Rick Miller uses 50 Simpson’s voices in his performance of “MacHomer.”
What do you think would happen if you put “The Simpsons” and Shakespeare in a room together?
Comedian Rick Miller was determined to find the answer, and this prompted his creation of “MacHomer,” a one-person play of MacBeth using 50 character voices from the Simpsons.
“It started with very humble beginnings,” Miller explained. “I was performing in a production of Macbeth in 1994. I created a cast party joke that was trying to make fun of people at first, then that turned into a comedy sketch and I just kept trying to stick with it to make a better and better show.”
Miller’s performance in a production of Macbeth helped serve for inspiration, most specifically from a fellow actor. “The actor playing the role of Macduff has this moment where he discovers that the king is dead,” Miller said. “And he sounded kind of like Barney Gumble. It just started clicking in my head. I guess I realized that the joke of one dysfunctional family doing another dysfunctional family works.”
Since “MacHomer” debuted as a full blown production in 1995, Miller has peformed in roughly 150 cities. “MacHomer” has been met with resounding success, especially among high school students who are either struggling with reading Shakespeare or are simply just not interested.
“One of the reasons I keep doing this show after so many years, is that educationally it opens up Shakespeare in a theater to people who would otherwise never give a damn,” Miller said.
On the MacHomer website, Miller has described the show as 85 percent Shakespeare, and he says that the other 15 percent is composed of “Simpsonisms,” as he calls them.
“I try to flavor it in the way the Simpsons stay quite current with their politics,” Miller said. “I try to spice it up with a little bit of that stuff.”
Performing what is typically a 12-actor Shakespearean play, using 50 different character voices and only one person is not an easy task to accomplish, and realistically it sounds a little crazy. But Miller has been able to create something that is unique and funny, and the visual aspect of the production (with the staging and background) helps make the show so popular.
“I think people most of the time don’t know what to expect and you sort of fall into … ‘ok I’m just wearing one costume,’ said Miller. “But it’s really quite visual and it helps tells the story, [with] all these images are going on in the background that I interact with, so that it really makes you feel like you’re not just watching a guy with a mike on stage, it has a real theater performance. And I think people are surprised by that.”
The surprises don’t end there either, as Miller delivers one of his popular comedic routines of Bohemian Rhapsody, sung by what he considers the 25 most annoying voices in the music industry.
“It has nothing to do with Shakespeare or the Simpsons, but it’s fun,” Miller said. “Pure, gratuitous fun.”
Miller will be performing “MacHomer” at the Quick Center this Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students and $35 for the public.
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