Sweet Jesus – The Gospel According to Felt
Venue 27 Sugar Swing Upstairs
5 Stars
Puppet Jesus has returned to Earth 2,000 years after his crucifixion. He died to make the world a better place, and he’s frustrated at the way people treat religion and each other.
In Sweet Jesus – The Gospel According to Felt, the two millennia-old Messiah is an arm puppet with bug eyes, scraggly hair and very long arms. He’s returned to Earth to see if his great sacrifice was worth it. He’d hoped poverty would be ended and no one would be left behind.
But this new world is a shocker, and he quickly devolves into a rant that is both sacrilegious and extremely funny. Jesus is once again a blue collar working stiff. We discover that with a huge career gap, he can only find jobs as a waiter turning water into wine and as a carpenter in the trades.
Jesus tries the new-fangled online dating services and discovers real possibilities are slim to none. He visits St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, a church built in his name exuding majesty and wealth. But a few streets away, people live in poverty. Has his message been lost?
Playwright-actor Randy Brososky created and manipulates this tell-it-like-it-is Jesus. He embodies the puppet’s character and takes the role of secondary actor adding to the story without overshadowing it.
Religion is a difficult topic to poke a stick at and Brososky delivers some hard truths that are difficult to swallow. But through the power of brilliant story-telling, non-stop jokes and one-liners, the verbal lashes are softened by a puppet Messiah, who like all humans, has an emotional core and is trying to navigate a confusing world.
