Reviewed by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move

“On every street in very city there’s a nobody who dreams of being a somebody.”

A robust mélange of dirty street slang, slut slink, curses, violence and sex took center stage at the Wallis Annenberg in Beverly Hills last Thursday night, September 29, 2016, for the official opening of, For the Record: Scorsese – American Crime Requiem. But it was the set list, blazing concert light grid and hard, heavy, rock & roll belting that brought the house down with a WHAM, BAM!!!

Cramming filthy dialog, crass sketches and over-the-top bad boys and girls alike from Scorsese films – Casino, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street and Taxi Driver, the immersive concert mash-up is a ‘revolutionizing’ live musical theater experience by acclaimed company, For The Record, currently returned to Los Angeles.

Step into Marty’s Place – a four tier venue (including  orchestra pit) that takes audiences from a Lower East Side dive bar to an Italian restaurant, a Las Vegas casino and a classic rock stage. More than a few miscreants – and all characters you will recognize – highlight 40 years of Scorsese storytelling on film.

There is absolutely nothing subtle about this production or a single moment of wistful pause. Forget about comic irony or any other literary device. And definitely don’t look for any feel-good Italian culture in any of this. The vignettes are cringe-worthy.  The bits almost extraneous to the music.  Much of the actual script reads incidental to the production really, with strung-together characters grinding through interchangeable story-lines that just happen to be Scorsese. But stylistically this deliciously excessive extravaganza is on the money from language, to costume to supernova vocals and a whole lot of attitude to go around. These peeps ‘put out’!

And although its difficult to tally the overwhelming number of  fucks that are uttered throughout the evening, they are most liberally spread (and…occasionally that’s not all).

Front to back, For The Record: Scorsese – American Crime Requiem knocks audiences up, down and around with salacious hilarity. The eye-popping, showstopping cast will blow you away.

Featuring all-stars, Tony Award-Winner John Lloyd Young, Tony Award-Nominee Carmen Cusack, Pia Toscano, Lindsey Gort and Grammy Award-Nominee B. Slade. Plus, For The Record Alums James Byous, Dionne Gipson, Olivia Harris, Doug Kreeger, Justin Mortelliti, Jason Paige and Zak Resnick.

Outrageous!

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