Very rarely, if maybe never, do I leave a comedian’s show marvelling at how well they made me cry. That being said, Billy Crystal’s show 700 Sundays also made me laugh as heartily as I have done for some time, inciting within me wonderment and a sheer desire to connect with other human beings.
The set for 700 Sundays is a replica of Billy Crystals childhood home, the large windows of which doubled as screens which projected both still photographs and 8 millimetre film footage from Billy’s own life. This is used to great effect in the opening of the show in which a vivacious video sequence set to Dixieland Jazz ushers Billy to the stage. 700 Sundays is a long show, stretching for almost three hours in length, with a twenty minute interval between the two sections.
The first half (which is just slightly over half, time wise) is a genial and loving portrait of his childhood, including his family, the characters that surrounded him as a child, his home town and the family car. He touches on a variety of topic including the pivotal role his family played in the progression of the American Dixieland Jazz scene, his childhood ambitions to play baseball for the New York Yankees, his very first experience of seeing a stand up comedian perform and the subsequent implantation in his soul that this was the path he was to follow. The portrayal of the pivotal place the Crystal family had in the development and furtherment of American Jazz is absolutely fascinating. When you realise the kind of people the young Billy was surrounded by (Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong) it seems natural that Billy himself would develop into such a consummate performer.
This is a deeply well constructed show, with elaborately fleshed out routines and topics covered, mainly in the first half, revisited later in what is more than a simple call back but a real experience that the audience can understand fully, with all of its associated nuances. The overall form of the show effortless surfs ebbs and flows, combining poignancy together with broad hilarity, the structural integrity giving the first half and second half of the performance each its own distinct signature
At times the humour is very broad and he employs, on rare occasions. the use of what could be described as a hackneyed conventions of comedy, however in the experienced hands of Billy Crystal these thick brushstrokes still work wonderfully well, preluded and executed, as they are, with subtle and intricate finesse. It’s also interesting to note that there are only a handful of comedians in the world who would have as wide a demographic as Billy Crystal and I may never again in my life witness a live performance of comedian with such a breadth of appeal. So, in some ways, the strokes of Billy Crystal’s brush must be broad.
The second half of this show predominantly covers Billy’s experience of grief and loss in early childhood and in adulthood. It is confronting but also relatable.
Stylistically Billy Crystal is very American (which may be linked to the fact that he is, in fact, American) and it’s possible to conceive of this stylistic difference grating on a laconic and less verbose Australian audience. However the clarity with which Billy is able to portray and communicate the deep grief associated with dealings from the maniacal hands of death and stroke is enough to shatter even the most steadfast cynicism.
Having lost my own brother, a long term stroke sufferer, earlier this year, I was left shaken as Billy described his experience of the death of his father in childhood, and the stroke and subsequent death of his mother as an adult. His brutal and incisive honesty is haunting.
I’ve always been fond of Billy Crystal, particularly when he’s at his most acerbic. And although there are many genuine moments of his acid sharp tongue here, this show is most memorable for its sheer accomplishment together with its raw honesty and emotional availability.
Here at The Groggy Squirrel we don’t, as a rule, allocate stars because we don’t believe in applying a rigorous grading system to an inexact science. However there is simply no guessing here. Five stars.