Live Bait Theater.
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The telethon is in full swing, with emcee Bobby Astor shepherding a motley parade of entertainers through their paces, jerking tears and donations with all their smarmy might. But tonight there’s a dissenter in the ranks: Jane Piercy, a young woman in a wheelchair who declares Astor’s spectacle to be counterproductive to achieving the goals he espouses. With his empire of good will threatened by this whistle-blower, Astor sets out to disarm her by any means necessary–intimidation, bribery, appeasement, and seduction.
eric Hollywood schnorrers–most notably Brad Boehmke’s sycophantic second banana, Tom Mladic’s pit-bull comedian, and Gavin Witt’s refreshingly dignified TV journalist as deus ex machina. Though still in previews on the night that I attended, Telethon delivered plenty of laughs while raising important questions.
