Shatner’s World @ The Music Box Theatre - 2.19.12

“I don’t want to be known just as Captain Kirk, I WANT TO BE KNOWN AS… A HORSE LOVER!,” is something William Shatner was trying to say during Shatner’s World, a 100+ minute monologue plumbing the depths of his life and his lust for horses.

Shit My Dad Says superfans (Shit-heads?) should stay far away from the TKTS booth for this one—he never mentions that awful show!  And if you come expecting to hear Star Trek yarns, it’s not really happening either. Shatner’s World is geared more to William Shatner generalists—people who want to know completely random stuff about him, like, what it’s like to pass a kidney stone while doubled over Candice Bergen’s desk on the set of Boston Legal. Also: how William Shatner squeezes semen from his prized American Saddlebred stallions on his horse farm. He goes into pretty graphic detail on that one.  You also learn how he came to understand manhood, freedom and death (via a horse!). 

Midway during a story about the time he fell off a horse, I double checked my Playbill to make sure this wasn’t a preview for Equus 2: The Sequel No One Asked For.  

I was expecting a victory lap with this and Mr. Shatner comes off too apologetic—he spends more time than necessary on the B-sides of his career i.e. his recent spoken word albums and all the horse business.  For what it’s worth, Weird Al Yankovic can teach a PHD program in how a showbiz survivor can send an audience away thinking he’s the only person in the world who matters: I would’ve liked Shatner to own his greatness in that way rather than watch him panic over only being known for certain roles this late in the game.  It was a fine enough show, but it’d behoove Mr. Shatner to pony up deeper, more crowd pleasing material when he trots this off Broadway.  

Shatner’s World runs through March 4th at the Music Box theatre before going on a 15-city U.S. tour.