Monday's Easter Bonnet Competition — Page 2

K. So first off, the Company skit was absolutely hysterical. They did "God I Hope I Get It" and other bits from ACL, with Zach as John Doyle. But they changed the lyrics to like "How many trumpets does he need" and stuff like that. Angel Desai did the "4 foot 10" bit, but changed the lyrics to "Violin, violin. saxophone and other winds. why does every asian kid learn to play the violin?" or something like that. Amy did "Sing!" but about her piano and how she only plays one thing and sings operatically. Basically it was just hysterical, especially when Barbara (as the Sheila character) left the stage and the director's voice said "Why are you leaving the stage Barbara?"...she played the note on her triangle and said "Cause I play...NOTHING" in tune to "Nothing". Then she came back wearing the bonnet and said "Does anyone still wear a hat?" And that was the end. Basically, you need to see a video of it to get the full effect...*cough cough* Craig?

So next, Julia Murney didn't sing. The whole joke for the opening of the show was the two guys from "title of show" deciding what they would do. At one point, one of them says "What if we had Julia Murney rise out of the stage and sing a power ballad", which of course is going on as they are saying it. The trap door in the stage rises with Julia on it, ready to sing, when the other guy is like "NO, THAT'S BEEN DONE!" So then the trap door descends with Julia on it (she having been on stage for like 10 seconds) and she never gets to sing. It was pretty funny if you were there to see it.

And finally, The Drowsy Chaperone skit. Essentially the spoofed the opening of Drowsy where Man in Chair sits in the darkness and talks about waiting in the dark before a show. But, the scenario here is that they are waiting for auditions to begin for the recasting of Janet van de Graaf. So 4 people come in to audition for the part because they are looking for a triple threat. First up is Grizabella who sings the first line of "Show Off" as though it were "Memory". Next is Lestat who doesn't even get to start singing because "we all know how that ends" lol. Then comes the one of the little old ladies from The Producers who continues to sing Show Off. Finally it's Queen Elizabeth from the Pirate Queen who sings part of Show Off in her really high squeaky operatic voice. It was hysterical. Finally they decide to cast JoAnn Worley because she can swing her pearls around her neck. This skit wasn't as funny as the others, but still a good effort. PHEW, that was a long post!

EDIT: From Mint's post above...I believe the lyrics were "Winds and Brass". Her last line was something like "Played the bingo bongo drums. And of course I play 6 more. If winds and brass will get me jobs, I'll be a John Doyle whore."

Updated On: 4/24/07 at 03:18 PM

bjh, you obviously know more about chorus line than i do :) i only saw chorus line once (the revival)... and aren't familiar with most of the songs.

but i thoroughly enjoyed the company's parody of it.

As someone mentioned, I'm curious as to why Mary Poppins and Tarzan did not perform skits.

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Also Mint, how funny was the Journey's End skit? Other than Company, I thought it was the best one, just because it's clear they know their show is in trouble. Surprisingly, Stark Sands has a pretty decent singing voice.

According to Playbill.com, Journey's End won the best skit!!!! YAY! So happy. Of the 4 singing boys, I thought Stark was actually good, but he didn't get to sing that much (not to mention what a body he has!! WHEW!). The other 3 boys weren't very good though, lol.

Apparently the Jersey Boys touring company won the grand prize for raising the most money, Journey's End won the skit prize, Phantom won the best bonnet, Coast of Utopia won most money raised by a play, and In the Heights won most money raised Off-Broadway. COMPANY wasn't even a runner up in the skits. That makes me sad. Oh well, really happy about Journey's End!!!
Playbill.com Article

Their skit was in response to the TimeOut New York article on 20 dirty secrets about New York theatre. They basically made a list of 5 of their own funny things, I don't remember all of them. But before they got to the list of 5 they basically did their normal routine poking fun. Lines such as "God, if I wanted to be alone I would have just bought a ticket for the balcony to see Company" and "Oh that's my John Lloyd Young alarm clock...his 15 minutes are up" are among the most memorable. I wish I could remember more of them. Mint, help me out?

