By Jenny Sandman

Zachary Oberzan in Rambo Solo

You don't have to be a fan of the Rambo movies or of Sylvester Stallone to enjoy Rambo Solo, but it certainly helps as this is a one-man homage to Rambo: First Blood, the movie adaptation of the pulp novel starring Stallone. You never knew there was a novel version, did you? Neither did Zachary Oberzan's character, until he fell in love with the movie as an eleven-year-old and subsequently discovered the paperback in his local grocery store. It was the beginning a life-long obsession with the story.

Oberzan describes the events of the book, as compared to the events and depictions in the movie, in an eerily accurate Stallone impression. Backing him are three separate movie screens, each showing a very slightly different filming of Oberzan relaying the same words and actions in his 220-square-foot Manhattan loft studio. Most of the charm of this piece derives from the dichotomy between live Oberzan and filmed Oberzan (times three). Each movie version has him with slightly different facial hair, with slightly different movements, with slightly different timing. For example, turning on a light might have a one-second delay across the three screens. To keep up with the various home movies, Oberzan takes his cues from an earpiece.

The show is a literal blow-by-blow retelling of the story, complete with many vacant pauses——an "uh, " "um" or "you know" can turn into a hilarious moment, as you can almost see Oberzan's fanatic fan brain whirring along at high speed, often getting ahead of his tongue. Only a true fanatic would find value in telling us the entire story of Rambo, and his fan love is evident and abundant. Overall, it's whimsical, with several moments of unrestrained laughter.

Things do drag a bit between the laugh-out-loud sections. The best part c comes at the very end, with a fake movie trailer for Oberzan's very real movie homage, entitled Flooding With Love for the Kid (taken from the last line of the book and available as a $10 DVD). In the film Oberzan plays all the characters, complete with costumes and fake moustaches, and again shoots the entire story again within the confines of his studio. It's a sort of extended version of the one-man show. Since Oberzan's doofy characterization begins to wear thin after the first hour, so Rambo Solo would be better if he had heeded the maxim about brevity being the soul of wit.

SoHo Rep's familiar layout has been completely turned around in a very amusing way, but the seating is not the most comfortable. You sit on pillows scattered across a thick shag rug (a few chairs are available if needed), so dress appropriately. These caveats and quibbles aside, Peter Nigrini's design and video are first-rate, as are co-directors Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Nature Theater of Oklahoma is one of New York's hottest avant-garde troupes, and this is a one-of-a-kind show.

Rambo Solo Conceived and directed by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper Featuring Zachary Oberzan Design and Video: Peter Nigrini Running Time: 85 minutes with no intermission Nature Theater of Oklahoma at SoHo Rep, 46 Walker Street; 212-352-3101 Tickets $25 Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 pm; no performance on Sunday, March 22 March 19 —— April 19 Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on March 21st performance

REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C" I agree with the review of Rambo Solo I disagree with the review of Rambo Solo The review made me eager to see Rambo Solo Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. You can also contact us at Curtainup at Facebook or Curtainup at Twitter