Friday, February 17, 2012

Shatner's World: We Just Live in It

Visiting with Captain Kirk is Out of This World
By Lauren Yarger
When notices appeared for William Shatner's upcoming one-man Broadway show, I realized that if I had a bucket list, seeing Captain Jim Kirk in person definitely would be on it.

I had fallen for the dashing captain of the Starship Enterprise some time back in college where a bunch of us would gather one night a week in the dorm lounge for reruns of the popular television series. I had missed the original series broadcast, not being a big fan of sci-fi at that time, but I branched out a lot in college and along with consuming new and sometimes unidentifiable foods in the cafeteria, I agreed to watch "Star Trek" with my new dorm mates.

I found the show's bizarre aliens amusing, but it didn't take long to see that there was some real intelligence behind everything, from the interracial/international crew, which was new for its time, to the design of the starship, which ran on computers (with hard floppy disks-- again unheard of at the time) and warp drive. Crew communicated on devices not unlike today's smart phones and soon I was hooked, but more because of the dashing Kirk than the technology or smart story plots.

One episode finds Kirk stranded on a planet while The Enterprise is under attack while orbiting. Using his I-phone-like communicator, Kirk barks out the order, "Don't worry about me. Save my ship!" That did it, I was a follower of Captain Kirk and William Shatner, the dashing, if sometimes overacting guy who played him.

Now, more than 30 years later, he's still a lot of fun to watch in action, this time as he reflects over his 50-year career and a life full of ups and downs in Shatner's World: We Just live in It playing a limited engagement at the Music Box Theatre. It's a fun trip down memory lane by an obviously nice guy, who ended up in the right place at the right time more than once, and who isn't afraid to laugh at himself.

I attended Wednesday, before the official opening last night, and started smiling as the packed crowd began applauding when the house lights went to half. Obviously there were a lot of other Captain Kirk fans in those seats with me too. With such a long-running career, they also might also have been fans of characters Shatner has played on other shows, like "Boston Legal," "T.J. Hooker" or "Rescue 911," which was probably the first reality TV series.
Interestingly, Shatner, directed on stage by Scott Faris, doesn't spend a lot of time talking about "Star Trek," but shares stories about his earlier years growing up in Canada, as "the worst student ever at McGill University," hitchhiking across America and generally failing at everything until finding work as an actor. He understudied Christopher Plummer at the prestigious Stratford Shakespeare Festival and has never looked back.

The one-hour-and-40-minute presentation is really entertaining and fun if you're a Shatner fan. I particularly enjoyed a story he shared about having to kill a rat in his camper. The difference between frightened real person and the unfaltering confidence of fearless, alien-battling Kirk have never been so defined or funny.

At the end, the crowd was satisfied: a standing ovation with more than one hand raised in a Vulcan salute. Live long and prosper, Bill.

Shatner's World plays through March 4 at the Music Box, 239 West 45th St., NYC. A 15-city tour is planned following the Broadway run. For information and tickets, visit http://shatnersworld.com/.

Christians might like to know:
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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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