Kinsey Sicks take Provincetown by storm -- or at least by Rambler

by Jeff Donaldson-Forbes
Provincetown Magazine
12 July 2001

Bravo! Diva! Encore! Provincetown Magazine allots me 700 words each time I review a show. Rest assured, if my editor would let me I'd use up my word count for this review of The Kinsey Sicks by repeating just those three words over and over again: Bravo! Diva! Encore!

Correctly known as America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, the Sicks delivered a divine opening night performance at The Jungle on Independence Day. I laughed, I cried, it became part of me...what more do you want? There's a reason the audience gave The Kinsey Sicks a standing ovation and begged for two encores. For those of you who are disinclined to take my word for it, here's an itemized list of reasons to take your butt over to The Jungle, hand your money to the nice lady, and enjoy the best show in town:

1. They're smart. The Kinsey Sicks deliver the sharpest, wittiest, most gleefully brainy shtick this side of the Catskills. Watch out, Varla - you've finally got some serious competition for intelligent comedy. They successfully parodied the theme from "Titanic," used the word "shtetl" correctly in a lyric, and they did it without pandering for laughs (well, except maybe for the jokes about butt cracks). They did most of it with intelligence and high humor. (So what if the butt crack jokes were pandering? They were funny!) Sure, The Kinsey Sicks are occasionally a bit esoteric, but lord knows it beats another Cher impersonation (and I certainly don't mean to impugn the integrity of the myriad Chers in this little burg.)

2. They're beautiful. I don't know if the Sicks wear the same outfits every evening, but opening night they were decked out like a Tahitian remake of a Lana Turner movie. Mind you, they're playing The Jungle, so tropical print capri pants with a cutaway skirt and matching wedgie mules makes perfect fashion sense to me. There's a blonde one, a redhead, and two brunettes, so there's something for everyone. Winnie's a committed lesbian, Trixie and Rachel are unannounced (but both quite fetching), and Trampolina would clearly jump most anything with a pulse (and maybe a thing or two without one.)

3. They're funny. By now you probably gathered that I laughed. But this wasn't a show where you guzzled your drink to make the next laugh funnier; it was literally a laugh-per-second kind of show. These ladies never miss a beat. Where else are you going to hear a Christmas song about, uh, recreational drug use with a refrain that chimes "oh little town of meth mayhem"? Or a lesbian commitment ceremony ditty? And believe me, you'll never listen to Tina's "Proud Mary" the same way again!

4. They can sing. These are the gals who put the "live" in "live vocals." They're not lip-synching. They're not singing to prerecorded tracks. They're singing a cappella and they sound a lot like the barbershop quartet your granddad used to sing with (except for the occasional girlie squeal). In fact, The Kinsey Sicks sing in a whole host of styles: barbershop quartet, Motown, doo-wop, Ike and Tina, madrigal, TV tune, Christmas jingle, and even an occasional straght ballad. Their harmonies were beautiful and well rehearsed. Their versatility was remarkable and consistently entertaining.

Trampolina announced that the group has a repertoire of about eighty different songs, and the Sicks plan to feature different material throughout the season. That's reason enough to see the show several times, and by all means bring your friends, bring your parents, bring your kindergarten teachers. I certainly hope that Trixie, Winnie, Rachel, and Trampolina will have the good sense to run for Carnival Queen in August and share the crown when they win it. The Kinsey Sicks are the prettiest, funniest, swingingest, smartest show in town. Welcome to Provincetown, girls, go to the head of the class.

As for the rest of you, get thee to the next performance of The Kinsey Sicks!