Actor, performance artist, playwright, author: John Leguizamo does an odd mashup of rage and subversiveness, hilarity and hoke, in his most recent show. Latin History for Morons is a litany of atrocities and genocide towards the Latino population throughout history, mixed with Leguizamo’s hijinks and raunchy tangents. His nonchalant anecdotes are interspersed with the vivid and very telling history of the subjugation of his ancestors, as well as an ongoing account of helping his son with a project on heroes for school. Leguizamo’s anarchy blends into his discourse and gets the poor boy in trouble.
At the start, Leguizamo warms up the audience, encouraging raucous enthusiasm and picking a couple of “victims” to pick on. (Nothing resembling the contemptuous chicanery David Letterman was so famous for). His stories of relatives, both distant and near and dear, are engaging and charming. And spot on. His hapless, sweet boy, his reprimanding Jewish wife, his disaffected, snippy daughter. His is an infinitely varied world of creeds, ethnicities and shades of pigmentation. Cynical and savvy. No one is flawless, no one immune. He uses a chalkboard to elaborate on the food chain of white and nonwhite civilizations, conquests and warfare. But, mischief maker that he is, he just can’t resist sneaking in some dirty cartoons.
When you’re deep in the thick of Leguizamo’s loopy, yet grim and confrontational (for lack of a better word) odyssey, you think, “How could this conceivably work?” Digression, dance, song and sketch interlude, commentary on commentary: are his stock-in-trade. One minute he’s describing a grisly episode of annihilation (or some other form of virulent racism) and the next, some manic shtick takes over. It’s exhilarating (and yes, exhausting) and funny and horrific and certainly entertaining. Perhaps humor helps to alleviate the toxic inhumanity he bears witness to. By the time Leguizamo’s taking his final bows, you grasp just how hard it is, to resist his jazzy, savvy, delirious take on this chaos we all must endure.
ATT Performing Arts Center presented John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons. It played at the Winspear Opera House for one evening in September. 2403 Flora Street, Dallas, Texas 75201. (214) 880-0202. attpac.com