Kiki and Herb: Live on Broadway

Written by: Kenny Mellman and Justin Bond
Cast: Justin Bond (Kiki) and Kenny Mellman (Herb)
Synopsis: Kiki and Herb are the downtown song-and-booze cabaret act who sold out Carnegie Hall in 2004. Kiki is a slightly drunken drag cabaret singer who shares her unique brand of social commentry and political satire Herb is her 'shy' musical accompanist and life-long friend. They will offer their own interpretation of songs by such artists as The Cure, Bob Merrill, the Wu-Tang Clan, Bright Eyes, Dan Fogelberg, and The Mountain Goats.
 

What the critics had to say.....

BEN BRANTLEY of the NEW YORK TIMES: �A hyper-magnified cabaret concert that has the heat and dazzle of great balls of fire.�

CLIVE BARNES of the NEW YORK POST: "Alive, and we might add, well! Very well, indeed. But on dear old conventional Broadway? Here could be the rub. This is not a show for everyone."

JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ of NEW YORK DAILY: says "It's shrill, delirious and demented. Kiki's between-songs banter, which, to Bond's credit, is slyly hypnotic, can prompt gagging or laughter or both."

MICHAEL SOMMERS of the STAR-LEDGER: "That bizarre lounge act known as Kiki & Herb has landed on Broadway -- and as blissfully deranged as ever."

ROB KENDT of NEWSDAY says: "Kiki & Herb, the parody lounge act who turn several generations of pop music into alternately screechy and treacly cabaret, are an acquired taste."

ROBERT FELDBERG of THE RECORD: "In its world of distorted fun-house mirrors, the show has a persistent, offbeat appeal."

JACQUES LE SOURD of the JOURNAL NEWS says "Kiki and Herb could be habit forming. They make you want to see them again and again � if you haven't run screaming into the street at intermission."

FRANK SCHECK of HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: "For this reviewer's taste, at least, a little of their shtick goes a long way. What might be highly amusing at 90 minutes or so begins to pale long before the end of the show's nearly 2 1/2-hour running time, with the one-joke nature of the characterizations wearing more than a little thin."

DAVID ROONEY of VARIETY says "The premise of a boozy drag queen and her sidekick pretending to be showbiz wash-ups may not seem too novel. But that's just the jumping-off point for Bond and Mellman, who transcend camp to wildly jerk their act like a funhouse car through overt shtick, topical humor, emotional revelations and, ultimately, surreal artiness."

External links to full reviews from newspapers

New York Times
New York Post
New York Daily News
NewsDay
The Record
Journal News
Hollywood Reporter
Variety