Louis Mustillo, a veteran character actor ("High Incident"), comes from a bartending family and has spent time behind "the stick" himself. He puts his twin talents to good use in Bartenders, a one hour monologue comprising five sharply etched portraits of modern-day barkeeps. Mustillo uses his strong voice and moon-shaped but expressive face to bring these different barmen to life. One is a colorful, slangy New Yorker who loves working at a businessman's bar where a choice quip and a flattering remark produce regular and generous tips; another is a lonely, drunken oldtimer who was ditched by his wife because he was content to keep tending bar for a living.
Vignette No. 3 features a manager giving a rookie bartender a lesson in how to do his job; the information contained amounts to a crash-course in the trade which is as entertaining as it is edifying. You care about bartenders by the time Mustillo gets done portraying them, if only because of the many problems they face: drugs and booze (coke is the big enemy), dead-beat tippers, undercover snoops, long hours, bad backs and lousy pay. Next time I climb on a bar stool I will look at the man or woman serving me with new eyes and respect
