[...] With a novel in the works, a successful run in Cabaret and an upcoming one woman show entitled Crazy Enough Storm Large is expanding her universe and redefining herself as a [...]

I want to let you know I saw last night’s performance of Crazy Enough and thought it was magnificent! How disappointed we all were that Storm’s CDs were not yet available. We might just have to come back for another round!

I also wanted to add that as season ticket holders, we see everything, and I tend to think the shows in the small theater are tremendous. My recent favorites include A Feminine Ending, How To Disappear Completely, I Am My Own Wife, and now this. (Put me down as someone who didn’t really care for Apollo..sad to say…) Keep up t he terrific shows, I can’t wait for next year’s season!

Wow, Scott and Kim. This is so, so nice to hear from you both. Storm has actually been nervous about whether the show would connect with the audience. So it is great to have this affirmation.
Chris

Any chance the CDs will be made available on this website or CD baby? Although I’m not in the Portland area, I would love to hear the music!

STORM REIGNS. Crazy Enough is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. …and I’m not talking just PCS, I mean EVER. Storm is honest and loveable and gritty and hilarious and real. Not to mention her unparallelled singing voice that can bring a person to their knees. Her story is one for the books anyway, but her telling it is priceless.

Kelly Kutney left this comment on one of our blog posts:

Submitted on 2009/04/08 at 7:34pm

I fell in love with Storm when I saw her as a guest on the Portland-based radio show “Livewire.” The hostess played off a bunch of mildly lesbian jokes making me wonder if she really was lesbian, but then I realized that I was enchanted too.
Sitting next to my hubby, thinking if I was entranced . . . what was he feeling!?
I was wishing I was a tough as nails, blonde, brash, and beautiful babe!
Wait, does that mean I would have to have lived the life Storm lived?
I don’t think I am crazy enough . . .
I’ll just have to settle for being a fan.

have been a fan since Storm and Her Balls’ Dantes days…James is a friend’s son in law, and have followed his career as well, all the way back to Everclear…the show, though, blew my mind (where is it?)…the rawness of her, the dynamic range of her voice and emotion, the artful telling of her painful and beautiful life story, and her physical investment in that telling, she is a luminous presence on the stage…all my fem friends are gonna go see this show or I’ll effing kill them! To your universal Vagina, Storm, you rock!!!! p.s. hubby loved it, too…

We saw Storm’s performance last night and were blown away! We saw here in Cabaret last year and loved it and are fans of hers after seeing her on Rockstar Supernova. She seriously will blow you away. No only with her beautiful, dynamic singing; but with her all out honesty. It was a great show and a great reason to celebrate the weird and outcast in us all.

Great show Storm. It was a moving and beautiful performance. Your willingness to tell it so openly is inspirational. Thank you for “8 miles wide”, it made me cry from recognition.

I was totally blown away by Storms performance!!! She gets so into what she’s doing, I thought for sure that she was getting choked up and crying in some parts of the play. Maybe she was?!

I’ve told everyone at work that they HAVE to see this roller coaster ride called Crazy Enough!!

Will definitley be seeing it again!!!

God Bless you Stormie for opening up to us in our Living Room we call Portland!!!

Saw the show today. What an emotional roller coaster ride. Had a fantastic time. One of the best performances I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Already planning to go again. Bought the CD; listened to it on the way home. Learned some stuff about myself. More fun than therapy, and cheaper, too. A MUST SEE! Storm, you fucking rock!

Truly great theater. I have to admit when I started I wondered if it was just going to be self-indulgent. But Storm & Chris, you broadened the story to touch on universal themes. I have nothing in common with Storm’s story, but I was enthralled with every moment. Not a false note.

The songs are terrific.

Congratulations to all, and lucky for Portland!

[...] the span of a few days. Earlier in the week, I joined friends to see her amazing show, “Crazy Enough.” Then, last night, she performed with The Balls at the Red Dress [...]

Congratulations, Lady!!!

Will be seeing Crazy Enough for the third time on your 40th! How awesome is that? And what better night to see a wonderful performance!!

See you on June 3rd and again on the 25th.

Re: Anonymous’s post.

I don’t think that anything of Chekov’s or Shoebox/Richard II is selling out around here. You know, sometimes things happen for unknown reasons: successes or failures. Perhaps, the success of “Crazy Enough” is that it IS a mirror of our society right now with the “universal themes touching all of us”.

Kudos to Storm and Chris for a sold-out extended run. I’m so pleased that a home-run was hit with bases loaded. That’s the kind of stuff that you wait to see! I’m online to try to procure another ticket for tonight, but, alas, it’s sold out. And, yes, I’m a sucker for good entertainment. Anyone have a spare ticket for tonight, May 8?

Hello Anon,
I was surprised at your uninformed, yet virtiolic review. The extent to which you are UNinformed is amazing. I don’t know where you got “rich” “suburban” or “stripper” but do a little homework and listen to her story and you might be surprised to find out how wrong you are.

