William Shatner surely has great stories about his life. Too bad he's not willing to share many of them. Not that "Shatner's World: We Just Live in It," the one-man show he performed Thursday night at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, was short on time or energy.

Shatner, who turns 81 next week, stayed on stage for nearly two hours, dancing between bits, popping in and out of a swivel chair apparently borrowed from the set of "The Voice" and exercising those legendary pipes with such zeal, guests at the hotel across the street just might have heard the show for free.

The problem was the material. Shatner may delight in telling stories about chasing a rat during a camping trip, the making of an obscure TV movie "Alexander the Great" or his fascination with horses, but he could have swapped out such trivia for some more dirt on "Star Trek," the series that put him on the map.

Shatner only referred to the series a few times, never with much enthusiasm or detail. He also sped through tales about playing "Boston Legal's" Denny Crane, the role that won him two Emmys, and never mentioned "T.J. Hooker," which was a mistake, at least based on the audience's giddy reaction when a photo of the show appeared on a giant video screen.

Most glaring was how little time Shatner devoted to the dark years after "Star Trek" when he was broke and couldn't find work. That chapter is boiled down into a cutesy tale about a little neighbor boy thinking his RV was a spaceship.

There were moments of genuine revelation, especially early in the show, when he talked lovingly about his dad's love of vaudeville and his mother's wicked sense of humor. A story about how he turned a stage production of "The World of Suzie Wong" from a flop drama to a hit comedy simply by yelling the dialogue was a hoot, as was a tale about doing live TV with a scatterbrained Lon Chaney, Jr.

But as the evening went on, Shatner became more and more self-indulgent, obsessed with his own mortality. The show, which had a short run on Broadway before heading out on this 15-city tour, leaves little room for impromptu or interaction.

A Q&A session wouldn't have hurt, and Shatner could have strayed off-script long enough to recognize that when honoring pal Christopher Plummer he should mention his recent Oscar win or when telling a story about Tyrone Guthrie, he should take advantage of making the Minneapolis connection.

The production ended on some sour notes as Shatner spent way too much time talking about his "singing" career, although his explanation of how his "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" became a national joke was amusing. For the finale, Shatner performed a song written for him by Brad Paisley called "Real."

Too bad it wasn't real enough.

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