Not to give anything away, but Lady Steel, played by Heather Strickler, is the first woman to fly onstage in a harness at Gaslight Theatre.
Strickler demurs, crediting Dr. Lance Tanner, aka “Earth’s Greatest Brain” for the innovation, but the scene’s high energy generates plenty of plaudits to go around.
Lady Steel’s flying act comes near the end of the show, “The Revengers,” onstage at The Gaslight Theatre through Aug. 27. The show features, besides Lady Steel and Tanner (mild mannered as long as you don’t get him “hangry”), a comically light-hearted Thor “Lord of Thunder;” The Insatiable Bulk, aka “Earth’s Greatest Brawn;” bad-news boys Zanor and Loki; wacky scientist Dr. Erica Selving; her endearing lab assistant, Janey; and the stunning Ruby Witch, played by Janée Page, who steals the stage with a solo while the set changes behind the curtain.
The plot takes a turn to the peril of Selving and Janey when the duo innocently fall victim to Ruby and her dastardly crew. They flee with their captives via spaceship to the balcony, but the heroes pursue a heroic climb in the stage left alcove.
At a crucial moment our hero appears via an enormous video over the house band. The screen is making its debut, having been installed just pre-pandemic and idle ever since.
Of course, the denouement favors the valiant Revengers, and everyone sings at the end.
But it’s not the end! Every Gaslight show concludes with an “olio.” A remnant of the vaudeville era, the term refers to a short variety show between acts in a larger show. In those days, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it might have been a strip tease or a boxing match.
At Gaslight, it’s more like the whipped cream on your hot fudge sundae, which, incidentally, we can’t recommend highly enough. The Gaslight Olio is a short, standalone show which usually has nothing to do with the main event.
For “The Revengers,” the olio is a Gen X confection — a remembrance of their childhood in front of the television. It’s a tribute to “The Brady Bunch,” all five seasons, with a cameo by Kermit the Frog.
“The Revengers” is one of two newer shows in the Gaslight repertoire that have been co-written and co-directed by the company’s choreographer and director Katherine Byrne and director Mike Yarima. The pair also wrote the ‘Gaslight Christmas Vacation for 2022.”
Yarema has been a cast member for nearly 25 years. Byrne began performing at Gaslight as a child actor and returned to the theater in 2013 following a touring career as a vocalist. She’s best known locally as a vocalist with Orkesta Mendoza and Calexico.
Strickler joined the cast in 2013 when she was in graduate school at the UA in 2013. She’d fallen in love with the theater when her parents took her to a show there on her 8th birthday. Long-timers’ careers are common at The Gaslight Theatre, as cast and crew members, but audience members, too, return again and again.
The loyalty owes to the quality of Gaslight productions but also the family-like geniality of the atmosphere. Audience members at every show are recognized for birthdays, anniversaries and service in the military and law enforcement as well as for wherever they journeyed from to see the show.
“We depend on how responsive the audience is,” Strickler told us. “That’s why we always say, ‘Make sure you’re cheering the good guys and booing the bad guys.’
“We really try to get people to interact, because the more they interact, the more you’ll see us break that fourth wall and really play with them.”
Most Gaslight shows sell out well before the run ends. Coming attractions are “Henry Porter,” Aug. 31 through Nov. 8, and “A Small Town Christmas,” Nov. 9 through Jan. 7.
“The Revengers,” Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway Boulevard, $25, various days and times through Sunday, Aug. 27, thegaslighttheatre.com
4th of July Extravaganza
Tucson favorite cartoonist and funny man David Wayne Fitzsimmons headlines a blowout of a comedy show on Tuesday, July 4. Co-headlining will be longtime gay comedian and frequent Laff’s headliner Jade Estrada Esteban, aka “The Prada Enchilada.” Some fans may remember him from the Joey Medina Show.
Filling out the lineup are comedians Autumn Horvat, Steven Black, Jesus Otamendi and Morgan Kuen and drag queens Iona Hoya and Kristy Kreme.
The Lady Ha Ha women, Priscilla Fernandez and Mo Urban, organized the event, styling it the “4th of July Extravaganja.” Expect marijuana jokes to be dank.Club Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson, $15, 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 4, dice.fm
Keep Tucson Sketchy moves to Catalyst
Tucson’s insanely popular variety sketch show “Keep Tucson Sketchy” takes its act to the foothills on Saturday, July 1. Find them at Tucson Mall’s Catalyst Creative Collective with back-to-back performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Keep Tucson Sketchy is a comedy show that mixes videotaped sketches with live sketches and live music. Their shows routinely sell out. The cast engages more than a dozen actors, writers and tech people.
Catalyst has recently created a variety of spaces to accommodate new and emerging performance and art projects. Groups who share the space also often teach classes. KTS’ Allana Erickson Lopez recently gave a sketch workshop there. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for future developments.
Other shows this week
Chuckleheads, 41 Brewery Avenue, Bisbee, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 1, chuckleheadsaz.com, $20. Ali Musa, an affable Arab American whose best jokes are about his dad, Mexican food and the character of a southside Circle K, Musa podcasts on Spotify.
Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard. 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, June 30, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, July 1, laffstucson.com, $15, $20 preferred seating. Greg Romero Wilson is judgy on shows about dumb YouTube clips but not the one where he plays the tooth fairy as a con artist.
Moto Sonora Brewing Company, 1015 S. Park Avenue, 7 p.m. Saturday, July 1, free, Stacy Scheff hosts “Belly Tanks and Belly Laughs Standup Comedy Show” featuring Dom DiTolla with Alvaro Hermosillo Jr., Corbin Barker, Lynne D., Andrea Carmichael, Gay Rose, Genny Burnette.
Tucson Improv Movement/TIM Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street, Summer break, returning next weekend. tucsonimprov.com, $7 each show, $10 for both shows, same night, free jam and open mic.
Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, unscrewedtheatre.org, $8, live or remote, $5 kids. 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 30, Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU); 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 1, NBOJU; 9 p.m. “The Back Yard” (experimental space for improv ensembles and forms).
