Review: A Fun Night

Theater has the power to evoke emotions. Even within the hearts of comedians. Using her out of body experience during and after a performance of Fun Home as a jumping off point comes the spunky and wild Erin Markey and her solo comedy extravaganza Deleted Scenes From Home.

photo by Amos Mac

Despite the draw of the title with very little under the umbrella of the Tony Winning Fun Home, Deleted Scenes From Fun Home is a night of sketch snippets, music, and storytelling from Erin Markey. With a stand up comedic approach, Markey brings the audience in and has them eating out of the palm of her hand from start to finish. Between channeling her Aunt Jane, marvelous musical mashups, and stories about pinworms, porn, and stripping, Deleted Scenes From Fun Home is nonstop comedy gold. What sets Markey apart is her knack for storytelling. By strategically stringing along particular words that bring immense humor together, Markey finds the comedy in her most intimate moments. Markey has a slow approach at joke telling. She makes every moment count. She elongates jokes and allows you to savor the beats. It's a unique approach but the laid-back style fits her perfectly. From a writing standpoint, you could only hope there's a bit more connectivity between sketch to sketch but Markey succeeds by allowing bits to come full circle and recall one another at times. And by pinpointing on a specific theme, the world is precise and not abundant and overstuffed. Vocally, Markey uses a goofy sound that mocks the vocal acrobatics of those typical musical theater divas. Not only is she on point, but when she breaks out into her natural tone, you can imagine her competing with the best of them. To guide Markey, Elena Heyman sets her free on her comedic journey of identity. Heyman helped Markey find the raw genuine person inside the character. This allowed Markey connect to the audience on a human level. To aid Markey through music, Ben Moss added personality when he and Markey combined their super powers.
Erin Markey is one to keep an eye on. Deleted Scenes From Fun Home is nothing but heartfelt comedy.