Last Night the Songs From Boogie Nights Were Performed. Rollergirl Was in Effect

Kai Flanders

Last night a lavish postmodern public masturbation session went down at the Rockwell in Los Feliz, with a full cast performing the movie music of director Paul Thomas Anderson. The show, titled For the Record: Boogie Nights, also featured music from other Anderson films including Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and the hilarious baptismal scene from There Will Be Blood.

Though the show quickly ventured into costumed disco fun, it began on a serious note with songs from Magnolia. For those who aren't familiar with Anderson's work, many consider this to be his grand opus of sorts; it's a somber flick that deals with issues like drug addiction, sexual abuse, unrequited homosexual love and cancer. But it's also got one hell of a soundtrack, bolstered by the heart-wrenching Aimee Mann songs "Wise Up" and "One". (Magnolia actually becomes a musical of sorts for a moment when the cast randomly bursts into "Wise Up.") But...

...last night's directors Shane Scheel and Anderson Davis interspersed enough of the film's comedic moment's -- Tom Cruise's character screaming "Respect the cock! Tame the cunt!" -- for the audience not to want to get open a vein in the restroom.

Kai Flanders

Dirk and Rollergirl get it on.

Kai Flanders

The lonely cuckold

But the real fun began after the frogs had fallen from the sky (Magnolia fans will understand) and they broke out the bell-bottoms. The Rockwell is an intimate dinner theater so the revue was preformed all around the room, with Juliette Goglia -- playing Rollergirl -- skating past folks' tables. The set list was full of classics like "Boogie Shoes," "You Sexy Thing," "Sister Christian" and the finale "God Only Knows."

"Fooled Around and Fell In Love" was one of the most sexual things I've ever seen preformed onstage, complete with a couple (perhaps unintentional) nipple-slips. Also the mostly shirtless actors made me feel extremely inadequate about my own body. The acting was solid last night, with each performer playing multiple rolls. Derek Ferguson is a dead ringer for Dirk Diggler. He has the ditzy self-confidence down to a tee -- Eddie Adams from Torrance really believed he was a big, bright shining star.

Sure, it's more of us patting ourselves on the back in Hollywood and playing around in art we've already created postmodern love children, but For the Record is a good time. It's well-acted, funny, touching at moments, and you get to go: Oh, I love that part of this movie in your own head about 80 times.