Did you see? Portlandia: The Tour at the Variety Playhouse
How much cute does one deserve for $30?
- Portlandia's Facebook
- Fred & Carrie in the 'A' Feb. 23
"Portlandia: The Tour" stopped at the Variety Playhouse last night for back-to-back shows, but you probably knew that already because: a.) You read my Fred Armisen/"Portlandia" story (Thanks, you!) and/or b.) You were standing in that line stretching from the Variety Playhouse box office all the way back through Inman Park to North Avenue before one or both of the shows. Just kidding.
No I'm not. It was a really long line.
The show was cute. It wasn't particularly hilarious, or not hilarious, but I went in with relatively low expectations after seeing some online clips that basically made it look like an unrehearsed stage version of the TV show. Because I'm press, I also didn't pay $30 for a ticket, a fact that may have kept cute from becoming disappointing for me, but unfortunately not for some other folks I knew in attendance.
I went to the earlier 8 p.m. performance, which consisted of friendly banter between Armisen and Brownstein, the screening of some unaired season two segments, an audience q&a and a so-so jam sesh featuring Fred on bass, Carrie on guitar, Telekinesis' Michael Lerner on drums, Wild Flag's Rebecca Cole on keyboards, and at the end, Eleanor Friedberger on vocals, singing covers of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and the Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen ballad "Because the Night."