"White Rabbit Red Rabbit" is an experience unlike any other you will have again. It's so secretive and elusive that I honestly don't know how to explain it without giving too much away. It was written by Nassim Soleimanpour, an Iranian who was not allowed to leave his country, so he wrote this play and let his words travel where he could not. There's a catch though (Isn't there always?). The actor performing the play is handed the sealed script as she/he walks out on stage, with no previous knowledge of what's about to happen. You can only perform the play if you know nothing about it. Because of this, every single performance has a different actor on stage. The tagline is "We dare you not to Google for more. Join the actors and leap." Now this is a frightening concept for actors and audiences alike. What in the world can possibly happen that makes it so shrouded in mystery? Still, an all star cast has rotated in and out of the Westside Theatre in the past year. The first performance was done by Nathan Lane and other leads included Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Cumming, Stana Katic, Mo Rocca, Wayne Brady, Darren Criss, Kyra Sedgwick, and most recently, James Roday.
James Roday's performance is the one I saw because I have been a "Psych-o" (affectionate fandom name for Psych fans lol) for over a decade. Luckily, his show was the second to last in this iteration, which is a show I had been dying to experience anyway. Since the entire point is to experience it not spoiled, I will try my best to only talk about moments specific to James Roday's interpretation of the words in the script. If the actor decides to add their own commentary, they simply raise their right hand to show that those words are their own and not what is written.
Before the script's envelope was opened, Roday decided to break the ice. To do this, he made the weirdest noise he could possibly produce and then told the audience we had to repeat after him. Let me tell you, it was not an easy noise to replicate, but it was hilarious. He shouted out his friend, Jimmi Simpson (of Westworld and a few episodes of Psych among many other things), for teaching him that noise. The best part? Simpson was actually seated within arms reach of me and recorded the entire noise plus the audience's reactions. It was something special watching a close friend enjoy the performance as much as I did.
The play has darker moments, but I really appreciated being able to see it with an actor who is naturally funny. At one point, he was supposed to read in a "strange voice" and he read it too normal, so he decided to read it in what he imagined as a strange voice and it was epic. Then at another point, he was asked to describe himself and he said he looked like Jamie Walters aka the guy from the 90s who sang "How Do You Talk to an Angel." Maybe 20 people in the audience remember that song, but let me tell you, it was accurate enough to make me laugh. It's that kind of obscure reference that made Psych what it was and I was so glad a tiny piece of Roday's pop culture knowledge was shown off.
Unfortunately, December 19th is the last performance this time around, but I hope if "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" ever makes its way back around, that it is something you chose to experience. You will be 1 of only about 250 people ever who can say that they saw that exact show.
