Wanzie's Celebrity Match Game opens at Footlight Theatre

It's Wanzie's Trivia on steroids! Take Michael Wanzie, add 14 of Orlando's marvelous mad caps and you have Celebrity Match Game.

This farce is based on the old TV game show in which celebrities and contestants fill in the blank, sort of like a Mad Lib, in the host’s set-up story. This version demonstrates what would happen if notable personasâ┚¬â€some real, some fictionâ┚¬â€like Annie, Joan Crawford, Cruella DeVille, Dolly Levi, Bruce Vilanch, and Eric Cartman shared the infamous Hollywood Squares stage.

Wanzie and Douglas White, the twisted minds behind Celebrity Squares, one of the biggest hits at this year’s Orlando Fringe Festival, bring that concept to Parliament House's Footlight Theater every Saturday night in September and Monday, Oct. 15.

Don't expect the same show as Fringe, says Wanzie. The main difference between Celebrity Squares and Match Game is that in Match Game every celebrity gets to respond to every question posed.

â┚¬Å”At Fringe there were performances where certain celebrities never got called upon to answer a question while others were called on repeatedly,” he says. â┚¬Å”Everyone on stage has equal time to shine and I think it actually makes for a faster paced and more entertaining show.â┚¬Â

Celebrity Match Game features a rotating cast of six characters per show, ensuring that every show will be totally unique. Hosted by Wanzieâ┚¬â€in his own version of Gene Rayburnâ┚¬â€each performance features a themed roster of “celebrities,” including local comedic gems Doug Ba'aser and Rich Kuntz, ala â┚¬Å”Gidget Galore.â┚¬Â

â┚¬Å”Rich needs to stay home and take care of the dogs,â┚¬Â says Gidget Galore of her alter ego.

The self-proclaimed â┚¬Å”goddessâ┚¬Â Galore returns to the squares after playing Liza Minelli in the Fringe production. In this run, she will embody a number of characters, including Betsy Ross.

â┚¬Å”I make no attempt to direct them whatsoever,â┚¬Â says Wanzie of the cast. â┚¬Å”We do not rehearse the show as a group; it's entirely improv. The most I can do is rein them in from time to time as I keep my one good eye on the clock. We do have time restraints.â┚¬Â

With such an array of characters and strong personalities among them, you'd think it wouldn't make for a cohesive environment.  

â┚¬Å”Not at all,â┚¬Â says Galore. â┚¬Å”We all [play] bigger, more exaggerated versions of celebrities and we are having a great time cracking up each otherâ┚¬â€and the audience.â┚¬Â

Ba'aser shared the same sentiments. Ba'aser, who wasn't able to be a part of the original cast because of his own Fringe show, Joan Crawford's House Party, reveals that [this cast] is on their “A” game and he’s thrilled to be working with â┚¬Å”some of the funniest people on the planet.â┚¬Â

â┚¬Å”I love the craziness backstage and on stage,â┚¬Â he says. â┚¬Å”With this groupâ┚¬â€ all of whom I have worked with beforeâ┚¬â€you have to bide your time and only come out with real zingers.â┚¬Â

Both Kuntz and Ba'aser have an arsenal of acting credits. Kuntz created â┚¬Å”Gidget Galoreâ┚¬Â seven years ago when she won the â┚¬Å”Anything Goesâ┚¬Â talent show at the Parliament House.

â┚¬Å”I have always been an entertainer,â┚¬Â says Galore. â┚¬Å”I love to make people laugh.â┚¬Â

Not an easy task, he explains.

â┚¬Å”It does require some training, experience and humor to be able to reply with a witty comment or funny remark quickly and on the spot.â┚¬Â
Ba'aser has been performing in Orlando professionally for 32 years.

â┚¬Å”I come from a funny family,â┚¬Â Ba'aser explains. â┚¬Å”My grandpa was a riot. I have four brothers so I had to fight for attention. I was really bored in school and became class clown.â┚¬Â

When asked what they hope audiences take away from this performance, both candidly agree they want people to be talking about the show and tell all their friends to come see it. But mainly, they want their audiences to have a good time.

â┚¬Å”I want people to hurt from laughing too hard,â┚¬Â adds Galore.

â┚¬Å”I want the audience to come and laugh for an hour; forget whatever may be going on in their life and just come and laugh,â┚¬Â says Ba'aser. â┚¬Å”There is no theme to the show; we’re not trying to send a message or trying to teach anything. This is good, old-fashioned, silly fun. Don’t get me wrong, we have all worked hard to make sure the show is right but at the end of the day, if the audience has half as much fun as we are having, we will have done our jobs!â┚¬Â

Gidget Galore and Doug Ba'aser will work with Wanzie later this year in Wanzie’s Glittering Star-Studded: A Christmas Carol, beginning in November.

â┚¬Å”What a fun gig that is,â┚¬Â says Ba'aser. â┚¬Å”[The show] has become such a tradition in Orlando and the audience gets bigger and more diverse every year we do it. It is nice looking out into a packed house and seeing not only our regular gay audience but corporate office parties and lots of older people. That show truly appeals to everyoneâ┚¬â€people of all ages, straight, gayâ┚¬â€it is just a great night out. There was even a Republican who came last year! I think she liked it; although who can tell with those people?â┚¬Â

More Info:
WHAT: Celebrity Match Game
WHERE: The Footlight Theatre
WHEN: Saturdays in September, 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 15, 8 p.m.
TICKETS: WanziePresents.com

Coming soon to The Footlight Theatreâ┚¬Â¦
Saturdays, Oct. 6-27
Liz Langley's The Queen and I
A quirky, spooky comedy about â┚¬Å”The Magic Mirror on the Wallâ┚¬Â and its relationship with an â┚¬Å”Evil Queenâ┚¬Â of fairytale fame. Perfect Halloween fare from the popular former Orlando Sentinel humor columnist and recent book publisher, Liz Langley.

Saturdays, Nov. 3- 17 and Monday, Nov. 26
The Temperamentals
This off-Broadway hit offers a glimpse into the secret society of homosexuals during the late 1950's â┚¬Å”Mad Menâ┚¬Â era. It's based on real life persons who essentially formed the first gay rights movement long before Stonewall.

Saturdays, Nov. 24-Dec. 18 and Monday Dec. 20
Wanzie’s Glittering Star-Studded: A Christmas Carol
Far from traditional, Michael Wanzie’s cracked version of A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition for the past three years. Wanzie’s comic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ tale assembles an all-star cast to act the story, played by a veritable cast of comedic crazies. Twistedly funny and wildly inappropriate casting: Carol Lee as Carol Channing as Scrooge, Gidget Galore as Liza Minelli as Tiny Tim, Doug Ba'aser as Marlee Matlin as Bob Cratchit. And Miss Sammy as Cher, who as the Ghost of Christmas Past belts out “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Pure Christmas Cher!