A BULLET REVIEW OLD HAT WITH BILL IRWIN AND DAVID SHINER

http://www.signaturetheatre.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=4307


David Shiner and Bill Irwin, two adorable, extraordinarily talented, very funny, rubber faced physical clowns/mime legends have brought their show Old Hats back to the Signature Theater on 42d street which had a sold out run in 2013.

They are joined by Shaina Taub a young singer, musician who performs her own songs with her small band between acts from the edge of the stage with quirky irreverent lyrics like a love song about which one of us will die first. She also puts on a top hat and cane for a great dance number with the guys. The fun they are having with each other is infectious.  Shaina Taub looks like she is in her 20's and is a riser star we will be hearing a lot from.

Irwin and Shiner haven't  lost their chops even as they enter an age when most mortals can't move with the way they do. Two old guys waiting for a commuter train each in oversized pin stripe suits  argue with each other as one shrinks and the other grows. When they stop fighting they start, wordlessly of course, complaining about stuff that hurts or doesn’t work and out come their seven day plastic pill containers with pills being exchanged that make body parts do interesting things.

In this piece of resistance masterpiece, Shiner is a loser sleazebag magician with a loser aging floozy wife - Bill Irwin in high heeled drag - doing their loser magic show in which they keep screwing up tricks including the sawing in half of an audience volunteer.

David Shiner has the ability to spot the right people to drag on stage in a selection process which he revealed, in a post show talk back, starts with him anxiously watching the way people walk and interact on their way to their seats. Shiner said the anxiety of choosing a person who can relax and have fun on stage never goes away but he can tell a lot when he shakes their hand as they step up on stage.

If there is a flaw it’s the recycling of material from the last time Old Hats was at the Signature. That problem is more than overcome by the laughter as we watch these brilliant veteran performers channel the spirits of Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Sid Ceasar