by ****1/2 (out of 5)
Larry Owens has received kudos and awards for his performance onstage in “A Strange Loop,” while TV viewers may recognize his magnetic persona from roles on sitcoms such as Abbott Elementary.
For this show, though, Owens takes us back in time a few years when his struggles to break into show business felt more palpable and desperate. The conceit finds him fielding a series of calls from his then-agent in 2017, asking him to submit songs for famous pop stars through a record conglomerate, then later to audition for a major sketch show (heavily implied as SNL). And it is all a conceit, mere prompts for Owens to showcase his singing pipes and celebrity impersonations.
There’s one song you’ve likely heard before but not like this. Another song you’ll know if you know his CV, he delivers in an encore. And the audience is quick to sing along, unprompted. That’s how infectious his charm is.
Throughout the show, he punctuates the end of his number striking a pose, but there’s something to it. With hints of iconic poses of most definitely Hamilton, or perhaps even Rage Against The Machine, yet Owens sports a big grin as he stretches his right arm upward into the air. No fist necessary. Because he’s not attempting to spark a revolution. Just gratitude for how far he has come and the songs he has written already. As he declares in the opening number and reprise, he feels he’s “too self actualized to be recognized by the marginalized.” So a song about money might not be funny because he needs a magic number if it to survive. Turns out the number is one. For he is a singular sensation.
Larry Owens Live runs through Aug. 27 at Assembly Roxy Upstairs
