Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar - Theater Scene New York Broadway Review

Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar

By David Schultz

Hard to believe that this uber talented performer has been dazzling audiences for thirty years. His onstage performances are legendary. His film roles are few, but his live theater performances are delicious and invigorating. This new piece, potentially his last… he is toying with running for a seat in Parliament in England in the near future…. are you serious? He seems to be, yes. He is set to perform on Broadway next spring in Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, so he will still be around for a little bit more. This new work was developed in Paris, and began life at La Nouvelle Seine, a floating theater on the Seine where Eddie began to improvise his new show in French. He then continued developing the show improvising in Berlin in German. Now he comingles it all together into his latest whirligig of a show.

This production “Wunderbar” is dedicated to what he fondly calls the last 100,000 years of history. In a recent interview he opined “I am interested in my heart’s history in an odd way. The ways in which I make myself go forward and do things like run marathons and do gigs in four languages is by being slightly disconnected from myself. So, when I look back, it is a if I am a foot soldier doing all the work”. The intense stream-of-consciousness rapid fire idea’s run wild, in this wide-ranging evening. Starting with The Big Bang, how monkeys developed language, humans began to draw onto walls of caves, dinosaurs roaming the landscape, this and so much more is the starting point for Mr. Izzard’s look at life on this planet. The surreal and loopy world of earth looks both strange and familiar in his telling.

His acknowledgment of his transgender state is a given in this production. He wears a snazzy top and kilt in the first act. Then switches to a black tuxedo top with a snug pair of shorts, red high heels dazzle to complete the ensemble. His outre attire hardly matters, it is a natural look for this man….it fits him like hand to glove. When he first came out it was difficult years ago. Things are much better now, within reason. As the evening progresses Mr. Izzard posits his thoughts on God, and by extension Europe’s relationship to religion, and atheism. In a pithy aside he goads the audience with more jarring ideas. “In Europe, we just don’t have religion. God went away. In America, you say “God bless America”, but if you say “God bless Britain’ in the U.K., we would just wonder what you were talking about. We just think He’s not there. We’d be happy for Him to be there. We’re not non-believers. We just believe in humanity, good will. If the floaty guys come down and help –fine—any of the floaty guys, be it the Muslim floaty guy, the Jewish floaty guy, the Protestant floaty guy, the Catholic floaty guy. They’re up there floating around and they never come to help. So, I’ve decided that He, She or It doesn’t give a monkey about it all. Atheists believe in people, because it is humans that change everything”.

The fusillade of ideas ranges from innate intelligent humor, daring off-the-wall asides, world history, politics… and the here and now, insane ancient kings, and the inane political landscape that we are living through at this very moment. With his keen laser sharp interest in time, memory and history, this exhausting cluster #%* of an evening is a wake-up call. For both the confirmed aficionados of his singular vision, and the newly inducted first timers, it’s a no-brainer. In a word. Go. Now. Well its two words. Or maybe seven. Go Now Or You Will Regret It.

Here are his tour dates:

Tue

MAY 21

8:00 PM