ONE GUITARIST, 6 MUSICIANS …
And Chase Padgett pulls it off
Chase Padgett is not just a skilled musician, he’s also a bit of a chameleon.
In his show 6 Guitars, running at Lunchbox Theatre until Jan. 28 as part of the 2017 non-musicians Rodeo, Padgett plays six very different musicians.
They have been asked to come together to explain to the audience why the style of music they prefer is so important.
There’s Tyrone, an 86-year-old African-American blues guitarist with a wry sense of humour.
He maintains that the blues are all about hot women, hot cars, bad luck and too much booze
or drugs and he confesses he learned this first hand.
With the flick of a tongue, Tyrone morphs into Michael, a 20-year-old heavy metal aficionado who still lives in his parents’ basement.
In a hilarious improvised scene where he interviews an audience member, Michael attempts to illustrate how absolutely any- thing and anyone can become the subject of a rock anthem.
Emanuel is a classical guitarist whose ability to coax warmth and melancholy from his guitar is far superior to his mastery of the English language. Padgett doesn’t mock Emanuel because he gives the man such a sweet, vulnerable nature.
Rupert is a farm boy who had to forego football for a guitar when he fell off the roof of his house.
Like Tyrone, he feels all great country tunes are about women, cars, rifles and booze.
Wesley the jazz guitarist is a bit of a snob. He insists he doesn’t have to talk about why jazz is so superior, he just has to play a few chords and it will be obvious.
He also implies that if he did actually try to explain jazz to non-musicians it would be too difficult for them to understand.
Finally, there’s Peter, a flamboyant aging folksinger. He seems a bit too precious about folk music until he tells a story about his uncle’s funeral. If you’re going to need to wipe away a tear during the show, this is probably the point where it will happen.
All six of these men are as distinct as their music so when Padgett has them play a song together the effect is mesmerizing and this is where the true magic of 6 Guitars becomes evident.
Padgett is showing us why music soothes the savage breast and feeds the soul and he’s doing it with a twinkle in his eye and some impressive finger work on his guitar.
The word is out about just how entertaining this little show is so, before you head to Lunchbox Theatre, check the theatre’s website for those few performances that still have tickets available.