You see only snapshots of her life in this show, which is what makes her stories so intriguing to me. Yet you seem to think that you know many personal things like how LONG she did drugs, how her family managed financially to keep her mom in hospitals off and on, how much money her father made (as the sole breadwinner, with three kids, as a teacher and coach), and what her experiences with addiction and abortion were like. You can’t know or understand fully the experiences of another person but I appreciate the opportunity to glimpse hers.

Go away, Anon, and leave this brave soul alone while the rest of us bask in the warmth of her bearing her soul. By the way, your jealousy is showing.

No, I’m not jealous, I’m pissed. I’m pissed that my family memberS weren’t able to get the treatment they needed. I’m pissed that I am part of that 85% of women who ended up with an STD. I’m pissed that my abortion stayed with me longer than I am meant to assume hers did. I’m pissed that my boyfriend did die from detox. That he was 100% clean of dope when he died and that he died due to heart failure because he it couldn’t survive after so many years of doing dope.

Mainly I’m pissed because Portland Center Stage and Storm chose to glorify all of these things in a way that would make people “connect” with them rather than actually LOOK at them. I’m pissed because just because my life doesn’t end with fame and glory because I don’t have a good singing voice, I had to look at it as a display case behind a musical glass. No, I don’t know Storm intimately. But I do know pain, and life, and I don’t appreciate having to listen to it with ill thought out lyrics that are meant to please the masses. You wanna give me pain, give it. You wanna show me a rough life, show it. You wanna call your show deep and provocative, make me feel something, not listen to songs about someone’s vagina.

[...] lot has been said about Storm Large in Portland, she is the gal who was on the reality talk show who was in the raunchy band.  Without knowing too [...]

Re: anon post
Sweetheart..you need to get yourself some help..you are far to angry at Storms depiction of her PERSONAL story..sorry you haven’t been able to rise above and move forward from the bad things in your life..but perhaps if you had a more generous spirit you would have been happy for Storm that she came through the other side and chose o share her story with the world..

Well, I’m pissed that I can’t get tickets to Storm’s show on the days and times I want them. So, we’re all pissed about something.

Anon., you just need a good script, a better sense of survival humor, enough craziness to pull it off and the exact amount of talent, charisma, vulnerability, visual appeal to pull it off. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but all the components have to be there.

Life’s not easy. Either it pulls you down or you make a musical out of it. The choice is ours.

I was really looking forward to my 5th viewing of “Crazy Enough”. I wanted to invite people who I knew it would mean something to, so I had two good friends who are kind and giving, and musical, and a friend from my city who I had bumped into at the Red Dress Ball, knowing that there was a fellow interest in Storm Large. The latter friend is considering reassignment surgery. She is a childhood friend of my oldest son and has always been a female in a male body. I knew that she would just love the show, and she did.

We did ~Happy Hour~ at PF Chang’s, where everything is 1/2 off. I fed the four of us food, drinks and dessert for under $50, with tip. We left to get in line before 7:00, because I know that the lines start to form early. I picked up my will-call tickets and we all got into line.

I just love the house manager there. Friendly, professional and knows how to organize that crowd and the house expertly. She always remembers me and is careful to say a ‘hello’ which I think is tremendous customer service.

I had terrific seats on the first rise, so my friends and I wouldn’t have to look in between heads. The seating arrangement at the Ellen Bly theatre is so good anyway there probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but with ANOTHER sold-out house we really had the best seats possible.

The musicians came out to some applause, which proves that this was probably a repeat performance audience because they understood the contribution that this band makes.

When we saw the silhouette of Storm coming out, one could feel the energy that could lift arm hairs from the whole audience. You know what I mean? There was Storm waiting in the dark until she could feel the appropriate time to begin, and then she did.

I’ve written about the play many times. And after the 5th time, if she were running “by rote” I would know if she were changing or skipping things. This show was fresh, kicked-up a bit, adapted for the moment and still as poignant, face-smashing and endearing as the first viewing. I wondered if I would see fatigue. No. No lack of focus, fatigue or visable wearing. It’s such an interesting script that you can play it for its pathos, or you can play it for its comedy. Last night, she swiped lightly over the sad stuff, which would be sad no matter how much weight you wanted to give it, and played the comedy of it. And funny she is: a one-unit little entertainment package needing no other units. And the more she played the comedy and dusted lightly over the drama, the more the tears and sobs from the audience. I really make note of that because I love to see GOOD theatre technique. It really is easy to make people cry without skill. You can watch a cat getting run over and not help but cry. But when something is done with comedy and continues to get people running for their hankerchief, that’s another story. She knows her craft and how to do that. Bravo. Who’da thought we’d get a Sarah Bernhardt out of Storm? She’s quite skillful, knows her timing and seems born to the theatre claiming her earned spot. Rockstar —> Actress. Yep. Maybe the same thing, though.

Anyways, my first viewing left me mute. Of course, that’s easy for me. I’m mostly mute. I write better than I verbally communicate. As a former professional ballet dancer, I had the perfect job back then. I never spoke, only moved to express myself. Well, after last night’s performance, my mind had no words to write. Much like the first performance. I was pretty speechless and processing, just like my computer’s rumblings when it’s about to crash. Lots of sound and no substance. So, I slept on it.

