Troupe Hits, Misses in Parodies of Politics and Pop Culture

By MALCOLM VENABLE

By Malcolm Venable

The Virginian-Pilot

MATT GROENING, the creator of “The Simpsons,” has often said that his TV show rewards people for paying attention. You could say the same for the Capitol Steps.

The comedic troupe, like the animated show, stuffs its remakes of familiar tunes from the American songbook with references to politics and pop culture; you won’t get them if you’re not keeping up with the news.

Capitol Steps is like “The Simpsons” for the theater set.

They sold out the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach on Sunday night – at the same time, ironically, that the landmark, 20-year-old “Simpsons” cartoon made its season premiere. The Cap Steps, with no animation or celebrity voice guest – just five people, cheap goofy costumes and a pianist – had its audience howling with laughter.

“Obama Mia,” the first skit, was set to the music of “Mamma Mia!” It was about the infatuation of the news media with the Democratic presidential nominee. The actor playing John McCain hobbled out, doing all he could to get the attention of the media, saying the job of president was on his “bucket list.”

Another bit played off the gaffes of Bill Clinton as he was campaigning for his wife. Hillary and Bill, as Shakespear ean actors, were giving monumental soliloquies when out comes the Shakespear ean Barack Obama. “You’re still here?” he asked to one or both of them.

President George W. Bush was portrayed, somewhat predictably, as a dolt. His monologues included semantic slip-ups such as, “interglobally” and “countries like the Middle East and Africa.”

There were lulls, and sometimes the elements used for caricatures were cliched and strained. Sarah Palin’s shotgun with shells slung over her shoulder, for example, were a bit obvious, and the sight of her shooting a guy in a moose costume would have gotten a gong at a college improv show.

Some of the jokes involving racial humor were wince-inducing: the Mexican in the White House who boasted an impeccable rose garden, or the “Chinese” guys in wigs and speaking what was certainly not Mandarin. They weren’t offensive per se, but they weren’t very funny, which is probably worse.

But the Capitol Steps’ home runs made up for the lags. “FEMA,” where the female singer sauntered out and sang about the failures of the agency to the tune of “Fever,” was a hoot. There was a sketch about an airline called Friendly United – FU Air – charging $1 for three pieces of toilet paper and suggesting passengers take a sip of a Pepsi and pass it down.

Of course, they did their time-honored routine, “Lirty Dies,” wherein the letters of words are flipped around to make words that are nonsensical, yet surprisingly appropriate when describing the bums, louts and scoundrels in government.

Sure, newspapers and nightly news shows don’t have as many eyes as they used to, but the Capitol Steps, with their silly, ribald music and performances, are a treat for staying tuned in.

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com

review

The Capitol Steps, Sunday at The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach

Originally published by BY MALCOLM VENABLE.

(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.