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september 14-17, 22-23 Jimmy Tingle, the Boston comic and social satirist who runs and often performs at Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway, has this recurring “American Dream.’’ Actually, it’s a one-man show he wrote and it began about a year ago. Says Tingle: “It’s about the American dream as a backdrop on a national scale; then it’s a person’’ –Tingle – “talking  photo credit : Avanti Studios |
about starting the theater, about using comedy as a way to juxtapose the personal dreams with the national dreams, to show how they coincide, overlap or contradict. And to show how the contemporary issues of today challenge the American dream in its conceptual form. You think rags to riches, certain principles of hard work … they’re always being challenged. And the challenge is to create the right balance.” What Tingle does, he says, is deliver “hard truth mixed with comedy. Parts of the show are not funny at all – like the Iraqi civilian situation. It’s left-leaning in the big picture in a political context, but if you categorize it in a spiritual or human context it comes from the head, the heart and the soul.” “Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream” is not just for liberals. Tingle, former commentator on “60 Minutes II,” really enjoys it when someone comes up afterwards and says, “I’m a conservative, I voted for George W. Bush and I love the show.” The framework of the show has remained unchanged over the past year, but Tingle says about 25% is new, topical material. Aim? “It’s not so much to change minds as open minds.” Tickets: $30 (Friday and Saturday), $25 (Thursday and Sunday). The show on the 17th is at 3 p.m. Following this run, there’s a 4 p.m. Saturday show that will be up until Thanksgiving. 255 Elm St., Somerville, 617-591-1616 jimmytingle.com |
