If you saw “The Bicycle Men” when it rode through town in 2012 during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, you’d probably remember that it’s not the kind of show one would easily forget. The “sublimely silly musical comedy with French overtones” tends to leave an impression, either from its absurd, off-the-wall zaniness or because you laugh so hard.
Durango resident and comedy and show business veteran John Rubano, along with Mark Nutter, Dave Lewman and Joe Liss return to the Durango Arts Center for a reprise of the widely and wildly acclaimed stage show for 6 and 9 p.m. performances Friday and Saturday.
Rubano, who acted on the Jim Belushi sitcom, “According to Jim” for eight seasons, said he’d been asked by a number of Durangoans when the quartet would perform the show again around here. Now seemed as good a time as any.
“Fall’s kind of a dead time, shoulder season, whatever the hell they call it. We’ll bring it back for Durango,” said Rubano, a Wheat Ridge native who has lived in Durango full time for six years.
The story of “The Bicycle Men” follows an American named Steve who is biking through France. When his bike breaks down, he is forced to spend a hellish night in a French village waiting for repairs.
“That’s what it’s about…that’s not what it’s about,” Rubano said, alluding to the show’s you-just-have-to-see-it qualities.
Rubano describes the show as having strong British sensibilities, smart, whacky and whimsical. Call it Monty Python meets Second City, the esteemed Chicago improv comedy troupe where the foursome met.
“It would be your worst nightmare in a foreign country … on acid,” said Rubano, who performed at the Second City Mainstage from 1988 to 1993 along with the likes of Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert.
“The Bicycle Men” began and remains a passion project for the group. The group drew from Liss’s experience as an exchange student in France and Rubano’s obsession with cycling. They were also rundown from the grind of the Hollywood scene, performing the work and words of others, much of it unfunny.
“It’s so much more gratifying than having to do the rhythm of having to do a sitcom: boom-boom-laugh, boom-boom-laugh. It’s repugnant,” Rubano said. “You pay your mortgage with it but it’s a drag. It’s kind of soul-sucking. But it’s called showbusiness not showart.”
Since 2004, Rubano and crew have performed the show to sellout crowds in major cities across the country. The Chicago Tribune described the show as “Splendidly strange, howling funny” and “absolutely not to be missed.” On its way to winning Best Overall Production at the New York Fringe Festival, The New York Times said, “Nothing could possibly lift your spirits as quickly as ‘The Bicycle Men.’”
Following the success stateside, the foursome took the show across The Pond, performing in Edinburgh, then expanding it into a two-act and performing the show for a month in London along with Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson.
“On the back of Homer Simpson, you could wash fruit on stage and people would come,” Rubano said. “It’s insane.”
The same could be said for the show itself.
dholub@durangoherald.com. David Holub is the Arts & Entertainment editor for The Durango Herald.
If you go
“The Bicycle Men,” a musical comedy by John Rubano, Mark Nutter, Dave Lewman and Joe Liss. 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at The Durango Arts Center. Tickets $25, available at DAC box office, online at www.durangoarts.org or by calling 259-2606.
