A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crude,” written and directed by David Lucarelli at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival.
“Crude” is a very unauthorised theatrical biographical play about the the “Baddest of the Rock and Roll Bad Boys,” Mottley Crue.
Told as a series of pivotal moments in the forming of the band and their earliest spiciest time in the sun, as well as the lead singer’s own path to fame and glory, it jumps forward in short, sharp pieces of time. Narrated by what appears to be a roadie, the action is sprinkled with hilarious interviews with the band, which I’m truly hoping were taken verbatim from the actual interviews, because that would be classic.
David Lucarelli’s “Crude” is a great way of taking us right back to this time and place. The brash, loud, sexual, energy floods the stage. The drugs, the poetry, the brazen behaviour, everything that their fans loved so much about them then…and still do.
When you think of how central music is to our culture it’s perhaps a bit strange that there aren’t more plays about musicians. We live our lives with our own personal soundtracks. We mark time with songs, major moments in our lives are centred around them. Wedding dances, high school graduations and dances, and we even play music when we give birth! So this is as important a story to tell as any other and, with “Crude” it feels that way. Certainly, the packed audience I was amongst during the preview were all in agreement. This was their story too.
The cast is brilliant. They perfectly reproduce these rock gods, all fiercely individual, iconic and incredibly talented. Their L.A. street style, dirty, purposeful, heavy rock, still phenomenally popular. The band has gone through a few lineups since the 80s, but they are back to the original group now, as they prepare for yet another tour.
I loved this show. Growing up in the 80s music was everything to me and an entire generation. Our lives revolved around MTV, radio stations, album releases and the bands that toured huge stadiums and small-town venues. The committed fans that followed them from place to place whose lives were changed and validated by the lyrics and the love and the inclusivity of musicians like Motley Crew who rejected the control of the massive conglomerate record companies and their stooges.
It’s an important piece of American cultural history and I’m thrilled that David Lucarelli, the writer and director of this most excellent play, put this out into the world. Bravo!
The Cast:
Ryan Ruffing
Phillip-Charlie Daniell
Jeff Skomsky
Roman Guastaferro
Ed Gage
Madison Hansen
David Guenaga
Tamara Torres
When:
Saturday, June 11 at 10:00 pm
Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, June 19 at 1:00 pm
Saturday, June 25 at 6:00 pm (Pay What You Can)
Where:
6476 Santa Monica Blvd., LA, CA 90038