Beckett's Button Impresses!
By Tony Reverditto

Based on his own colorful true life story, Andreas Beckett relives his lusty journey from native Germany through making a life in America. He began playing Ice Hockey at the age of seven, and by sixteen was a five-time champion. Once in New York, he eventually submerged himself into a reckless life of sex, alcohol and gangs, thus "Beckett's button" was born. That button, when pushed, was rage, which led to many ugly scenes and unfortunate outcomes. In his musical dramedy solo piece, he works through unfortunate outcomes and does discover love. The good news is that today he is a happy and successful man, dad, and artist.

On his ascent to wisdom, Beckett became an accomplished international performer whose stage credits include West Side Story, Macbeth, and Cats. He was formally trained to be an operatic tenor and went on to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, Munich's National Opera, and the Santa Barbara Opera. His first hit television debut was playing Hitler on Saturday Night Live and his impressive complete resume can be viewed at AndreasBeckett.com. Next was the lead in his first film, Empty, earning the Audience Award at the DGA. Watching the culmination of his torrid past smoothly unfold to the present was pretty mesmerizing; Beckett exudes mega-sex appeal and gives a fantastically charming, honest performance.

The show is co-written by Beckett and Mitzie Welch, and Mrs. Welch has beautifully directed this piece. Her husband, Ken, Mr. Welch, is the other half of this incomparable veteran show biz team and does a fantastic job as musical director. He has created unique and interesting accompaniment for the musical memoir. The couple first met at an audition and have been together since; having over the year's produced, written, and composed many television projects for countless artists. They have worked amongst the ranks of Bob Hope, Placido Domingo, Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, Robin Williams, Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow, Cher, Barbra Streisand, and the list goes on. They were also on board for seven seasons of The Carol Burnett Show and have fourteen Emmy's between them for that and other projects. For me, it was a shame that the iconic Mr. Welch was intentionally hidden from view on stage behind a piano while playing the wonderful score he created. On an intimate black box setting such as this, it would be a nice touch to place him on an angle in which he faces the star, but the audience gets to enjoy him from a profile. Either way, I was thoroughly entertained by this one-man-show and give it a high recommendation.

Although, I recently attended a one-time Benefit Series Performance at the Santa Monica Playhouse, performances will resume as part of the Whitefire Solo Series at the Whitefire Theatre. Beckett's Button - "One man's quest to find the real meaning of love-one lady at a time" reopens: Sunday, February 7, 2010 and runs through the summer of 2010 (only once a month). Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks. Reservations: www.whitefiretheatre.com or 818.760.7337

back to top