The Gospel According To Josh – Light On The Gospel, Heavy On The Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival)
by Karen Tortora-Lee on July 19, 2010
Gospel According To Josh
Looking to hire Josh Rivedal for your next show but can’t get a hold of his resume or reel? Look no further than The Gospel According To Josh - in one fast-moving hour you’ll see Josh run through his catalog of imitations, hear him sing songs both secular and sacred, and see him show his emotional range which starts off as lively stand up comic and ends as bereaved son. Step right up, folks, and you’ll see Josh juggle it all. Is he good at it? You betcha. Is this an entertaining hour?Undoubtedly. But the main thread of the story – Josh’s strange, complicated, ultimately heartbreaking relationship with his father – frays as it strains to contain the overflow of personalities, imitations, anecdotes and song stylings – much the way an above-ground pool buckles when presented with that one last kid hell bent on cannonballing into the deep. All of a sudden there’s just one too many pair of water wings in the pool . . . and similarly Gospel has a few too many distractions that detour from what could ultimately be a very strong piece.
