All Cake, No File
What do you get when you take one Duncan Hines cake mix, a saucy southern chef, and a rockabilly cover band to the legendary Johnny Cash, With a Bible and a Gun? A lip smackin’, side-splittin’, toe-tappin’ good time that just goes to show you can have your cake and eat it too!
Writer/actress Donna Jo Thorndale reprises her role as former celebrity chef Jewell Rae Jeffers from last year’s hit show featured in The Actor’s Gang WTF? Festival. Gone are the platinum blonde flip wig and the sharply hewn political bribes from its earlier version. Recovering from her former celebrity status and a cocaine habit, this Jewell is brassy, brazen and full of homespun optimism. Sure, she takes a cheap shot every now and then, but it’s all in good fun, Sug.
In a slightly improvisational style, Jewell confesses all her former sins while affirming her life’s passion for baking, ex-cons, classic rock, Jesus, and her musician husband, Dwayne. Combining all these elements like the ingredients she mixes onstage, *Jewell’s prison show becomes a regular hootenanny when With a Bible and a Gun livens up the interludes with Johnny Cash classics such as “Cocaine,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and of course, “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
If all of this sounds a tad confusing and disjointed, try to think of it as a Rockabilly Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart meets Oz. It does work most of the time, a credit to Shira Piven’s direction and Thorndale’s relatable wit and charm. The premise occasionally wears thin with it set in the confines of a state prison on a bare stage separated by a chain link fence for where the band plays on the other side. Sit in the center for an unobstructed view of both.
While prattling on about her ideas of freedom, justice and the American way, Jewell instructs the audience on how to make her decadent but not politically motivated, ‘Coal Miner’s Cake.’ Using simple ingredients such as her Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Cake Mix, Jewell whips up her batter, while injecting her Kentuckian sensibilities throughout. Whether it’s sex, drugs or rock n’ roll, Jewell has an opinion and a personal story about how these have changed her life—sometimes for the better, but more times for the worse. Either way, she’s hilarious in her own born again-Stepford Wife-cocaine-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth, wisecracking persona.
When the material and the batter start to lay it on rather thick, lead singer Corby Gallegos treats us to his smooth renditions of Johnny Cash’s memorable hits. Electric guitarist Jim Vitale plays some mean and nimble licks on his Fender Stratocaster backed up by bassist Mike Salazar and drummer Alex Carlisle. Not a “tribute band” the members do not attempt to impersonate the late great icon, but they definitely channel the spirit of his music and yes, they all wear black.
April Fitzsimmons as Officer Putney plays the ‘straight man’ to Jewell’s liberal attitudes, but the Putney character goes underutilized and wasted. Her best moments, however, are when she boogies to the beat of the band from the catwalks—catch her doing a sliding two-step shuffle.
Each week offers something new as Jewell whips up a different Jailbreak Cake for the audience so word to the wise save room for dessert. The ‘Coal Miner’s Cake’ opening weekend was so good it was criminal...which is just how Jewell likes it.
Whether you’re a Johnny Cash fan, a culinary enthusiast, or you’re looking for something to tickle your funny bone—“All Cake, No File” serves up all these until you’ll be asking for seconds.
A portion of the ticket sales from “All Cake, No File” goes to support The Actor’s Gang’s Prison Project, which has been helping to reduce recidivism through in-prison theatrical training since 2007.
*Amoeba Records endorsed.
“All Cake, No File”
Runs through July 31
The Actor’s Gang
9070 Venice Blvd.
Culver City, 90232
PH: 310-838-GANG
www.theactorsgang.com