Many of you will know actor John Leguizamo as an intense, wiry Hollywood character actor who has forged a successful career playing some memorable roles in some equally impressive features (Super Mario Brothers and The Happening, notwithstanding).
What is probably less well-known about the Colombian-born actor is his extensive theatre work. He’s been behind a number of successful, award-winning one-man shows since the early nineties, where he has delved into the subject of his Latino heritage, family issues and general psyche with such colourful titles as Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, and Sexaholix… A Love Story (he also penned a biography entitled Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life).
It’s with the latest of these works, Ghetto Klown (a distillation of the other earlier productions, and brimming with more of an autobiographical overtone) which sees him make his debut on the UK stage at London’s historical and intimate Charing Cross theatre, following a successful run on Broadway.
Coming out with an authentic swagger (a reminder perhaps, of his upbringing in Queens, New York City), he’s a brash, cocky showman on stage (each decade of his life is introduced with him performing an energetic, showboating dance routine) but a large reason behind the success of the show, and its emotional resonance, is the stripping away of this, and the surprisingly candour atmosphere the actor establishes, baring his soul and confronting the kind of demons and foibles which are far from restricted to performers of stage and screen.
This isn’t simply a trawl through his Hollywood back catalogue (although his showbiz anecdotes, particularly his first interaction with the ego mountain known as Steven Seagal, is worth the admission price alone), and having honed his character skills for years on stage, the actor is able to breathe exquisite life into the beautifully-realised portraits of his ex-best friend and family members, some of whom he has shared a fraught relationship with over the years. Leguizamo slipping into the persona of his late, paternal grandfather is incredibly touching, and seeing those exchanges between his younger insecure self and the advice being doled out by the one family member who truly understood and supported him, is one of the many magical moments he brings to the stage.
The actor’s heighted mimicry is also a joy to witness when he recounts his experiences of working in the Hollywood machine. His amusing and desperate confrontation with director Baz Luhrmann during the audition process for Romeo + Juliet, and Al Pacino’s exasperated critique of his early, larger-than-life screen acting ability (which obvious struck a chord with him) are hilarious, but these tales don’t exist purely as a namedropping decorative device to hang on the rest of the narrative. The experiences were pivotal to Leguizamo’s journey as an actor, and add context to the bigger picture.
Ever the consummate professional, a couple of minor technical hitches aren’t enough to lesson the momentum, and Leguizamo deals with them in a humorous, organic way. He’s a born storyteller and is able to conjure up a vivid time and place with only the sparsest of props and the mini multimedia screen to the side of him. He even managed to receive a standing ovation on the press night by an audience who were visibly enraptured by this sterling work and effort. It’s not hard to imagine him receiving the same level of accolade for the rest of this short run. Highly recommended.
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