, and what better way to celebrate SAFCNG's fifth year bringing love, joy, and AA-happy endings to Los Angeles audiences?
Support for LAist comes from
This latest of Memel's eponymous Experiences is still in the form of a fifty-minute backer audition in a late-night slot, Fridays only at 11 pm. If your performance is interrupted by a visit from the Bukowski estate trying to shut down the show, please boo them loudly. Nothing, especially not copyright law, can stand between the world and the power of musical theater.
As the SAFCNG website says, and signs in the lobby demand, "Bring your checkbook and your producer friends. You'll be sure to want a piece of this Broadway Bound show! We have very little time to raise a lot of money."
If you've read this far, you know there is another force behind the show besides madman Steven Memel, but we really appreciate how far BUKOWSICAL! goes to maintain the illusion - even to the extent of a double-sided fake program, one with bios full of "Memel Experiences" such as "Faster Pussycat, Sing! Sing!," "No, No, Godot!" and "Sirhan Sirhan! Sirhan Sirhan!" One of our friends spent an entire day re-reading the fake program.
BUKOWSICAL! was written by Spencer Green and Gary Stockdale, with music by Stockdale and directed by Dean Cameron (yes, of Spam Scam Scam fame). It's just under an hour of black-clad musical theater geeks doing humorous choreography and singing cheery songs about puking up your booze, under the iron hand of Memel as Memel.
David Lawrence shines among a goofy cast as Bukowski, anchoring their mayhem with a stolid, sad-eyed depression. His confusion and sadness every time one musical number ends (such as "You're Stupid, Gross, and Ugly, And We Hate You") is so cute. We just wanted to give him a hug. He seems to have been entirely hypnotized by the madness of Memel, and to have gone so far into Bukowski that there's no way out - even looking kind of sad at the curtain call. He's living Charles Bukowski's real nightmare, of waking up surrounded by musical theater performers.
We got the chance to speak with Cameron after the show, and he told us that there's a chance Sacred Fools will be expanding BUKOWSICAL! to move into an 8 pm mainstage slot. There is something nice about a 50-minute show, fitting into our television-addled eyeballs perfectly, and we'd need another plotline - hopefully involving the maniacal Kathi Copeland - to keep going with it.
BUKOWSICAL! fulfills all the requirements of a riotous late-night, plus providing opportunities for literary posers to dabble in 99-seat theater. By the looks of the ink-stained, haggard, corduroy-jacketed, hollow-eyed people trickling out of BUKOWSICAL!, Sacred Fools has done it again - brought the snobs to their feet.
Support for LAist comes from
BUKOWSICAL! plays Fridays at 11 pm only through July 21, with no performances on 6/2 or 6/9. Tickets, $10, are available online or by calling (310) 281-8337. In the hallowed auspices of the Sacred Fools Theater & Casino, 660 N. Heliotrope, LA CA 90004.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist