Friday, May 30, 2014

"One-Man Star Wars Trilogy" Coming to OKC

The Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre is presenting the "One-Man Star Wars Trilogy" that runs this weekend through Sunday night.

The single performer, Charles Stuart Ross, created the show in 2001.

He says he is surprised himself to still be doing it for 13 years.

"Star Wars has an incredible shelf life," says the 40-year-old. "It's everywhere. I've traveled to 4 continents. I've performed the show thousands of times in hundreds of cities all over the world."

So what can we expect from the show.

Well, Ross tells me it's Star Wars like you've never seen it before with just one man on a stage with no costumes or props telling the original trilogy in just one hour.

"I'm conjuring Star Wars from the geeky ether, taking us from the very first film to the end of Return of the Jedi. We fight all the battles. There's all the romance. There's all the monsters, all the characters. I fly the ships. I do everything, but it's just me on stage," says Ross.

He says his favorite character to play is Emperor Palpatine.

"He is the antithesis of Luke," he says. "He's an unabashed jerk and a horrible man. I mean, when he's on the screen everybody else disappears."

Ross also has a one man show based off the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson.

He says he's thought about doing a show based off the prequel trilogy, but finds he just doesn't have the same kind of passion he did as a young boy watching Star Wars: A New Hope 400 times.

And, what of the new show Rebels coming out this fall or the new movie next December.

Ross says he's "extremely excited" .

The "One-Man Star Wars Trilogy" is licensed by LucasFilm, but he says it doesn't mean he has any insight in what to expect.

"I'm waiting like the rest of the world to see what's coming up. I hope that it's going to be fantastic, but I have no hand in making that happen."

You can hear my entire interview at kosu.org.

Make sure and get your tickets for the show which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday night with matinees on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Tickets available at the Oklahoma City Civic Center website

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