Sensitive, not gay
By Betty Mohr
Daily Southtown theater critic

Paul Stroili is a sensitive guy who knows how to mix and match colors, how to choose fabrics and how to decorate an apartment tastefully. So when Stroili's wife told him that, "You're like a gay friend I can have sex with," it hit a nerve that became the stimulus for his hilarious one-man show "Straight Up With a Twist," now playing at the Lakeshore Theater.

In this laugh-a-minute show, Stroili - an actor who was seen in the original cast of "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding" a few years ago in Chicago -acknowledges that although he knows how to select wines, how to fold fitted sheets and has some traits that some may consider feminine, he's really a heterosexual male who goes for women.

Referring to himself as a "Renaissance geek," he worries about being mistaken for gay and goes to great comic lengths to set everyone straight in this autobiographical look back at growing up as a sensitive guy.

In this hilarious 90-minute frolic, directed by Bill Penton, Stroili follows in the footsteps of other one-man shows that focus on gender-bending satirical insights such as Rob Becker's "Defending the Caveman" and Robert Dubac's "The Male Intellect."

Playing an array of characters, Stroili portrays his mother as a tough, chain-smoker who makes fun of what she thinks is her son's eccentric behavior. Then he steps into the role of his mild, soft-spoken Italian-immigrant father who is at a loss to explain his son's unusual interests.

Stroili also transforms himself into a psychiatrist who is nuttier than his patients, and into his super-macho brother who can't figure out his brother's feminine side.

While Stroili's 1½-hour show is, for the most part, filled with witty jokes and funny sketches, there are a few moments of self-revealing truths that for him seem a bit painful in the telling. For instance, he says that women find a sensitive man a great friend in private, but a sensitive man in public is embarrassing.

Moreover, Stroili isn't all that happy to note that a woman will be happy to be chums with a sensitive guy, but it's the macho rugby player she'll sleep with every time.

If you love the Frasier Crane TV character, know a sensitive guy, or are yourself a sensitive guy, you're going to have a wonderful time laughing at Stroili's stereotype-busting "Straight Up With a Twist."