Godiva Dates & One Night Stands

Regie Cabico is having a ménage et trois with himself.  A triumvirate of comic device that builds swiftly from an initial storyline and then explodes into a two step movement from titillation to full fledged consummation inhabits every story this master performer/comic/poet tells in his current one man tour de force Godiva Dates and One Night Stands.

Cabico invites his audience to join him on a rollercoaster ride of hilarious and touching voyeurism as he barrels through almost a dozen diverse tales of love lust and outrageous laughter with the emotional layering of a fine narrative craftsman. A New Orleans bar, Banff National Park, and the streets of Montreal become thoroughfares for a brilliant mixture of race, gender, and sexuality as one man attempts to navigate the idiosyncrasies of a selection of hot men who he hopes will morph from sexy stranger across a crowded room into enchanted friend and lover who will fulfill his relentless romantic quest.

 Ultimately the stories become tales of a willful, streetwise, wide-eyed raconteur who may have to get off the rollercoaster in order to enjoy the ride - or stay on and continue to tell his eager audience all the bawdy and breathtaking details. But, alas, the price of a good story could very well be the quenched thirst for romance this complex collection of vignettes frequently embodies. But there are moments of great hope and potential promise for a welcoming light a the end of the proverbial bath house bar room chat room tunnel.

Priceless moments include Cabico channeling Tina Turner in a brief blast of virtuosic vocalization, leading the way toward a finale that allows him to take the iconic presence of a Nina Simone recording and meld it into a seamless tribute poem to a truly divine diva. Three quarter profiles of Regie Cabico’s face during the Simone  segment reveal a profound connection between the performers words as they connect with perfect synchronicity to the pauses she was able to inhabit, and take complete control over, in the incredible arrangement of her historic songbook. This is a brilliant example of spoken word poetry and a classic musical form becoming inseparable and gorgeous, both aurally and physically. Director Matt Ripa has skillfully allowed Cabico the room to move from story to story with simple effective transitions that give spectators a fleeting chance to breathe between stories and prepare themselves for the next madcap sexcapade.

Throughout this sixty-minute show Cabico dances, reflects, sings, and above all else, tells a hand full of love stories that he has found himself immersed in during an ongoing ride through highly a sexualized search for a titillating soul mate. If he does find one audiences may lose the breakneck, action packed, sex filled collection of truly memorable characters populating Godiva Dates and One Night Stands. But Cabico appears to have plenty of brilliant narrative equations, as a writer and performer, up his sleeve, and will surely come through with equally entertaining and beautiful renditions of one man's search for someone to love in future incarnations of his impeccable solo performance career.

until Sunday at Capital Fringe 

Washington D.C.