Death this cabaret performance certainly delivers. Written and performed by New York native Jack Trinco, accompanied by talented pianist John Colonna, Death Part 7 delivers a sometimes funny, often confusing and yet wildly enthusiastic narrative about death.
It’s clear Trinco is a lover of audience interaction – whether positive or negative – as he gives a lesson in how to cheer and boo. Despite being told the crowd can jeer if they want to, no one does throughout the hour. The show is a dark comedy about all intricacies of death. It’s billed as an incomplete performance with Trinco describing what would happen on a massive stage if the show were real.
Trinco and Colonna’s songs are the highlights within the piece. Both are evidently talented and the songs are often serious with poignant lyrics. Some even produce goosebumps when Trinco hits the big notes. There’s no doubt this duo are right at home with musicals.
What lets Death Part 7 down however is a lack of cohesiveness. At one point Trinco describes a vivid and darkly comic tale about a family member’s death, but then jumps to Broadway musicals about OJ Simpson and Schindler’s List – which were quite funny and quite shocking – then back to a sad tale about losing someone. A bizarre section on folklore tale Hansel and Gretel pops up once but then has little traction during the rest of the piece. Death is a vast topic and trying to cover too many aspects of it leaves the audience confused as to where it’s going.
Still, you can’t deny Death Part 7 has enthusiasm. If dark comedy is your thing it’s stuffed full of moments that produce astonished laughter. And the script is puns galore, some of them so gloriously bad they’re good.
This show definitely has potential with some tightening up and perhaps trying to cover less ground.