The nightclub meets the big top on Friday, when the sad clown with the golden voice takes the stage at the Vic Theatre. Beginning in 2013, Puddles Pity Party has built a tremendous international audience through a series of repeat-worthy YouTube videos. Puddles’ signature tunes include captivating and melodramatic covers of Lorde’s “Royals,” David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and a “smoosh-up” of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”
The man behind the makeup, “Big Mike” Geier, has worked as an arguably more conventional frontman for projects including the group Kingsized, an Atlanta-based fixture that continues to pack an annual Elvis Presley benefit concert and memorial celebration. Geier’s full-bodied baritone lends gravitas to powerful Presley crooners like “Suspicious Minds” and “In the Ghetto.” Geier’s mere presence adds to the tone as well, standing 6’8” barefoot and bald.
In his guise as Puddles, Geier keeps to the code and never speaks to the crowd, communicating instead through a mixture of clown craft and mime. The show is nonetheless a highly interactive affair. A bit with a telephone prop may lead into a cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Telephone Line,” with Puddles encouraging patrons to join the song’s gibberish chorus. Members of the audience may be found on stage a half-dozen times during the evening, coerced into performing themselves. Fans have sung karaoke to Eric Carmen’s forlorn ballad “All By Myself” and joined Puddles for a mid-show coffee break.
Puddles’ performances aren’t copycat efforts. This clown is a gifted interpreter and song stylist, with the ability to breathe fresh excitement into familiar material. In addition to the grassroots attention garnered via YouTube, Puddles’ visibility received a substantial boost with a breathtaking performance of Sia’s “Chandelier” during the 2017 season of “America’s Got Talent.” The bravura turn brought a potentially jaded theater crowd to its feet as the melancholy clown channeled his heartbreak into determination, before departing into the night with his suitcase full of Kleenex.
Many will gather in the Vic’s lobby after the show, where Puddles habitually meets his beloved supporters. Geier’s character has a heart of gold in addition to his 24-karat voice, meeting fans and bidding farewell with his offer of “Free Puddles Cuddles.”
* Puddles Pity Party, 7:30 p.m. Mar. 23, Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield, $35-$55 (all ages admitted); ticketfly.com.
Jeff Elbel is a local freelance writer.
