With Mike Randall
General Admission $15
($13 Opera House Members)
Victorian Dazzle Festival
Opera House favorite Mike Randall returns with his latest version of Mark Twain Live! In this one-man show, America's greatest author and humorist is brought to life with all the wit and wisdom that was the trademark of the "Great Man Himself." From the moment Randall walks on stage, there is no doubt that the celebrated humorist Mark Twain was, and continues to be, one of America's greatest natural resources!
Samuel L. Clemens hit the stage with his first lecture even before his pen name, Mark Twain, had become a household word. Eventually he grew into one of the funniest and most sought-after speakers of his day. Several lecture tours and hundreds of speaking engagements helped the humorist refine his storytelling skills into a fine art. To see Mark Twain in person was a rare treat indeed!
Mike Randall began impersonating Twain at the age of 17. Two years later he was performing professionally as Twain at the Buffalo Showboat. At age 20, he performed for the State Department in Washington, D.C., in the same theatre that John F. Kennedy used to give his State of the Union addresses. One year later, Randall brought his rendition to New York City's Little Hippodrome.
Randall is the only Mark Twain impersonator to be formally acknowledged by the Daughters of the American Revolution for his authenticity and the only Mark Twain actor to be a member of the prestigious National Speakers Association. Mark Twain Live! is endorsed by the Mark Twain Museum of Buffalo; and Randall is the "official Mark Twain" of the Huck Finn Jubilee in Victorville, Calif., and the Annual Mark Twain Birthday Bash & Symposium, in Buffalo.
In more than 30 years of "being" Twain, Randall has given more than 2,000 performances. To transform himself into the 70-year-old Twain, Randall spends more than three hours at the make-up table. When "Twain" walks onstage, the audience is in for a rare treat - two hours of folksy, wise-cracking wit and wisdom in Twain's own words. Mike Randall as Mark Twain points his irreverent finger of humor at everything from politics to religion, making it clear why some have called Twain "America's original stand-up comic."
Sponsored by ECR International
