Review: Laurie Beechman Audience Loves The Skivvies A HEART ACT TO FOLLOW

Hearts were full, and so was The Laurie Beechman on February 12th when The Skivvies played their Valentine’s Day show A HEART ACT TO FOLLOW.  Fourteen years later, and the beloved underwear band is still packing houses around town and outside of the city.  Wherever they go, Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley have fans that are ready and willing to buy a ticket, get their bumms in seats, luv, sit back, have a drink or a snack, and enjoy the music and the manics.  You might think that after a while the novelty of an evening of underwear-clad entertainers might wear off, but, no.  The crowds are still there, and they are still excited to see the latest Skivvies show.  Although… on February 12th, when Lauren asked how many people in the room were seeing their first Skivvies show, there were a lot of hands in the air.  So it looks like there are still people out there who are just now learning about The Skivvies, still people out there who are just now getting around to seeing a show, still people out there who are having that wonderful first night with Nick and Lauren.  But it was only a fraction of people with raised hands that Tuesday night - the rest of the crowd was there because they’ve seen the shows, they’ve heard the music, and they want to keep coming back for more.  That is par for the course for Molina and Cearley - picking up fans wherever they go, and then keeping them, and that’s about more than the underwear.

For their Valentine’s holiday show, Nick and Lauren curated an evening of silly and salacious sketch comedy all wrapped around those famous Skivvie medleys and arrangements.  The sketch comedy isn’t the kind of full-on character sketches one might find at a variety show, these are more akin to drive-by sketches, just to give the songs a little scenery, like having Leslie McDonel come up for her first number with a story about actually having a boyfriend this Valentine’s Day, only to have that story resurface a few numbers later with the news of their breakup.  Or how about when AJ Shively came onto the stage with a tale that set him up as a kind of Cast Away character singing “SOS/Message in a Bottle.”   Andy Mientus didn’t need a story… his entire backstory came in his performance of “Bad Dad Guy,” complete with suit and tie and some… ahem… titillating underdressing.  Meanwhile Jordan Kai Burnett IS the backstory.  Jordan Kai has been playing with The Skivvies for so long that their entire history comes up on the stage with her, and it shows in the relationship the three artists have.  Then there is the case of Skivvies first-timer Tyler Conroy, who didn’t have a skit… just a pair of wings that had to be put on AFTER his guitar, and a guitar without a battery, no less.  So, off came the guitar, off came the wings, off went the actor to find a battery that would accommodate his instrumental needs.  The result?  A theater full of patrons, giddy from happiness and hilarity, not to mention dazzled by Conroy’s million watt smile, which needed NO battery.  Indeed, the Valentine’s show felt more like an April Fool’s Day show, as little bumps in the road kept Lauren and Nick on their toes.  There was a missing glockenspiel mallet that was substituted with a spoon, until it was found and employed for its purpose, before it broke and was replaced by a spoon, once more, that kind of thing.  Little curveballs that didn’t inhibit the festivities or the musicality - it all just made the evening that much more in the moment, and a fun moment, too.

And on the subject of the musicality - the reason The Skivvies have had such staying power isn’t the underwear and it isn’t the sketches (though both are a delectable factor in the recipe), it’s the music.  Both Lauren and Nick are fine musicians with an ability at multiple instruments (including their voices), and with a knack for musical arrangements.  The duo has become renowned for their skill at melding music together into magical medleys that move so fast they are apt to leave a person breathless.   Not them, of course, and not their guest artists, either.  After all, they are all professional singers, prepared for even the most complex lyric challenges.  But while in the audience at a Skivvies show, keep those ears perked up and listening fast, because it can be like riding with Mario Andretti around the racetrack, and what could be more fun than that?   On the 12th, particular highlights included the customary text message song, in which Nick and Lauren make up a song, on the spot, using texts from a patron’s phone (it’s as fun as it sounds), just hearing Marvelous Mientus engaged in the act of singing, McDonel’s manic antics during the “Crazy Medley,” and a wonderful mash-up of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and “What’s Up?” that came late in the act.  It’s always hard to pick standout moments at a Skivvies show because Molina and Cearley put so much of themselves into their work, even going so far as to schlepp extra instruments on a cold winter night, just to ensure the numbers will be perfect.  And it was a perfectly marvelous night, enjoyed to the fullest by all the Beechman patrons, particularly, when the entire team (including Drummer Sonny Ratcliff) wrapped the evening smack dab in the middle of the dining room.   With their “Happy Medley,” and genuine affection, The Skivvies sent this crowd of fans old and new out into the winter night, joy-warmed and smiling, ready for the upcoming weekend ahead.   And tTHAT is what keeps The Skivvies in business.

Find great shows to see on the Laurie Beechman Theater website HERE.

HERE is the website for THE SKIVVIES.

See A HEART ACT TO FOLLOW on Youtube HERE.

Brian Nash was a guest pianist at A Heart Act To Follow.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

Leslie McDonel

Andy Mientus

Tyler Conroy

AJ Shively

Jordan Kai Burnett