Theater Review : ‘What Happens’ When Turnbull Gets Sentimental

In Mark Turnbull’s first one-man show at the Way Off Broadway Playhouse last April, the spotlight was sharply on himself. This time around, the local troubadour shifted the focus to illuminate a somewhat bigger picture.

In fact, during the second act at Saturday night’s performance of his new show, “Mark Turnbull--The Music of What Happens,” he had the house lights raised and asked members of the audience to toss out topics that affect them directly.

Whereas last year he talked about his uneven days as a poet, songwriter, singer and jazz guitarist, he reflects on the eclectic in this often-spontaneous show.

In a relaxed, two-hour excursion, Turnbull touched on, among other things, life under a Newt Gingrich cloud, trying to find peace of mind in a TV-drugged society and the kick of collecting baseball cards.

He sang too. His mostly delicate compositions reflected on love, joy, children, parents and whatever else tickled him or the crowd during the evening. It was a freewheeling, mostly formless experience thick with puns (some good, others dreadful), but also earnest and entertaining.

Anyone who saw “Mark Turnbull and Friends--A One-Man Show,” knows this about him: He began his career with much promise.

As a junior at Newport Harbor High School in the late ‘60s, Turnbull composed a Grammy-nominated children’s album for Disney called “A Happy Birthday Party With Winnie the Pooh.” The next year, he recorded his first adult record, “Portrait of the Young Artist,” for Reprise Records. Fame and fortune looked like a decent bet, but they never happened. Not to worry, though; as Turnbull points out these days, his life worked out nicely.

It’s obvious how much Turnbull enjoys performing, and how he sees the experience as creating “a sanctuary” for himself and listeners. With such intimacy in mind, he opened with an explanation of the show’s title. It comes from an old Irish fable that poses the question: “Which music is the most beautiful?” An ancient chieftain had to settle the argument, Turnbull recounted, and his answer was “The music of what happens,” meaning the music that describes and measures our lives.

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To illustrate, Turnbull started off with the lilting “Let Go of That Thing,” a comic plea to quit worrying and start having fun. The wry “Ain’t That Neat” told about apparently ill-matched but steadfast lovers. “Baseball Cards,” which fit like a batting glove when someone bemoaned the baseball strike, showed the pleasure Turnbull finds in a piece of cardboard with Tony Kubek’s picture on it.

All of this was very sentimental, but not hard to like. Besides, Turnbull interrupted his own observations with those from a gleaming list of literary, artistic and intellectual stars. Shakespeare, Carl Jung, Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, Colette, Jean Cocteau and others spiced the evening.

Turnbull didn’t take himself too seriously, which also helped. When he quoted Colette, it just about summed up his own philosophy at center stage: “Do something stupid,” he said, grinning hugely, “but do it with enthusiasm!”

* “Mark Turnbull--The Music of What Happens,” a one-man show, plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. at the Way Off Broadway Playhouse, 1058 E. 1st St., Santa Ana. $15. Ends Feb. 11. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes. (714) 547-8997.