Review: THEATER ADULT With Gianmarco Soresi Sets The Stage at Joe's Pub

One month ago, this very day, I went to Joe’s Pub to see THEATER ADULT, the new variety show starring the incredible Gianmarco Soresi.  Then, I sat on the review because I knew the show would be moving to its permanent residency at The Green Room 42 on September 16th, and I wanted to use the review to promote that performance.  Well, the laugh’s on me because the show is sold out.  It’s right there on the Green Room 42 website:  SOLD OUT.  Never fear, my dears, because TGR42 livestreams their shows and you can get a ticket to the livestream (HERE).  You can also book in to the future performances of Theater Adult on October 19th (HERE), November 24th (HERE), and December 17th (HERE).  Do it now, before they sell out, too.  And they will sell out.  They will sell out because Gianmarco is one of the most insanely popular artists on the scene today.  His stand up comedy sets are packed.  His podcast is devoured by his fans.  His social media activity is viral.  And THEATER ADULT is the new variety show in New York CIty that everyone needs to see.

Truthfully, Theater Adult is not new.  It played Joe’s Pub last October, and, even then, it was an encore, having played Caveat in July of the same year.  But now Theater Adult has a real-life residency in New York City, and even though it isn’t a weekly residency, it’s a residency.  One suspects Soresi is too busy with his comedy dates to do a weekly show, but, heavens be praised, how wonderful to have Gianmarco available to us on, at least, a monthly basis.  The thing you need to know, though, is this:  Theater Adult is not a stand up comedy show.  Oh, there are laughs, and plenty of them, but the laughs happen organically because most of what Soresi does is talk to the people.  He talks to the audience, asks questions, plays games, and invites some people to the stage for an impromptu performance.  He talks to his guest, he asks questions, he tells stories.  This is unscripted.  There’s framework, there’s a format, (there is even a binder to which our genial host refers from time to time) but this is happening in the moment, and that makes it even more impressive, because being funny on your feet is a skill not everyone has.  Gianmarco Soresi has it, along with all his other talents.

Theater Adult is a quasi-chat show about being from and being in the theater.  Soresi (as any of his fans and followers know) was a child of the theater.  It was his first love, it was his pursuit, it was his college career.  Gianmarco studied for musical theater and he is a musical theater proficient, able to sing as though he were on the stage of the Majestic Theater.  Like many theater mavens, though, it wasn’t on the musical theater stage where he found his success, it was in the comedy scene, and his theatrical background has been fodder for a lot of his comedy - not exclusively, but the presence of Broadway has been significant, to say the least.  So during his chat-style variety show, Mr. Soresi follows a right proper format, tried and true with the passage of time.  At the July 29th performance at Joe’s Pub, there was an opening act, a delightful Jared B. Goldsmith, there was an opening monologue, there was crowd work (including on-the-spot numbers performed by audience members), there was a guest, the astonishing Alex Edelman, there was a musical number by Soresi himself, there was a musical number by Edelman and Goldsmith, and there was a grand finale.  Tired yet?  It sounds like a lot but it didn’t feel like a lot.  And the audience was tired, but only from laughing.  The July 29th performance of Theater Adult was like air conditioning on a hot day, a cool drink after running a marathon, or a three-day weekend after a sixty-hour work week.  It was comfortable, it was casual, it was relaxing, it was revitalizing, and it was funny, so, so very funny.

The premise of Theater Adult follows Soresi’s life experience.  He was a theater kid, now he’s a theater adult.  The audience is made up of many people who can say that they were theater kids, too… but are they still theater adults?  That’s what Gianmarco wants to know.  He calls out questions to the crowd in his search for theater adults.  Who was an actor that isn’t anymore?  What was the last play you were in?   What is an embarrassing audition story?  What is a role you played that you wouldn’t be cast in today?  Do you remember your audition song?  Can you sing it for us now?  How does your past life in the theater inform your life today?  The crowd work is impeccable.  The questions are whimsical but probing.  The shock at some of the answers is authentic.  And Gianmarco handles it all with the ease of a master live performer.  He may have studied musical theater but this is what he was made for (and that famous standup comedy style).  And once his guest is onstage, Soresi’s interview style is very good.  It has fluidity and intention but it isn’t rigid.  He asks the questions and waits for the guest to answer,  and in the case of the animated and voluble Mr. Edelman, the waiting was easy for him because listening to Alex tell stories was a bonus and a blessing.   Alex and Gianmarco are a good pairing, it would be nice to see them do some other things together - one hopes their creative juices might be flowing in the direction of some duo possibilities.  The chemistry and camaraderie is palpable.  Also, it would be a mistake to not mention Musical Director Adam Cole Klepper who wasn’t only a side wit on the sly, but a musician par excellence, able to play whatever tunes sprung up in the moment, from Put on a Happy Face to One Day More (said grand finale - a sing-along unlike any other).  Mr. Soresi clearly knows how to surround himself with the best in the business, and that’s probably why the quality of this particular presentation was so high, probably why we can all count on the quality of the shows at The Green Room 42 to be good.

Now, to the untrained ear, this show, Theater Adult, might sound a little niche.  I would argue that it is not.  The reason I say this is because I was there, listening to the answers to Gianmarco’s questions.  The Theater Adults in the audience at the Joe’s Pub show had a range to them.  I don’t think one needs to have been a drama major to be in the audience of Theater Adult, or to enjoy the proceedings.  One might simply have done some plays in high school, even elementary school, to understand the jargon.  One might have done some community theater growing up or even as a grown up, to laugh at the jokes.   One might just enjoy going to the theater or listening to cast recordings to be appalled by stories of white students performing in black face or enthralled by Gianmarco Soresi singing “On The Street Where You Live” with his Broadway-ready abilities.  This is New York City, where much of the population is in, has been in, or has gone to the theater, or, at least, watched television shows about the art form and the industry.  Theater Adult is just one more chance to get a little closer to it with some bona fide backstage stories, some amusing anecdotes, and lots of lots of Gianmarco Soresi laughs.  Not to be missed.

While the links for the rest of the year’s installments of THEATER ADULT are listed above, the home page for The Green Room 42 is HERE.

THIS is the Joe’s Pub calendar page.

HERE is the Gianmarco Soresi website.

Alex Edelman has a website HERE.

Adam Cole Klepper can be found online HERE.

Jared B. Goldsmith has a page HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher