You Can’t Be Serious

A NoHo Arts theatre review of Andrea Parson’s solo showYou Can’t Be Serious at Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024.

[NoHo Arts District, CA] –  A NoHo Arts theatre review of Andrea Parson’s solo show You Can’t Be Serious at Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024

Disarming, charming, and alarming are the words that come to mind when I think of Andrea Parson’s (that’s Parson, not Parsons), solo show called, You Can’t Be Serious. After my many years attending this festival, I have seen some lovely shows full of pathos, magic, and brilliance. But, Miss Parson brings that element of performance that can only be seen, heard and felt in person.

The 75-minute show went by in a flash and yet was filled to the brim with such intimacy and care for proper storytelling, that one is immersed and felt safe. Whether the subject was the Titanic, the boat and the movie, cookies, or cancer, every word, facial expression, and physical movement was perfectly choreographed. Speaking of physical movement. Miss Parsons (whoops, I mean Parson) was incredible to watch. Her melding of dance and emotions was as important as sound is to film.

A NoHo Arts theatre review of Andrea Parson’s solo showYou Can’t Be Serious at Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024.

The show began with one of the most original ways to start a show. She began but didn’t really begin until she was ready to actually begin and even that had to wait for her to begin. You had to be there. The whole stage was her playground and by adding dance moves to coincide with dramatic points, was a stroke of sheer beauty. I must warn you though that a great many cookies were harmed during the performance. I was kept guessing throughout the show, not in the sense of what she was going to do, but in the matter of how she was going to do it.

There were times, during the show, that I could swear she was looking right at me and was brought on stage with her accompanying her along the journey. At this point, I must congratulate Katherine Murphy Lewis, whose direction never got in the way of the story and flowed beautifully in sync to the dialogue. The humor that was a big part of You Can’t Be Serious came in the form of the Chaplinesque manner of Miss Parson.

It was her unabashed sincerity that kept my eyes on her from ‘lights up’ to ‘black out.’ What a grand way to close out my Hollywood Fringe experience of 2024. Andrea Parson is an award-winning performer, but I suspect that this show and this performance just very well might put her on the map. She is definitely on my map of performers to keep track of. 

A NoHo Arts theatre review of Andrea Parson’s solo showYou Can’t Be Serious at Hollywood Fringe Festival 2024.