There was very little repetitive movement last night. It was a freshly arranged affair. Sometimes, Storm was trying blues and jazz riffs in her song; sometimes she would stay still during something that used to have movement; sometimes she would speed up the story, only to give greater weight at the end. My absolute favorite movement is her hand riding the wind in “Halogen”. I am so glad that she left it in, even though she did it only once. It’s such a symbolic movement, with all of us doing it at least once in our childhoods. A calming movement, but always a movement that is never mindless. I also love to see which gesture she’ll use in “C.R.A.Z.”, when her hands drown the crazies. They didn’t drown by the cyclone this time; they went straight down and were held there. Little things I look for.

Energy? Oh, brother. The girl put out last night. As usual, we got all of her and that’s “large”ness deluxe. You want emoting? You got it. You want hysterical funny comedy. It was ours. She worked it so hard on stage that the tape couldn’t hold on her microphone that was attached behind her ears. Brilliant performance. And all for us.

It was a good crowd. They laughed, yelled, hooted, cried, sobbed, sang and interacted all through it. It was a yuppyish crowd with money. Lucky guns.

I’d love to see more “20 somethings” in the crowd. The performance last night gave hope and renewed dreams to my “20 something” I brought with me. I heard, “I feel strength from watching this. I know that I don’t have to think my life is over at age 25 with no hope for my dreams to materialize.”

And that’s what this play is about. People left happy with some tears still glistening in their eyes, squeezing a loved one’s hand, doing a good ol’ guy punch to the arm, and giving another person a hug to know that there was a feeling of renewed hope and strength injected from a mere viewing of a play. Coincidence? I think not.

Hey. It was another great evening with Storm Large. Omg. I hope that she doesn’t choose the ministry next. One never knows where charisma will take some one…..

[...] crazy enough has been getting great reviews and extended three times, i was worried that all the praise was really the result of portland being in love with a portland product, portland has a tendency to do that. storm large’s one woman show at portland center stage took me a bit by surprise, by living up to the praise. [...]

I am a 14 year old theater kid who just saw “Crazy Enough” for the first time. Having never seen Storm Large perform live either, this was one of the most amazing performances I have EVER seen. Growing in a family where my mother has a sever case of bipolar this show clicked. Throughout the whole thing I kept seeing myself, and my family. It was so breathtaking, and so inspirational. I have never seen such a performance that is so honest to god. It made really realize the importance of theater in my life. It’s always been something to keep my afloat in the midst of my mom’s illness, but this showed me that I can use it to my advantage in other ways. I hope to someday be like storm and write my own one woman show. Her performance gave me the confidence to try and stop pointing out my mom’s illness out in myself. It’s true I see her every time I look in the mirror, and when I say certain things, but I am not my mom. And I too feel like it’s my fault my mom is the way she is, and I know it isn’t true, but Storm’s reassurance of this in her show helped to really make that a solid thing in my mind. I want to thank every single person who has been involved in this show, you made a big change in some misfit teens life yesterday. I hope to be seeing more Storm, and maybe someday be able to share my story like she did.

I saw the show avoer a month ago, and am not surprised that it got it’s second extension. I raved that night and I’ve been raving since. I’ve told friends at all levels of arts performance and appreciaton that this is a MUST SEE – for the raw courage in facing and expose her psyche, the versatily and power inherent in the music (the score, lyrics, and performance) – this is what I think live performance is about.
I looked around and saw a lot of other folks in their 50’s and 60’s there – this was not a bunch of 30 something punk rockers idolizing their idol – this was a SHARED moment that grabbed us with the raw courage and power that Storm Large has built her reputution on. Punk, rock ballads, jazz standard ballads,it doesn’t matter – the common denominator is that if it can be made to grab you in a startingly in your face way, and shake you up — well you EXPERIENCE it with her -

Love It –
obviously I’m a late 50’s FAN. Keep it coming!

We have seen Crazy Enough twice. I can watch it over and over again. The music is addictive. I have seen many Broadway musicals from “Rent” to “Wicked”, and I can truly say that this is the best performance that I have ever seen.
This show should get an award.

Congrats to Storm, James, Jim, Scott, Chris and the crew that makes it all happen in the third extension of Crazy Enough through August 16! Let 2008-2009 be the year that never ends.

[...] happy and enthusiastic vagina love with this incredibly catchy song from her one woman show “Crazy Enough“. She sings that her vagina is a “metaphor for my super vaginastically mystically [...]

I was first exposed to Storm by my good friend at a concert in Portland and was amazed at her open humor and her amazing talent.I have been to crazy enough twice now with her(shes been like 5 times) and will be going a 3rd time. Her energy and inspiration is addicting. Who doesn’t love to feel inspired and uplifted, even if after a sometimes tearful experience.

The blend of pain, humor, and self-reflection was powerful. I hope that if PCS can’t extend this…that Storm can find a way to keep spreading the message in another venue or perhaps by recording it and selling it on DVD. Portland, Oregon is very lucky to have such an amazing performer in town.

Thank you for making me laugh, grieve, celebrate, feel your defiance, and share in your breakthrough! We are all Strong Enough to survive this wild ride call life!