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"Joanna Parson is hilarious."
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Sweet and filled with creative imagery." —Backstage "Joanna Parson knocks us out." —NYTheatre.com "Joanna Parson is deliciously louche." -- The New York Sun "Feminist folk singer Joanna Parson was fantastic! I hate folk singers, but I love funny women, and Joanna Parson sings about the joys of getting with your cousin." —The New York Waste
Lawrence Van Gelder from The New York Times
Check out the NY Times review of "Thicker Than Water" at the Ensemble Studio Theatre! Chip Deffaa from the NYPost CABARET PICK "...this cabaret newcomer with the very-alive eyes is a most happy find. We enjoyed the way she got audience members talking about recent experiences. When one fellow complained of his unfaithful boyfriend named Duane, Parson playfully said Duane sounded like a perfect subject for her "Bitter Songwriting 101." She shared her hard-won insights into writing/performing winningly bitter songs; repeating the subject's name 10 times with wondrously increasing anguish, letting one's voice suddenly drop an octave to simulate being overwrought (a la Sinead O'Connor), and more. Then, getting the audience into hysterics, she improvised songs about Duane, before moving on to a comic, original folk song aimed at an ex-boyfriend she so desperately wants back: "I only date your brother because he looks like you..."
"A few minutes later, at 9:00 pm, I was in the front cabaret room at DON'T TELL MAMA to catch Joanna Parson's new show. Joanna is a singer/songwriter in the tradition of Christine Lavin. Her story-songs take particular aim at the strange little alleyways of life - song titles like "When Cousins Marry" (written to reflect on the day she met an extremely handsome cousin on a visit home), "Casting Director" (a different twist on the overdone audition song), and an updated version of one of my favorites, "Johnny" (stalking a former boyfriend from a window ledge). Oh, such fun!" |
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The Latest Interviews & Reviews (For more, see News page, or visit Reddy or Not.)
Reviews of Reddy or Not!
Jonathan Warman Goofy tribute to Helen Reddy is outrageous and enchanting. You couldn't accuse Lance Werth and Joanna Parson of taking themselves too seriously. In Reddy or Not! Both of them set out to perform their "fantasy one-person cabaret tribute to Helen Reddy" Problems- and bubbly comedy- arise when they end up trying to do their shows simultaneously. When they realize that the chances of two people on the New York cabaret scene both wanting to do a Helen Reddy tribute are infinitesimal, they realize destiny must be at work and decide to do the show together. The show's goofy charm comes from equal parts warm affection for Reddy's songs and zany delight in their campy melodrama. The fact the twosome are gifted comic writers doesn't hurt: Parson cheerfully relates how the denizens of her hometown ritualistically stone a girl straight out of Reddy's "Angie Baby"; Werth confesses that a friend called "Vance"- who came to New York to pursue "acting and homosexuality"- spontaneously broke out singing "Ain't No Way To Treat a Lady" when his closeted pro football boyfriend slighted him. The duo are adorably silly and rarely less than hilarious, and the show is the most light-hearted frolic I can remember seeing in quite some time.
I love good singing. I love good writing. I lover cleverness combined with fun. I loved "Reddy or Not" with Joanna Parson & Lance Werth at Don't Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 1-212-757-0788) which I saw on Tuesday, September 22nd. Imagine two young people, a guy and a gal, unknown to each other, who find in the music of Helen Reddy, comfort and strength in the time of stress. Each decides to write a cabaret show featuring Reddy songs, and through some quirk of fate, and a mistake in the booking calendar, discover, as the lights come on in the cabaret room, that they have been assigned the same cabaret room, on the same night, and at the same time. This is not the only off-the-wall coincidence that happens in this delightfully funny show, but it is the only one I'm going to reveal here. With more plot twists than a LAW & ORDER episode (I just had to slip that line in somewhere), Joanna and Jason present a funny and clever show that had me weeping from laughter. Even those lines that were perfectly predictable had me falling off my seat! Both performers are cute and talented - and just slightly quirky, which adds to the fun of the show. Direction is by Joe McDonnell (Urinetown - Fringe Festival 2000) and musical direction is by the often underrated Barbara Anselmi. |
An Actor's Life