In spite of a rave review in the Austin Chronicle, we neglected to see last year's multi-nominated production, At Home With Dick. T'was a shame, so we were pleased to learn we'd get the chance to experience the Dick Price phenomenon after all. The boys at Rubber Repertory have once again palled up with Austin's master of the whippy-quick ditty to deliver an all-new musical treat to eager audiences.

In case you missed the boat last time around, the gist of the show is simple. Dick Price, songwriter extraordinaire, with just one CD in production but the online release of a new song daily, opens his Hyde Park apartment to anyone willing to pick-a-price ($10-$25) to come on in, grab a beer, have a seat, and listen to him play and chat for about 90 minutes. That sums it up completely.

Or does it? The skeptic in us thought, "Yeah, okay. A kind of weird dude plays a bunch of kind of funny songs for a kind of long time." That couldn't be further from the truth. Price is a uniquely charming, gifted pianist who has the ability to churn out a seemingly endless string of catchy melodies. He's so personable, and every song is so listenable, that time spent in his company flies by, and by the end of the evening you won't want to leave. The night we attended, after final applause, everyone sat and sort of...blinked at Price, unwilling to come to that unspoken agreement to get up and shuffle out. Price finally said, "Uh, I guess I could play last year's show...." He was kidding, but I believe we'd have all gladly sat for another 90 minutes and let him do just that, had he been game.

For At Home With Dick 2, the evening has a somber, intensely auto-biographical theme: Price's experience dealing with his father's descent into Alzheimer's and eventual death in a nursing home. Sounds depressing, but it's not. Rather, it makes for a moving and remarkably thorough musical exploration of the loss of a parent to mental disease. It was familiar territory to us, having been through something similar with a grandparent, and we were touched and, frankly, impressed by all the ground Price covered: the guilt-ridden frustration of dealing with a demented person, the painful awareness of a loved one's loss of dignity, the embarrassed amusement at an octogenarian’s resurgent sexual desire, the revulsion of visiting a nursing home for the first time...the list goes on.

Price sings about this and more with naked appeal and disarmingly candid humor. Some of the saddest things in life can also be the funniest, a truism that Price exploits with freshness and honesty. And wow, can the man play the keyboard. Each song was full, rich, and singable from the first note. In one of the many delightful moments of the evening, Price asked the audience to sing along as we made our way from one room to the next. In a testament to just how awesome Austin theatre-goers are, every single person (all 17 of us) chimed in immediately. It even took Price aback just a bit, prompting him to make a crack about having a choir for an audience. It exemplified just how easy it is to slip right into a Dick Price tune.

With all its attendant hype, At Home With Dick 2 has a lot to live up to, and it doesn't disappoint. As with the last production, tickets are going fast -- sometimes in blocks of 10 or more (which is more than half the house) -- so get in while the getting is good. This is one you do not want to miss.

At Home With Dick 2
Th/Fr/Sa thru Oct 28
Dick's Apartment in Hyde Park [map]
8pm
[Tickets]

Header (c) Rubber Repertory.