{"id":2185,"date":"2007-05-05T22:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-06T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2007-05-05T22:59:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-06T05:59:00","slug":"if-we-dont-succeed-we-run-the-risk-of-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=2185","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf we don\u2019t succeed, we run the risk of failure…\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a>This evening we returned to the theatre, specifically to the NoHo Arts Center<\/a> (MySpace<\/a>) to see \u201cBush Is Bad: The Musical<\/a>\u201d. This is an interesting musical. It really doesn\u2019t have a coherent plot or direction (much like the Bush administration). There is no story to be told (much like the current administration). In fact its unifying theme is a dislike of the current administration (much in the same way the president is uniting the country… in wishing they had elected someone else). <\/p>\n

\u201cBush is Bad<\/a>\u201d, simply put, is a musical: a collection of songs written to make fun of the current administration (which admittedly isn\u2019t hard to do, but I am pleased that we can still do it). Such musicals rise and fall on the strength of the writing and on the strength of the cast. We\u2019ll cover the cast shortly… what about the music. One can get a taste of that from a listing of the musical numbers (listen to some of the songs<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n
How Can 59 Million People Be So Dumb?
\nAnyone Can Grow Up To Be President
\nGood Conservative Values
\nCrazy Ann COulter
\nMr. Whittington Regrets
\nTorture Has Been Very Good To Me
\nDown in Crawford
\nFair and Balanced
\nOur Job
\nWon\u2019t You Please
\nDas Bush Ist Schlecht
\nThe Gay Agenda<\/td>\n		     <\/td>\nSocial Security Performance Art
\nYou Can Never Have Enough Bush
\nUniter, Not A Divider
\nGet Real
\nCulture of Life
\nScooter Libby, Superstar
\nHeck of a Job
\nCan\u2019t Help Lovin\u2019 That Bush
\nSure, You Betcha, George
\nIn His Own Words
\nWake Me When It\u2019s 2009<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

If you click here<\/a>, you can see some scenes from the New York Production<\/a>. It does appear a CD is available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These numbers serve to skewer a wide variety of topics, people, and positions… from the president himself, to Condi, to Cheny, to Scooter Libby (in a wonderful parody of Jesus Christ Superstar), to Ann Coulter, to Fox News, to Gonzalez, to Rummy. They skewer typical actions, such as the tendance of the president to praise failures for their good jobs, his going on vacation, his misspeaking… and all sorts of conservative positions. The songs were all well written and got their message across with the subtlety of a Viking war hammer. In short: If you would attend a musical with the title \u201cBush Is Bad\u201d, you would like the songs. The musical\u2019s website even gives more links<\/a> on how bad Bush is.<\/p>\n

<\/a>What about the cast? The cast consisted of very strong performers and singers, whom you can see in the image to the right (pictured are, L to R, Michael Lavine, Gerry Mullins, Mai Thompson-Heath, Melanie Ewbank, Sabrina Miller, Michael Craig Shapiro, Roger Ainslie, Stefanie Black, and Jonathan Zenz). You can find even more pictures here<\/a>. The performers consisted of : Roger Ainslie<\/a> (who did a mean Bush impersonation), Stefanie Black<\/a>*<\/sup>, Melanie Ewbank<\/a>*<\/sup>, Michael Lavine<\/a> (Musical Director), Sabrina Miller<\/a>, Gerry Mullins, Mai Thompson-Heath<\/a>, Michael Craig Shapiro<\/a>*<\/sup>, and Jonathan Zenz<\/a>. They were all fun to watch perform (especially the ladies, as three out of the four were zaftig<\/i>, and all were quite beautiful). Ainslie, as noted above, did a great Bush impersonation, and Thompson-Heath was great as Condi.
\n[*<\/sup> indicates Actors Equity<\/a> Members]<\/font><\/p>\n

On the technical side, the set was relatively basic (which is common for a revue). Music consisted of a single piano, on stage. Costumes were a problem, especially for the zaftig ladies–specifically, they were too tight, and in my opinion, a little too short (i.e., I spent too much time enjoying the scenery). But the tightness was the real problem, for often they showed either how they were constructed or what was under the costume. I should note that, except for a few pieces in specific scenes, the costumes consisted of black business suits for the guys, and black slinky short dresses for the ladies. The specific technical credits were: Jay Willick<\/a> (Director), Joshua Rosenblum<\/a> (Composer\/Lyricist\/Creator), Michael Lavine (Music Director), Luke Moyer (Lighting Design), David Matwijkow (Costume Design), Jonathan Zenz (Sound Design), with Curtis C as Assistant Director and Production Stage Manager.<\/p>\n

If you want a musical that makes fun of Shrub, \u201cBush is Bad<\/i>\u201d is worth going to. However, if you want something even more fun, or for additional fun, go see \u201cThe Beastly Bombing<\/a><\/i>\u201d at the Steve Allen Theatre<\/a>. It is currently on hiatus, but will be back in June<\/a>. \u201cBush is Bad<\/i>\u201d appears to be running until the end of June.<\/p>\n

A Dining P.S.<\/b>: I must also recommend the place we found for dinner before the show: Miss Peaches Southern Cuisine<\/a> at 5643 Lankershim Blvd., just above Burbank. Yummy, yummy southern cuisine<\/a>. We\u2019ll be going back there the next time we go to NoHo.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s next on our theatre calendar? For May, I\u2019m still looking for tickets to \u201cDriving Miss Daisy<\/a><\/i>\u201d at REP East<\/a> to show up on Goldstar<\/a> [Update: Now ticketed for 5\/26 @ 8:00p]. We\u2019ll also be attending \u201cThe Wizard of Oz and Then Some<\/i>\u201d at Nobel Middle School<\/a> in Northridge on 5\/31 @ 6:30p, 6\/1 @ 6:30p, and 6\/2 @ 2p and 6:30p (contact me for tickets). Currently ticketed theatre starts back up in June, with \u201cThe Constant Wife<\/a><\/i>\u201d at The Pasadena Playhouse<\/a> on 6\/2 @ 8pm; \u201cSide Show<\/i>\u201d at UCLA Theatre Arts<\/a> on 6\/9 @ 8pm; \u201cThe 25th<\/sup> Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee<\/i><\/a>\u201d through Broadway\/LA<\/a> on 6\/16 @ 2pm. We\u2019re on vacation the end of June in Nashville, and when we return, it is \u201cJersey Boys<\/a><\/i>\u201d at the Ahmanson Theatre<\/a> on 7\/15 @ 7:30pm; \u201cCan-Can<\/a><\/i>\u201d at The Pasadena Playhouse<\/a> on 7\/28 at 8:00pm; \u201cBeauty and the Beast<\/i>\u201d at Cabrillo Music Theatre<\/a> on 8\/4 @ 2:00pm, and the DCI 2007 World Championship Finals<\/a> in Pasadena on 8\/11 @ 5:00pm . I\u2019ve also ordered season tickets for the Ahmanson, as discussed here<\/a>, and there\u2019s likely to be a Hollywood Bowl show<\/a> in there somewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This evening we returned to the theatre, specifically to the NoHo Arts Center (MySpace) to see \u201cBush Is Bad: The Musical\u201d. This is an interesting musical. It really doesn\u2019t have a coherent plot or direction (much like the Bush administration). There is no story to be told (much like the current administration). In fact its Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28,1],"tags":[212,272,265],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","category-lj-xfer","tag-noho-arts-center","tag-reviews-2007","tag-theatre-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}