This past Thursday night at the famous Laurie Beechman Theatre, Jackie Cox debuted her first (and hopefully not last) solo Beechman show in front of an enthusiastic packed house. Now if I was doing one of those typical bloviated Broadway-esque reviews, I would be saying something like “Jackie Cox Triumphs in I Dream of Jackie!”. And it wouldn’t be wrong! Jackie and her co-stars Drew Bloom and Blake McIver (who also directed the show) grabbed the crowd right from the start with an amazing parody of the opening of Aladdin and proceeded to take the audience on an emotional roller coaster loaded up with belly laughs but also featured very poignant moments as well.
Not to give away too much but the premise of the story is that Jackie is a magical Genie that has been trapped in her bottle for eons but manages to accidentally free herself in the middle of her binge watching Gilmore Girls and finds herself right smack in the middle of 2017. While the times haven’t led to all the progressive changes, she ponders the best way she can use her three wishes to improve herself and the subsequently, the course of mankind.
A word needs to be said about the costuming throughout the show which were spectacular. Again, no spoilers but Jackie’s costume to open the second act was laugh out loud funny and brilliant. The gorgeous costumes are changed several times throughout the show but manage to never interrupt the flow of the show. In fact one of them leads to a delightful interlude between Blake and Drew and a song about secondary characters. Jackie’s hair throughout the show were works of art and that’s not shocking considering not wig icon Bobbie Pinz did them.
All in all, the show was a delight to watch, filled with heart and packed with laughs while still managing to provide social clever commentary as well. I strongly recommend you catch one of the last two shows at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, this Thursday night or next (The 20th and 27th) if you’re in the tri-state area (Get your tickets here!). For more information on Jackie Cox and the show, please check out my in-depth interview with her from last week (Here!) and don’t miss her video interview with WERRRK.com’s own roving reporter Strawberry Fields following last Thursday show.
