The Theater must be desperate for material or craving for nostalgic reminisces of B-movie stars.
"Point Break" - the cult feature which starred Keanu Reeves as an undercover FBI agent - was recently adapted for the stage.
By all accounts, it was a bizarre offering for the boards.
The producers were billing - Point Break LIVE! - in quite a unique way.
"The absurdist stage adaptation of the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze extreme-sports blockbuster which returns to its roots: Los Angeles, "bank robbery capital of the world," where "a lot has changed in the last 20 years - the air got dirty and the sex got clean."
The odd-ball production revives faded memories of Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves); Bodhi, the surfing philosopher (Patrick Swayze); and a handful of bank robbers (like the one played over-the-top by Gary Busey).
"Point Break LIVE!" first opened in Seattle - but has had sold-out runs in New York City and Minneapolis - if you can fathom it.
The stage show is sort-of an up-close in-your-face personal theatrical experience.
The oddity here?
At each show an acting newbie is plucked from the audience to stumble on the playing field and inhabit the Reeves "Utah" role.
The casting director noted tongue-in-cheek that the process ensured an FBI character - not unlike Reeves - who'll be wooden, grasping for lines, and looking for all-the-world like a deer caught in the thunderous path of a two-ton truck!
Yeah, they wanted a slow-talking, self-conscious dude who struts like he has a stick up his butt (or somethin' like that).
During the auditions, unlikely wannabes take a shot at the big time by executing jumpin' jacks, showing-off a little tight a**, and rendering a cold-reading - ah - very cold!
"Keanu's role requires a special kind of acting," explained one demanding director.
"Essentially, in every scene, the actor looks like he's just been dropped into a room with no idea about what's going on."
At each performance, it helps that acting novices get to read from cue cards!
Undoubtedly, this nifty approach, will be sure to capture the rawness of a Keanu performance (even thespians who think themselves generally incapable of acting).
One night, a handful of fans at a Los Angeles gig, swear that a 5'5 blond guy with glasses eerily perfected the Keanu accent, making the entire show a success.
A film buff, in queue at that once-in-a-life-time theatrical event, was inclined to wonder aloud later.
"How do they handle a Keanu that totally blows?"
"Point Break" is a tale about a rookie FBI agent, who infiltrates a colony of surfers in Southern California, to break up a bank robbery ring.
Keanu's character (FBI Agent) first bonds with Bodhi (bank robber Patrick Swayze).
Bodhi - unaware of his partner's secret agenda to bust his butt - pines away for him, nonetheless.
In the movie edition - filmgoers guffawed at stilted, quotable, camp dialogue - very Stallone-esque in style.
Difficult thought-provoking lines like "Whoa" and "I am an FBI agent" are revived in the stage production to the glee of "Point Break" officiandos.
Because "POINT BREAK" is executed in serious frat-boy style, it makes sense that there is usually plenty of cheap beer on tap, along with munchies, and what-have-you.
There's a lot of stumbling about in the stage version - the whole experience is not unlike a theatrical train wreck - with all the guys nearly ending up in an orgy of limbs in a jumble on the hard floor.
According to production notes from a couple of staged performances, the play "features copious amounts of fake blood, extended fight choreography, and an indoor monsoon."
For this reason, the savvy theatre buff usually springs for the brown sack offered up by the show's producers as a "Survival Kit" for $1 at the point of entry.
The lively action scenes - when choreographed by a competent director at the helm - are worth the price of admission.
In fact, in equity-waiver theatres, theater-goers often get caught up in the heavy-breathing, cross fire, and flying shrapnel.
The fighting sequences to date in most productions, have been long and drawn out, but no one's complained as of yet.
I mean, you want full value for the $20 admission fee, don't 'ya?
On occasion, ubiquitous cameras have captured all the magical moments on celluloid.
So, I expect there will be an on-line reality show, or a scintillating webbie TV offering in the near future.
"Point Break LIVE" has been described as an "obnoxious foray" into the ridiculous and a "perverse voyeuristic pleasure" that doesn't require much attention.
Some jarring moments on stage may snap you into a surreal kind of wake-up call at some juncture, though.
"The worse it gets, the better it gets. Sensationally idiotic," noted a delighted Seattle P-I Theatre critic.
You don't even need to have seen the movie "Point Break" to feel like an insider.
You do need to appreciate the brilliance of Keanu-isms, though.
Run the film - SPEED - a couple of times to get in the mood, if possible.
In the Los Angeles production, Agent Harp (played by Gary Busey in the film) was all jawbone, with a dash of spontaneous twitching thrown in for good measure, so they say.
Meanwhile, Bodhi (Swayze's character) had the surfer-zen persona down to a precise haiku poem.
Some swear it was the ribald gang of rag-tag homoerotic bank robbers who stole the show.
"Point Break" won a "Seattle P-I Best of Seattle 2004" award and has been garnering raves around the country.
To have courageously attended bestows on the theatre-goer a kind of theatrical chic.
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