(I AM) NOBODY’S LUNCH – Original Cast (Ghostlight Records – download)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
What a wonderful concept. This show is: “A cabaret about how we know what we know when nobody knows if everyone else is lying and when someone or something wants to have you for lunch.”
The text of the show is drawn from interviews with real people conducted by the company in the early 2000s, which together trace the cracks in a culture fractured by the dissolution of consensus reality.
The book is by Steve Cosson with music by Michael Friedman and it is sheer delight from start to finish. From ‘The Telephone Song’ which sets up the themes for the show with excerpts from various real phone interviews that were conducted in the research for the show itself. It is very much in the style of ‘It must be true. A friend’s uncle’s dog walker’s next door neighbour told him’. Then there are the conspiracy theories, aliens, the relationship between government and the people and so it goes on. The whole concept points out how on earth can we extract the fact from the fiction and how do we learn to live in a world full of lies.
Michael Friedman’s eclectic songs fit the mood for each of the scenarios. Sometimes quirky and funny, at others quite heart-rending. The cast is wonderful and includes: Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Nick Blaemire, Brad Heberlee, Daoud Heidami, Jennifer R Morris, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Brian Charles Rooney, Osh Ghanimah, Adam Chanler-Berat, Ashley Perez Flanagan, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Mary Testa.
Tracks are: ‘The Telephone Song’; ‘Someone to Keep Me Warm’; ‘It’s Scary How Easy It Is’; ‘Watch Out Ladies’; ‘Supersecret Places’; ‘The Song of Progressive Disenchantment’; ‘America’ and ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’.
I am thoroughly enjoying this Michael Friedman Collection from Ghostlight and would recommend these albums without a second thought. Can’t wait for the next instalment. Meanwhile – get on to ghostlightrecords.com and order your collection!
Nick Wakeham
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