By Meryl Pearlstein
It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times or something like that according to Gary Gulman. In his new one-man show, Grandiloquent, comedian Gary Gulman takes you through a meandering chronology of his life and trials from growing up in Peabody, Massachusetts to becoming a hit star on HBO.
The charming, sometimes daunting story masterfully conveyed through delivery, smiles and other facial communication is engaging and empathy inducing. Gulman’s narratives about being held back in first grade and the traumas that ensued, his mother’s friends who visited for Tupperware parties, and growing up in with a single mother and an absentee father lead you on an emotional roller coaster filled with highs and definite lows.
Gulman is open about his struggles with depression. He pats himself on the back for his successes in surpassing all and for landing at the point where we see him today. In this time when so much is changing around us, and not necessarily for our good as Gulman posits, he is a testament to how to withstand the worst of times.
But don’t think that this performance by Gulman is all doom and gloom. Gary will have you laughing as well, as his vignettes are often quite hilarious. They’re ones that we can relate to and that draw us back into our childhood. They’re also ones that remind us of the brilliance in the world: Gulman is a master of language. His vocabulary is surpassed by no one. Gary’s voracious passion for reading has made him something of a savant, a coping mechanism to deal with his childhood traumas. His dialogues are sprinkled with literary references from books like Animal Farm that you might miss at first blush and some that are even more obscure. And he’s a true encylopedia when it comes to music and movie lore as well.
But, no worries, Gary will help you with all that. He often leads the conversation or reverts back to something he said where he feels the audience needs assistance in understanding. He is also quite adept at sizing up the audience, at my performance calling out the New Yorkers who didn’t react to his New York Jewish commentary.
You’ll enjoy this evening, but I encourage you to pay attention. There’s a lot being said on stage. If you try to keep track of Gulman’s lexicon of the English language and you understand every word, kudos to you. That’s just one of the tests that Gulman throws at you, perhaps to show you that despite all adversity you can be confident, funny and self-accepting, even in front of a room of strangers who are laughing at you.
The show runs through February 8 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York City.
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