For Whom the Comedy Panders – Review by Greg Cantrell

What do you do if you have a decent sense of humor AND you are trained in modern/interpretive dance AND you want to let people know you have some real artistic creativity? If you are John Dwyer, the choreographer and creative force behind For Whom The Comedy Panders, you deliver a unique and engaging 45 minute combination of dance, monologues, and physical comedy all wrapped up in one entertaining performance.

This reviewer didn’t know what to expect from this late evening performance at the Bolender Center. What I experienced was a most enjoyable form of artistic expression. John Dwyer, tonight a “comedic dancer”, opened and closed his performance with modern dance pieces – interspersed with seamlessly blended comedic elements. In between were quasi-monologues with his off-beat observational humor, ranging in subject matter from trust to cats. He delivered these via a running gag of using an unplugged microphone while incorporating costume/wig changes behind a placard in the middle of the stage where you could partially see him wrestling with himself during the changes. Even as I couldn’t quite connect the dots from the beginning of his performance to the end, nothing seemed out-of-place…just very amusing!

Fringe is full of creative people providing exceptional entertainment – tonight John Dwyer certainly delivered on the promise. The audience definitely enjoyed the evening, as evidenced by their hearty sing-along participation in a song he wrote for his wife. John Dwyer’s performance was full of joy and authenticity – as he said twice during the show – “Love yourself first…”. I think I did tonight.