Heralded as "The Ever-Changing New Topical Musical Comedy," NEWSical plucks its material from the wealth of current events (Martha Stewart, Michael Moore, George W.) and constant headliners (Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, and, well, George W.). The evolving work features updated songs and material every week, making the show almost a completely new experience within months, as put by the show "depending on how active our celebrities and politicians have been in making asses of themselves."
An Asylum of Inflated Personalities
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Published: October 19, 2004

Why wait to see "Martha Stewart the Musical"? It's playing right now at Upstairs at Studio 54, where a neurotic Liza Minnelli is singing atop a bar, Barbra Streisand is waxing lyrical about politics and a pneumatic Anna Nicole Smith is making a spectacle of herself.

The Kennedys are there, too: Mama Rose, Jack and Jackie in her pink pillbox hat. So are the Clintons, John Kerry, Dubya and his nemesis, Michael Moore. Not to be overlooked are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey and that sine qua non of the sendup, Michael Jackson. And nobody's forgetting about Dr. Phil, pill-popping American families, women with Botox-frozen faces and a regretful wife whose husband was given a makeover by the queer-eyed guys.

"Last year, he never heard of Versace," she sings, "now he looks like Liberace."

Satire is running happily rampant in the room with a mordant view, and the medium is "Newsical," a fast, funny and irreverent topic musical revue that zestfully serves up its skewered famous and foolish.

Directed by Donna Drake armed with witty lyrics and music by Rick Crom and performed by a small live band, this show rides on the splendid singing, acting and comedic talents of Kim Cea, Todd Alan Johnson, Stephanie Kurtzuba and Jeff Skowron. Changing roles, costumes and wigs at near-breakneck speed, these generously gifted performers manage to create an asylum of inflated personalities, reducing them to their asinine essence.

Drinks are available in this room, but they're not necessary. "Newsical" makes it possible to get high on hilarity. The show, with an open-ended run, is at 254 West 54th Street.