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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Live @ Tower Theater, 9/17 (8 p.m.)
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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Live @ Tower Theater, 9/17 (8 p.m.)
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| photos by Patrick Rapa |
You gotta pay the troll toll. I was secretly skeptical about the whole thing. I love It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ' probably the funniest, most artistically brave show on TV ' but the live show idea sounded a little padded. An extended version of the musical "Nightman Cometh" episode done live? Awesome. But short. And rounding it out with a clip from the straight-to-DVD Christmas special and a screening of a brand new episode? The show sold out in .2 seconds ' were we just going to, you know, watch TV together? Well, let me tell you: Embedded in a giddy, maybe drunk capacity crowd at the Tower is an amazing way to watch TV. It was a huge, communal lovefest for the show (and for Philly). And the clip from the Christmas special was, not kidding, was kinda brilliant. Subversive holiday gags are commonplace, but this one went really far ' and it was sickly beautiful. And sick. And then there's the actual performance of The Nightman Cometh episode and musical...
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Which was amazing. To appreciate a piece of theater so (intentionally) terrible you have to love the characters. The songs are insane ' hilariously performed, with some genuinely strong singing ' because they come from the twisted mind of wild card Charlie (Charlie Day). He's no less sleazy, really, than any of the other proprietors of Paddy's Pub, but you gotta pull for a guy who'd write this lavish, confused musical just to win the heart of a girl. Danny Devito, as the Troll/Frank, was a crowd favorite. So was Rob McElhenney as Mac but mostly as the cat-eyed, karate-chopping Nightman. Glenn Howerton and Kaitlin Olson's roles were a lot less flashy, but they nailed their parts (especially when it came to singing). I love that there were parts for Artemis and the Coffee Shop Waitress. I love that the ushers' shirts said "Charlie Work" on the back. l loved it. See Also: Q&A with Rob McElhenney.
incredible. effing incredible. was at the 11 showing and was not dissapointed. Thought as the writer did that it may be a let-down but it was awesome. The impressive part was that everyone remained in character and didn't flub any lines or anything. the episode was magical too. Plus we DVR'ed the season premier which we can watch tonight. Flip-flip-flipadelphia!
It really was very good -- it made me laugh and I was proud that TV actors are good on the stage.
I was at the 8:00 show. i dont know if the band played again for the 11 o'clock showing but i was a little on the fence when i first heard them but after they got into a few songs i started to like them. who were they again?
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