Review: 'Masters & Johnson' leaves audience in stitches

There is so much and so little to say about Without a Net's opening performance of Masters & Johnson of the Universe in Houston Hall Auditorium last night. So little, because there was no set, no costumes -- monochrome t-shirts excluded -- no script, and due to some unfinished circuiting, no lights for the stage. So much, because the show still managed to be hysterically funny, wildly entertaining, and left the audience rolling in the aisles. And if that wasn't enough, because of the nature of improvisation, Saturday night's shows will be totally different from last night's performance. In a performing arts season which will feature scores of a capella groups and all sorts of theatrical productions, Without a Net is a welcome change. It offers a show free of lofty pretense, whose sole purpose is to make people laugh. Improvisation is perhaps the most difficult style of comedy, but Net members have clearly mastered it, as evidenced by their rendition of the improv opera "Oprahoma," sung by not-quite-tenors College senior Larry Wagner and Wharton senior Ed Carse together with not-quite-divas College seniors Stephanie Brown and Yasmin Tuazon. Last night's performance also featured some never-before-tried sketches including "Pop-up Storyteller," "Silent Movie," and "Point of View," which featured a side-splitting rendition of the Boston Tea Party as seen through the eyes of The Terminator, Al Capone and Kermit the Frog. And while audience participation, an integral part of any Net show, was not in abundance, the rave reviews for the show were to be heard everywhere. "It was better than Gremlins," said elementary school sixth grader Dara Abraham, cousin of Net performer Adam Abraham. "But it wasn't better than E.T. Nothing is better than E.T." Masters & Johnson of the Universe continues on Saturday night at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available on Locust Walk.

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