DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997           TAG: 9702270073

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Theater Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

``CAVEMAN'' BECKER'S HAS TRYING TIMES ON OPENING NIGHT

ON OPENING NIGHT, Rob Becker had to contend with two obvious problems as he set about defending the caveman: (1) a hall that is much too large to hospitably house a one-man show and (2) an apparent raspy, hoarse voice. He was not wholly successful in overcoming either obstacle.

Indeed, the voice problems sometimes made him painful to hear and raised the question if he was going to make it through the one hour and 44 minute (no intermission) show. Becker's evening-long journey through the battle of the sexes is occasionally hilarious but never settled to the comfortable, spontaneous level it had in the smaller theater on Broadway. It seemed carefully rehearsed and wasn't going to budge an iota, even for missed lighting cues or unpredictable audience reactions. The laughter wasn't canned, but the performance was.

Perhaps ``Defending the Caveman'' has become too successful for its own good. Perhaps its star is doing too much publicity for his own good - and quoting his show's material too widely. Much of the material, which has been running for two years on Broadway, seems overly familiar and utterly predictable. Everyone else is stealing his act, from books that proclaim men are from one planet and women from another to stand-up comics who seemed obsessed about whether toilet seats are left up or down.

Becker, though, is an ingratiating presence, and he's right on target in many of his anecdotes. Entering in T-shirt and baggy jeans, he's the Everyman slouch that guys should be glad to have defend them. The guy's been there and he's ready to remind us. He reminds us of how women are gatherers (particularly in shopping malls) and men are hunters. Men want to focus on one project at a time. Women want to see the overall picture.

Take the power tool - the remote control. A man goes hunting with it. A woman stops at each channel - to gather information.

``Defending the Caveman'' is best when it concerns the battle of the sexes but, clearly, Becker deftly walks a precarious tightrope. He doesn't want to antagonize either side - at least not permanently. He wants his show to be healing and revelatory. The healing is turned on full blast in the last 10 minutes, but the show is funniest when it's emphasizing the differences.

It's questionable, though, if $35, plus a service charge, isn't a bit steep for a one-man show in a 2,000-plus seat hall. Microphones, a necessary evil, are at least somewhat unobtrusive. The stone-cave living room set for the Broadway show, has been replaced by a cheap double backdrop of cave drawings.

Becker is howlingly on target much of the evening. It's just that his material is getting a little stale. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

HUY NGUYEN

The Virginian-Pilot

Rob Becker's one-man show seemed to lack spontaneity.

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