Alton Brown may be known for his cooking shows on the Food Network, but he actually went to school for theatre. He started his theatre education at a small school in LaGrange, GA, before transferring to the University of Georgia to also study film. So, to play Broadway鈥檚 Barrymore Theatre for an eight-performance engagement (November 22-27) of Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science is a dream come true.
The fusion of food and theatre has been in the works for over 15 years, when he began doing cooking demonstrations with a theatrical flair and needed to find the perfect medium to present it.
At the time, he pitched producers by explaining, 鈥淚 want to do a culinary variety show. I was a child of the 鈥�70s. I was a fan of The Sonny & Cher [Comedy Hour] show. I want to do a show that鈥檚 all about food where there鈥檚 singing and music, there are demos, [and] there鈥檚 comedy.鈥� After getting the green light, 鈥淚 put together a show that became The Edible Inevitable Tour. It was an opportunity to do everything no one would let me do on TV. I started writing songs鈥攎y food songs鈥攁nd performing those with a band, so there was that big, large format food demonstrations that were crazy and involved, very impractical and potentially dangerous things, [and] lots of audience interaction.鈥�
Theatrical cooking shows have since then become Brown鈥檚 bread and butter, so to speak. But there are challenges. 鈥淚 got this thing where I can鈥檛 go to a city twice with the same show. I鈥檝e got to start over,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 had so many ideas. I was like, 鈥業 want to do it again,鈥� so the next show was Eat Your Science. More music, more demos; the same model, but all new material.鈥�
Eat Your Science, which explains the science behind each of Brown鈥檚 cooking techniques, will make a Broadway pit-stop on his tour right in time for Thanksgiving, playing November 22, 23 at 8 PM; November 25, 26 at 2 and 8 PM, and November 27 at 1 and 5:30 PM.
At the two-and-a-half-hour, family-oriented culinary variety show, audiences can expect music (Brown and his band open with his rock anthem entitled 鈥淪cience鈥�), cooking (his last show featured an eight-foot easy bake oven that made pizza in three minutes), interaction (there鈥檚 a game-show element), and popcorn.
鈥淭he entire second act is about popcorn,鈥� he reveals. 鈥淚 have a long history with popcorn, and you would be surprised what we end up doing with popcorn鈥攐r at least, I hope you鈥檇 be surprised.鈥� In college, Brown had a job making popcorn for a 13-screen movie theatre, and he says his fingernails were stained orange for over a year.
Overall, he says that Broadway is the perfect medium for a cooking show like his. 鈥淭here are two things we want to do in a group: eat and laugh,鈥� he explains. 鈥淪o, to me, that鈥檚 theatre. Food has always been theatre.鈥�
鈥淚t is not lost on me the significance of being able to be on Broadway,鈥� he adds. 鈥淥n opening night of Broadway, I can call my mom and say, 鈥楽ee that theatre degree actually did pay off!鈥� All these years later鈥擨鈥檓 54鈥擨 can finally say, 鈥榊ou were wrong about that theatre degree that was going to amount to nothing.鈥� That鈥檒l be sweet.鈥�
Michael Gioia is the Features Manager at 半岛体育.com. Follow him on Twitter at .
