The Lite Side
Death of a Floppy
- 2001.12.24
Premiere! Tonight, for a limited Engagement
"Death of a Floppy"
by Stephen Careers
Listen to what the critics are saying:
"A Winner!"
"Ubiquitous!"
"Sprays invective like a crop duster!"
"Gottfreid has never been better!"
Join us in celebrating the power of American Theatre with this classic of techno-theatre, a masterpiece of engineering and writing, the world-famous "Death of a Floppy," tonight at 8 PM at CompUSA Theatre, 1428 BehindtheMall Drive, Concord, California.
- Starring George Carlin as H.D. Dryve, "The Floppy"
- John Lovitz as Max Beta
- John Lithgow as Seedy R. Ohm
- Bebe Neusmith as Betty "Five and a Quarter" Dryve
- Freddy Prinze, Jr. as Freddy "Flash" Dryve
- Gilbert Gottfreid as Zebediah "Zip" Dryve
- Brad Pitt as Fyre "The Wire" Cable
- Alicia Silverstone as the Airport Manager
- Eddie Albert as T. Ape Dryve, brother of H.D
In this gripping piece of modern American Techno-Tragedy, we see H.D. begin to struggle, and ultimately fail, to maintain his customer base despite many years of mostly reliable service. Lost files, bent covers, format incompatibilities, and storage limitations gradually erode Drye's effectiveness. The introduction of a new system of file transfers via the Internet and wireless networking essentially strips Dryve of his job, his friends, the respect of his two sons (still able to find useful work) and his wife, who surrendered her own dreams years ago. Author Steven Careers, winner of the coveted "Best of Macworld" award seventeen years running, says of his masterpiece, "If I didn't write it, someone else would have had to."
Other critics praise "Floppy," as it is affectionately known:
"I never thought I'd hear John Lovitz pronounce 'ubiquitous' quite so crisply," raves Roger Ebert. "Me either," said That Other Guy With Roger.
"Gottfried has never been better than he is as the grating, annoying, noisy, but necessary Zip Drye," says Marsha Fendrick of the S.F. Bay Area Guardian.
"Alicia Silverstone gives a surprisingly subtle performance as the new game in town, IEEE 1394," according to PC User magazine theatre critic Larry Niven. "It's like she's not even there."
"Lithgow's performance is restrained, nothing like his work on 'Third Rock,'" according to Bud Melman, theater critic for the David Letterman show. "You can see in his eyes that the other formats are gunning for him now in the same way they started with H.D. years ago. Secretly, he knows he's next, but is as unwilling to admit it in the same way that H.D. was in denial. Thus the cycle continues."
"Bebe Neusmith's a winner here," according to Gene Shalit, who's never seen the show but based his opinion on everyone else's reviews. "Her monotonic performance just fits the disgusted, beaten role of a format even more useless than H.D.'s."
and praise continues for the show's star, George Carlin:
"Carlin's artful use of the Two Still Forbidden Words is masterful," writes Martha Stewart, filling in for Rush Limbaugh on his show this week. "Just a touch of seasoning will do, but Carlin fills the buffers with gusto, spraying invective like a crop duster trying to manage one of the plagues of Egypt. It's not for everyone, but, with the right mood and a little bottled water, you may enjoy it."
Tickets available in advance or at the box office. Prices are $2.25 for a pack of 10 tickets, or $4.50 if you want Mac compatible seats. Intermission at approximately 10.30 PM. No digital photography.
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