Fully Committed extended

The Sacramento Theatre Company is extending actor Matt Miller’s popular one-man comedy Fully Committed and is postponing the planned January engagement of another one-man show, But First, Sammy Shore.Fully Committed is coming off a successful 10-week run, which originally was to have concluded January 5. The script, by Becky Mode, depicts the hectic day of a reservations specialist at a highly fashionable upscale restaurant. He handles a barrage of high-pressure phone calls from wealthy socialites (who are accustomed to getting their way) while also dealing with demands from the restaurant’s management and staff, unexpected messages from family members, and an emergency cleanup in the ladies’ restroom upstairs. Miller plays all the characters, about 40 in all, and races around the stage for most of the show’s 75 minutes.

Fully Committed will resume its run on January 9 and continue through January 19. Shows are at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the STC’s Stage Two, 1419 H Street. Tickets are $16-$32, and group, student and senior discounts are available. The box-office number is 443-6722.

But First, Sammy Shore had been scheduled to come to Sacramento from January 10 to January 24. The show, which has been running in Los Angeles venues for several years, is described as a humorous, largely autobiographical piece featuring Shore, a 70-something comedian who founded the Comedy Store and opened for Elvis and other entertainers during the course of his long career. More recently, Shore has enjoyed a sort of parental recognition as the father of actor-comedian Pauly Shore.

But First, Sammy Shore was a last-minute addition to STC’s 2002-2003 season, although it was booked too late to be included in its season brochure. The show was offered as an add-on option to subscribers, but advance ticket sales for Shore’s mid-January run were obscured by the buzz surrounding six very popular December shows—the STC’s Fully Committed and Cinderella, the B Street Theatre’s Copenhagen (which was so popular that even Mayor Heather Fargo had trouble getting tickets), the Delta King’s A Christmas Carol Continued, Foothill Theatre’s A Christmas Story and the Broadway Series’ Blast—all of which played to capacity audiences most nights. Ultimately, STC artistic director Peggy Shannon apparently decided to bank on the established popularity of Fully Committed rather than try to build a new audience for Shore’s show over the course of a 14-day run.