Review: Richard Skipper Reveals at The Laurie Beechman Theater

The evening was titled Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Richard Skipper, and by the end of his one-man show, the audience at the Laurie Beechman Theatre did learn a lot about Mr. Skipper. Fact #1… Richard Skipper is a highly entertaining and knowledgeable fellow who has had an action-packed career in show business… (but we all knew that!)  Richard, renowned for his “Richard Skipper Celebrates” shows, is a well-informed, congenial interviewer ("I wanted to be Merv Griffin") who is able to coax celebrities to talk about their careers, celebrate their body of work,  and create thought-provoking entertaining evenings.  But last night Richard “interviewed himself” with the help of an audience packed with friends and fans who peppered him with questions targeted to lay bare the man behind the microphone. At times I felt like I was in a room full of psychiatrists, the questions posed were so thought-provoking.  The evening was completely unscripted, and Richard’s answers were always intertwined with fascinating stories, songs (the man has a gift in communicating a lyric) and personal anecdotes from his 46-year career in entertainment. 

Questions posed by the audience were profound and playful, and Skipper had equally sincere and humorous answers. Here are some: “Which Broadway legend gave you the best advice?" …. "KT Sullivan, who told me at the start of my career… have at least five musicians that know your show so you will never be at a loss.”  We learned that classmates in his high school are still talking about the day that Skipper first appeared as Carol Channing, and we all shared tears of laughter and joy with Richard, especially when he responded to the question, ”If you could choose a super power, what would it be?" Richard answered, ”That every person on the planet would have empathy.”

So we all “Celebrated” Richard Skipper last night and also celebrated the “NEW” Laurie Beechman Theatre, which is a glamorous redesigned nightclub in the legendary West Bank Cafe on 42nd Street.

This reporter also asked Richard a question… ”You’re such a sunny guy, do you ever get angry??"  Unfortunately, I was adjusting my camera and didn’t hear Richard's answer, so I’ll have to attend an encore of this show at the Laurie Beechman in August, but enjoy the photos of an evening that made everyone feel sunny.

The show featured Music Direction by Don Pardo and was directed by James Beaman.

Learn more about Richard Skipper on his website at richardskipper.com

This show will return to the Beechman on August 22nd. Tickets are available on their website here.

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper

Questions

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper & Don Pardo

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper's

Richard Skipper & Carol Channing

Carol Channing & Richard Skipper

Richard Skipper & Mitzi Gaynor

Eda Sorokoff, Russ Wooley, Lee Roy Reams, KT Sullivan

Coming Attractions