I’ve never seen any of John Leguizamo’s plays, but I’ve enjoyed him well enough in the movies. "Ghetto Klown" though, to me, seems less like a play and more like a really long stand-up routine (or even a therapy session). Not that there’s anything wrong with that—he’s funny and charming, with music and dancing. But if he was trying to provide an emotional arc, I didn’t get it. Perhaps the show needs to go through one more edit; at two and a half hours, it’s at least fifteen (maybe even 30) minutes too long, in my opinion.
But there is some really funny, good stuff in here. His characterizations of Sean Penn, Kurt Russell, Patrick Swayze, Steven Seagal and Al Pacino are hysterical and right on. And his depictions of his parents and grandfather are quite touching. But it’s the stuff in-between that’s a little meandering to me. I think that’s where the ‘one more edit’ would help. It’s as though he knows the show biz stuff will entertain us, but he really wants to tell us about his search for love. The two things uneasily hang together. But the rest of the audience seemed to love it, so what do I know? The guy behind me laughed his a*s off the entire time! Leguizamo is a terrific mimic, though most of his white guys sounded like Frank Langella doing Richard Nixon and the gals all sounded like various incarnations of Rosie Perez. But it didn’t really matter—they were all distinct, crisp and pretty satisfying.
I found Leguizamo to be completely charming and full of energy, but, in my opinion, a little shaping of the piece would make it much more theatrically compelling. If you’re already a fan, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not, maybe wait for a discount.
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