Generally, autobiographical shows tend to err on the whiny, self-serving side, where the performer secretly just wants to use the audience as a kind of therapist. Not so in Cynthia Hopkins’ The Alcoholic Movie Musical, running thru November 6 at The Bushwick Starr, one of BK’s premier performance venues for live theatre.
Dubbed “an experiment in live musical filmmaking,” The Alcoholic Movie Musical is a multimedia romp through performance artist and musician Cynthia Hopkins’ struggle with her lifelong dependence on the drink. See it, and you might think twice about getting sauced. You might also decide to have a free cocktail at Heavy Woods afterwards (it’s included with your ticket).
Point is, this show doesn’t prescribe anything, and it doesn’t make you hate the person onstage. It just makes you feel better.
In true meta-narrative style, the stage is stripped of any of that curtain nonsense. Hopkins performs in an almost fully-lit room, with cables hanging down every which way and plastic bottles strewn all across the piano. She pokes fun at cellphone use, artist residencies, fast-talking producers and, most importantly, herself.
Hopkins is a perfectly unmediated mess for the masses. We can all relate to someone who struggles to feel at times more significant and at times more sane, and somehow at the end of it all keeps finding a drink in her hand.
There’s also a sound and media designer onstage, Jeff Suggs, who does a number of bits with Hopkins throughout the show. Spoiler alert: they’re married! But you’d never know it. Heck, for half the show you’re wondering if they’ll get together at the end.
The play just got extended for an extra week, so you’ve got a chance to see it after Halloween. Catch it Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm at The Bushwick Starr (207 Starr Street) until November 6. Here’s a nice discount: if you can make it out on a Wednesday, the code ARTIST gets you $15 tickets.