By Deena Sherman –
One of Aurora’s best kept entertainment secrets turns 40 this year! Although everyone knows about the Paramount Theatre and all the huge, wonderful productions there, few realize there is a little community theatre just around the corner on Water Street Mall called Riverfront Playhouse. It has been a showcase of some of Aurora’s outstanding homegrown talent in the form of actors, singers, writers, and directors, since 1978.
The current show that started Friday, Fat Bill’s Roadside Cafe: The Reboot, is particularly special. The late, great, Jack Schultz wrote the first Fat Bill’s Roadside Cafe in 1987. In 1988 it was at this show that he announced that he and Sherry were expecting their first child, Jackson. Over the years, Fat Bill’s became one of the recurring shows, just like the rendition of “A Christmas Carol” told by gypsies, that audiences love and anticipate. Each show had a new plot and funny, ingenious new songs. There was always some new twist for the beloved waitresses, Sally, Tina, and Rhonda Sue.
When Jack died unexpectedly in 2012, many of us thought we had seen the last of Fat Bill. We figured we’d be thankful for the years we got to enjoy it, sort of like rejoicing that we had been alive at the same time as David Bowie.
But then a miracle occurred. Caving to pressure from friends, fans, and strangers, Jackson Schultz began to think about bringing these characters back to life. As he confesses in the director’s notes for the program, “I’d spend hours brainstorming, then the rest of the night convincing myself that it wasn’t funny. It was stupid to even think about doing Fat Bill’s without Dad.” Happily for us, in the year Fat Bill’s was to turn 30 and the Riverfront Playhouse, 40, Jackson stopped listening to the voices in his head that said the jokes weren’t funny enough, and just wrote it all down. The extraordinarily talented Kathleen Dooley co-wrote music for his lyrics, and a masterpiece of low comedy was born, complete with jokes about bodily function and love songs to whiskey and rhubarb crisp. I literally laughed until tears ran down my face at one point. This play is a fitting tribute to Jack Schultz and to Thom Dickens, a longtime Riverfront actor who died earlier this year.
Jackson Schultz’s sister, Heidi, is brilliant in playing the younger versions of three characters. She has the mannerisms and speech patterns of each down cold. Bob Becker is his usual uber-cool self as Billy Bob, and Aaron Hoge plays one of the funniest, most disturbing characters I have ever seen, a notable feat next to Shawn Dooley.
The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through September 15. Tickets are $17 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. All proceeds that come to this not-for-profit organization will go right back into costumes and building sets for future shows. Candy, soda, and water are available for a $1 donation. Go to www.riverfrontplayhouse.com or call 630-897-9496 to purchase tickets. It is one of the few shows for which seats are assigned, so I recommend going to the website to pick the seats you prefer. Be warned though, that if you are in the front row, you run the risk of ridicule or spillage, and don’t bring children unless you want to explain some particularly kinky sexual innuendo. Trust me, you don’t want to explain. The Riverfront Playhouse is at 11-13 South Water Street in Aurora.