Jeff Jones claims this is the last installment in his Hell trilogy, but Heaven Help Us! The Final Chapter demonstrates that his characters — God, Jesus, Satan, Moses, Mother Nature, Adam, Eve and Liberace — have enough comedic life for syndication.
The Hell franchise is perfect for Fringe: broad, irreverent, sacrilegious, and with characters so well-known that plotting can take a backseat to Jones steady stream of one-liners. A stand-up comedian who has opened for Joan Rivers, Jones hits far more often than he misses. His Jesus recounts a drunken fall into a Vegas fountain: “I'm gonna be pissed when Judas puts that shit on YouTube,” he says.
Heaven opens with pink-haired televangelist Jan Crouch (Doug Ba'aser) and her creepy husband (Josh Paul) selling seats on an Armageddon-Go-Round that will transport people during the upcoming rapture. But Satan (Jones), who got them the tax exemption on their local Holy Land Experience, explains they've got it all wrong. He's about to collect on a bet with his mother, God, and win control of the universe. The wager? That after thousands of years the original fun couple, Adam and Eve, will be done with each other.
The rest of Heaven is like Home for the Holidays, but this time the dysfunctional family dinner party is floating on a cloud somewhere over the Borscht Belt. God (Elizabeth T. Murff) winters in Boca, Moses (Kevin Bee) is centuries-old Shecky Greene, Eve (Janine Klein) is a whiny Kardashian with body dysmorphia, and Adam (Paul) is a sexually confused Ken Doll.
And when God throws a party, who entertains? Liberace (Bee), of course. Looking out at the Fringe audience, Mother Nature (Ba'aser) comments that there are a lot of gay people: “That's why we call it “heaven,'” Liberace minces.
Jones' cast is universally strong, and talented enough to capitalize on inevitable flubs. Murff's “cawfee tawk” accent sometimes sounds cockney, but her platinum coiffed God-as-cocktail-hostess is smashing. Klein's Eve makes a hilarious entrance and never pales. Bee is funny as a kvetching Moses,and even funnier as Liberace.
Aided by Marcy Singhaus' witty costumes, Ba'aser is a scene-stealer as Crouch and Mother Nature. This talented actor plays it both in character and out, making him better able to pounce on every comic opportunity.
With his arched eyebrow, Jones creates a Satan that is part lounge lizard, part mama's boy. Horns suit him. And at Fringe, it was somehow perfect that you could see his knee-length boxer shorts through his Jesus robe.
Show: Heaven Help Us!
Theatre Group: Mo' Laughs Comedy Orlando, FL
Venue: Silver
Remaining Performances:
5/23 Mon. 9:00 PM
5/25 Wed. 5:30 PM
5/26 Thu. 8:30 PM
5/27 Fri. 6:00 PM