EDIT: I just remembered another one. One of the TimeOut secrets was that stars don't really eat at their restaraunt choice from the Playbill. Little Sally's response to that was "Although it is true that you are probably more likely to find Donna Murphy at Applebee's than onstage at LoveMusik."

Updated On: 4/24/07 at 05:32 PM

One of the 20 secrets was "see a show early in it's run" becausae seeing a long running show "is like seeing a prostitute at the end of her shift." Little Sally responded, "Well The Producers just closed, it's a good thing we put THAT whore to bed!"

What was the one about Kevin Spacey? So funny!

ETA: So quite a few people already posted this info while I was typing this...sorry about the repeat.

Just got back. Great show!

For anyone interested, the winners were:

3nd runner up: The Lion King
1st runner up: tie between Hairspray and In the Heights
Winner: Journey's End. I was very happy, they definitely deserved it. if nothing else, Hugh coming out in the towel *def* put them over the top.

One lyric I particularly remember is to the tune of Big Girls Don't Cry, they sang "Straight plays don't sell."

Phantom won best bonnet, and for the first time ever a touring company raised the most money..the touring company of Jersey Boys.

re: the company skit. Apparently Fred Rose did the voice of John Doyle. In addition to things mentioned, the voice asked them to do some crazy things like hunch over and do some sort of F-sharp thing with the flute, and to do a flip into a split and blast a trumpet note.

There was also a line I loved about they were used to getting no credit being musicians, but look at them now.

They ended with One with different lyrics. The skit was written by Fred and Amy.

Did Officer Lockstock make an appearance yesterday or just today? I think I missed them being at a monday show last time. They came on before the finale to discuss and bitch about time out ny's article about 10 dirtiest theatre secrets...took the usual jabs, said its their jobs to make fun, and came up with 5 of their own dirty secrets.

My favorite line of theirs, or at least the one that stuck with me:
Sally: Obvious jab at Pirate Queen not being open in 2008
Officer Lockstock: No, I'm sure Marc Kudisch will still be around.

That one probably stuck with me because it took me a minute to get it.

Oh, and I loved a moment in Hairspray when the storyteller stepped out of character to say everyone's not happy, the Lion King robbed Hairspray of best kit at Gypsy of the Year...how many times does Lion King have to do a heartfelt dance, and imitated them and stuff. I kinda thought she had a point, so I found that particularly funny.

Ooh, also loved Hunter's vision in the opening of being a "manwhich" while grinding between Cheyenne Jackson and Barrett Foa.

And I also thought Spamalot's skit was pretty cool--they performed Witch Village/Burn her, apparently a cut scene/song out of town. Obviously, was the witch scene from the movie, and it was really cool to have Steve Rosen sing it, as it was mostly designated for him. The spamalot orchestra came over to play as well.

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Updated On: 4/24/07 at 05:47 PM

I know Mint, I was sad. Yeah wickedrent, thanks for the additional Journey's End lyric. I remember that while I was watching it, that skit was right up there with something Alessandrini would for Forbidden Broadway. It was so funny. Also, Lockstock and Little Sally did appear yesterday as well. And I had forgotten about the Marc Kudisch joke, that one got a huge laugh from the audience.

Hah, those descriptions just gave me yet another reason to love the Company cast. I'm sad they didn't win!

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Oh man, I don't remember the set up to that joke, Mint. But I do remember that one of the 5 secrets that Lockstock gave was "Being in the original cast of The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee is the most rewarding job on Broadway." Little Sally responded "Yeah, until you are F-I-R-E-D!"

No, Little Sally said "Nope, Roxie" today.

Anyone remember the other lyrics for Journey's End's skit?

"Anyone remember the joke Lockstock & Sally said about Kevin Spacey? I know the punchline was something with him looking for his cell phone in Central Park but what was the set-up? "

I know Little Sally said something to the effect of "there's nothing wrong with being small." Lockstock responded with "Yes, that's what Kevin Spacey said to me last night while I was helping him find his cell phone in Central Park." But I don't remember Little Sally's line that set it up. I do remember afterwards Sally saying something like "Speaking of long-winded revivals".