Longer reviews to follow (yeah, right):
I saw two shows this week, The Musical of Musicals: The Musical! and the ever popular WYSIWYG.
TMoM:TM! was fun. Not unlike Forbidden Broadway, it really helps if you are familiar with the shows/composers being parodied. The basic plot of the show is written around the proscenium: "I can't pay the rent. You must pay the rent. I can't pay the rent. You must pay the rent. I'll pay the rent." Good old-fashioned melodrama. This plot is run five times, parodying the style of Rodgers & Hammerstein (Corn), Stephen Sondheim (A Little Complex), Jerry Herman (Dear Abby), Andrew Lloyd Webber (Aspects of Junita) and Kander & Ebb (Speakeasy).
The jokes were hit and miss, but they were constant. If something didn't work, there was a joke right behind it that would. But more often than not, the jokes worked.
Well, that's enough for now. Go see it. And buy the album. It's worth the ticket price.
And WYSIWYG . . . dear, sweet WYSIWYG. What is there to say? Like pizza and sex, even if it isn't great, it's still pretty darn good. Luckily, this was great. Frank, as expected, did a swell job and provided the winning I'll-never-get-that-out-of-my-head phrase "Make a mess for Daddy". Carolyn was freaking hilarious and didn't give birth live onstage (and thank goodness, because how could you follow that?). Jon Collins, who despite being on livejournal is still pretty cool, told an amusing tale that had something to do with homoeroticism among half-naked straight boys. I kind of drifted off into an A&F inspired "daydream" after that, but I'm sure the rest of it was good, too. Chris, as usual, gave good blog and used my second favorite line of the night "Bitch done fucked with my cats!" Dashiell won me over by bringing props (an Axis & Allies game). David had a tale of a straight roomie who turned uncomfortably bi-curious. And Rachel took the high road and told about the best roommate ever. All in all, despite the worst fucking seating in the whole wide world (which wasn't their fault), it was a great time.
My next three shows are this weekend. Two staged readings at the Public Theater (Short Eyes and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel) and The Bubble, a new gay play that I know almost nothing about.
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4 comments:
Oh, dear. Go away, spammer!
Byrne, I'm so glad you had fun, and I'm sorry about the seating. If it's any consolation, we should have the regular chairs back next month. I can't tell you how much I appreciate our audience's willingness to endure torturous ass pain to see us!
Chris: I'm sure there's a joke about ass pain and gay men, but I'm too tired to look for it.
Mark: Yep. I'm waiting for a chance to use that. I also like the Andrew Lloyd Webber jokes "The audience applauds the scene change." "The audience applauds out of habit."
Turns out my friend English David, who I went to the show with, is friends with the guy who wrote it. We got to hang out with him a bit after the show. Funny guy.
I'm going to see "M of M" this week in Philly - sounds great
I saw M of M back when it was at the York Theater and I made an ass of myself laughing so loudly. At one point I was tickled by either an obscure or painfully obvious joke and burst out with this huge laugh in an otherwise silent audience. The actor on stage even acknowledged my outburst.
I've gotta get me to WYSIWYG one of these days.
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