By William Loeffler
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Every so often, the arts world is blessed with that rare performer whose transfixing talent and charisma can make plaster cherubs sigh with rapture.
Pittsburgh will have to settle for Eric Idle.
The comic, singer, composer, actor and recovering Monty Python alumnus brings his silliness to the Byham Theater on Nov. 11. The show is part of Idle's "Greedy Bastard Tour 2003." Pittsburgh audiences can look forward to "Another stupid evening ..." of classic Monty Python skits, new comedy and "very, very rude songs," according to Idle's Web site, www.pythononline.com. The site encourages audience members to "dress strangely" for the show.
Idle also will perform in the guises of several of his famous alter egos, including Sir Dirk McQuickly, the bassist and founder of the Rutles, a "Pre-Fab Four" which Idle conceived as a parody of a minor pop group from Liverpool that featured his good friend, the late George Harrison.
Perhaps he might even perform "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life," the song he wrote for the biblical sendup film "Monty Python's Life of Brian," and which he sang while hanging from a cross.
