A closer look at Sonny & Cher
Well, I must accept the likelihood that what I am about to say will cost me my membership in the Society of Cynics, Skeptics and Scoffers, but The Sonny & Cher show, which opened Tuesday night at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, is not bad; not bad at all.
I wouldn’t go to see it on my own time, you understand. Certainly not. And I’m not saying that it is in any way substantial. Certainly not. Sonny & Cher (you have to call them Sonny & Cher, not Sonny and Cher; it’s in their contract) are, despite their many hits, fairly terrible singers of fairly terrible songs.
The show, the act, the entertainment that this odd-bawd-pod couple has put together for this first tour in more than three years is one their more artistic colleagues might admire. They have limited resources — her body and their joint self-parody — but they have woven these TV-familiar devices together with the ability to give the impression that they’re singers and developed a very satisfactory 70-minute performance.
There are no surprises; they simply extrapolate what they do on television to the stage — the badinage is a little sexier, Cher’s costumes a little racier. This much must be done so the audience doesn’t feel it’s getting live re-runs. But their secret is the same — they are a breezy, amusing couple to be around.
The show was opened with a half-hour stint by Andy Kaufman, a new, young and very funny comedian who seems influenced by everyone from Bill Dan’s Jose Jimenez to the Steve MartinMartin Mull axis, yet is a true original. Kaufman opened with his bestknown character, a rumpled and terribly earnest semi-Puerto Rican chap who addresses the English language with more enthusiasm than understanding and gets laughs because he is so sincerely hapless.
Kaufman then moved to record pantomime, impressions and other deadpan nonsense, but this description does little justice to the originality of the concepts and hilarity of the bits. I can’t recommend that you see him at the Circle Star if you don’t already have tickets, for the entire engagement, through Sunday night, is sold-out, but note the name. It is not Starkist.
Sonny and (go ahead, sue me) Cher opened with “All I Ever Need Is You” and rambled, song-wise, from there through the likes of “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Baby Don’t Go,” “All I Really Want to Do,” “Laugh At Me,” “The Beat Goes On,” “Half-Breed,” “Bang Bang,” and, inevitability, “I Got You Babe.” As I said earlier, a good portion of these and other residents of their repertoire are poor excuses for songs but the nostalgia factor and their admittedly distinctive styles provides some balm for the wounds.
Unfortunately, Cher did not sing the very wonderful “Ringo, I Love You,” which she recorded in 1964 under the name Bonnie Jo Masson, but one can’t have everything. The fact that they had the guts to do some of their early songs — not to mention the transcendently hideous “Half-Breed” — will have to suffice.
As earlier suggested, however, the strengths of the show lie to other areas. First, one cannot ignore Cher’s costumes. I will only endeavor to describe the last one. It was a floor-length red Indian chief ’s polyethylene eagle feathers headdress; accompanied by a red brassiere, a red belt and two red pieces of cloth — dangling from the belt, front and back, each perhaps five inches wide — covering her very nearly public parts. She moves very carefully while thus attired. Fortunately, there was not a breeze in the auditorium, although some members of the audience did seem to be breathing more heavily than necessary.
The other strength of the show is aforementioned badinage. The affection between them — during this engagement, at least — is apparent and the seemingly spontaneous banter is amusing contemporary Fibber McGee and Molly.
The film of Chastity, their daughter, which was shown during a costume change, is survivable.
I would like to mention, in closing, the prose contained within the free program distributed by the theater: Of Sonny and Cher, it notes: “A recent divorce has not diminished their appeal to the public nor hindered their strive to remain one of the top-notch talents on the air today.”
That shouldn’t be “hindered.” “Impeded” is preferred.