There's nothing like the sound of laughter. There's the sound of children's laughter and the raucous laughter of friends having a good time. There's the laughter of a good prank, as well as the laugher of a shared secret. Yet one of the most special kinds of laughter is that of an audience who are wholeheartedly enjoying themselves at a live theatrical performance. Such is the case at the Theatre on 46th Street, where Rob Becker's DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN is playing to packed houses that are laughing profusely and having a rollicking good time. The original 1995 production starred its author, who was followed by television actor Michael Chiklis, as the sole performer on stage. It ran for two and a half years and earned a place in theatrical record books as the longest running solo play in Broadway's history. The current production is in the exceptionally capable hands of Paul Perroni, who guides the audience through astute observations of the on-going battle between the sexes.
Perroni is a bit younger than his predecessors in the role but he is enormously likable on stage and holds the audience in the proverbial palm of his hands for the entire ninety minute performance. He's funny, charming, an expert mime, a bit of a stand-up comic, bears a small resemblance to Ray Romano, and he delivers Becker's one-liners with such aplomb that they never fail to hit their intended targets. This is very much evident as couples in the audience are seen nudging each other throughout the performance. Obviously they are relating to what Perroni is talking about on stage.
Meeting Perroni after the show is equally pleasurable. The actor greets his visitor with a firm handshake and before long the two Italians are off to a nearby trattoria, where he coincidentally enjoys a bottle of Peroni (yes, the beer's name is spelled with a single "r") beer before the meal arrives. The Little Rock native is enormously friendly and gladly speaks about his career, his previous credits, his lengthy stint in commercials for the Wendy's chain, and DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN. Many performers come to their profession in unusual ways but rarely does one find an actor who holds a BA in Political Science treading the boards in a Times Square theatre.
Perroni's parents were divorced when he was a mere two years old and his father moved around to various locations. Perroni and his sister were raised by his mother and the actor feels that he was "just a typical kid" in Arkansas. "I played a lot of basketball," he explains, "I went to a public school until I was fourteen and then to a private Catholic high school." He attended Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas which was "a great school, but there's not much to do there," he comments with a chuckle in his voice, "so I transferred schools and went to the University of Arkansas and began studying international politics with an emphasis on Russian studies. My specialty was the era from Lenin to Stalin. I was just fascinated by it. I was actually planning to attend law school or get a PhD in National Politics when I started doing stand-up comedy" he explains. "I used to go around impersonating my parents as well as well-known people like Jim Carrey, when someone told me I should give stand-up a shot. I followed the advice and had some really great shows. I was doing all this just about the time the law school rejections started to flood my mailbox, so I decided I should probably explore performing a bit more. Looking back on it, those rejection letters seem like blessings in disguise" With about two thousand dollars to his name, Perroni loaded up his car and set out for Chicago.
In the Windy City, Perroni studied at the world famous Second City while performing at places like Zanies, the Improv Olympic and Crush but never joined a troupe of any sort. "However, that didn't last very long because I knew I wanted to focus his attention on the classics by Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Shakespeare, Edward Albee and all my favorite playwrights. When I got CAVEMAN, it brought a lot of those stand-up elements to good use, though."
As an actor, Perroni is most proud of his performance in Eugene O'Neill's A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. In the Collage Theatre production, the actor played Edmund Tyrone . "It was my first legitimate role as well as my first dramatic part," he explains. "To tackle something like that is really ‘out there'. That's when I fell in love with Eugene O'Neill.
The play is depressing and melodramatic, but I related to it. Although O'Neill's parents stayed together, they were certainly dysfunctional. You see, when I was a kid, I felt that I was always trying to please both parents even though they were divorced. They didn't get along and I felt that O'Neill was doing that as well; especially in LONG DAY'S JOURNEY."
