Sonny and Cher Show At SPAC Seen Uneven

by Bill Rice, The Troy Record, August 29, 1972

At first glance there isn’t an awful lot most men would admire in Sonny Bono. He isn’t tall, he isn’t handsome, he doesn’t sing very well, alone, and he isn’t very funny.

But just remind the boys he is married to Cher Bono, and watch them turn green with envy. The pair put on two shows at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Monday, and the combination of their singing and deadpan comedy sold out the amphitheater for both performances. We attended the afternoon show which saw about 8,000 in attendance.

When Cher first strode out onto the stage, her paper-thin figure was poured into a sleek, golden gown with a flair in the bottom that made her look like some gorgeous black-haired mermaid. Sonny? Now let’s see … what did he have on? Later in the show Cher appeared in a dazzling white outfit with a bare midriff, touched off with frills and a daring slit in the gown, with earrings you could toss a baseball through. Sonny changed once too. I think he came out in something brown

Familiar Routines

The two pretty much followed the routines made familiar to audiences on television. In between songs, of which there were not that many, they took turns tossing insults at each other, with Sonny usually coming out the loser. At one point when he was attempting a stint on his own, Cher sat behind him on a stool making funny signs, fussing with her fingernails, whistling and tossing out some rather inane Italian ethnic jokes. Most of these interludes were too long and drawn out and, from our point of view, only mildly funny.

The most noteworthy thing we could find about Sonny’s voice was that it sounds so much like his wife’s. He has picked up that little characteristic she has of sliding off of any note that has a duration of a beat or more. But then Sonny isn’t trying to kid anybody about his voice or his masculine appeal. Part of his routine is a comic comparison between himself and singers like Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck.

Some of the songs they did get to were The Beat Goes On, United We Stand, Can’t Live Without You, You’ve Got A Friend (one of Cher’s best renditions), and Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling. Also, of course, were the really big ones, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, The Way of Love, and A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done.

Questionable Material

At the risk of sounding prudish we think some of Sonny and Cher’s comedy routine was more suited for a nightclub act rather than a live concert, with so many youngsters in attendance.

We can laugh at an off-color joke as much as the next person, and some of the funniest things in their act were in this vein, but then many in the audience were early teenagers or younger.

Things were not terribly out of taste, and granted many things said probably went over the heads of most of the younger audience, but there was some that obviously didn’t. The time schedule of Sonny and Cher’s sex life is not something we think should be of concern to any youngster of ours.

With less hemming and hawing around—and more singing—the Sonny and Cher special could have been much better. But then you can’t blame anyone for doing whatever has brought them the most success.

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