Niagara Falls: Straight to the Top
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From the moment Monte Carlisle and Niagara Falls mount the Famous Door stage, it’s clear that Paula Killen’s latest show will continue her campy, over-the-top tradition, this time with a pinch of Gong Show and a dash of Vegas mixed in with the usual monologues. Carlisle (Chuck Larkin) is 90 percent hair, a red mass of uplifted locks that accent his sequined jacket and deadpan accompanist’s face. Niagara (Killen) swings onstage with the help of a barrel, spraying the audience with water from a plant fogger, then modestly strips off her yellow slicker to reveal a baby-doll dress that somehow matches her mismatched shoes, tiny red satin purse, and the red dot of lipstick on her nose. The crowd screams and hoots its approval; we’re in familiar territory. For those who love Killen for her chutzpah, her bright stage presence, and her long history as a performer in Chicago, nothing in this latest work will disappoint.
Niagara Falls is one of those lovable clowns who can never get what they want, distinguished from the common variety only by the fact that she actually is a clown, and not a very successful one. She’s in love with her Master, an abusive clown named Griggensbee who runs a local school, but he spurns her love while she resists his sexual advances and near assaults. Eager to become a real clown and to receive her red rubber nose, she’s tortured by the meaningless exercises and philosophical meditations her Master imposes. It’s not that she’s stupid; she just insists on seeing the good in everyone and everything (almost). So she’s doing a variety show about love, patriotism, loneliness, and her search for her personal clown. Niagara’s shticks include psychic reading, a modern interpretation of Salome, songs, and conversations on an onstage speakerphone whenever anyone calls in.
