Theatre Reviews
Newsical / The Soup Comes Last   October 15, 2004

Newsical
Satirical revue impales targets with sharp wit

A lot of people don’t realize what rare and special talent it takes to do good satiric songwriting. Rick Crom, who wrote the songs and short sketches for the revue Newsical (subtitled “All the Stuff That’s Fit to Spoof”), possesses that talent in spades. He has a real gift for pithy wit, such as in the number where New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey soft shoes in a straw hat while chirping “I’m here to say: I’m gay...goodbye!” Simple, funny and straight to the point. But Crom also has a nuanced view of his subjects - in this song, for instance, he’s careful to point out that McGreevey connivingly used his coming out as a smoke screen for his corrupt political dealings. The show includes new songs he writes each week to reflect the latest news and ones revived from his earlier revues, but some targets are always ripe, like Botox or Anna Nicole Smith.

And the cast of Newsical is first rate. Square-jawed Todd Alan Johnson (best known on Broadway for melodramatic roles) and expressive Kim Cea have a hilarious Tim Conway–Harvey Korman style chemistry; in a song where Johnson plays Peter Pan to Cea’s womanish Michael Jackson, they could barely keep it together. Stephanie Kurtzuba brings a pixiesh spirit to roles as varied as a jumpy Ritalin-swilling kid or a dangerous Martha Stewart, while wiry Jeff Skowron hits all the right notes skewering too-suave politicos such as Dubya. The revue’s final number, “In Denial,” pairs the easy melody of A Chorus Line’s “Nothing” with the ambivalent moral sophistication of Avenue Q ’s “For Now.” Put this together with topical numbers about Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli - as well as a riotously funny mock ad from Straight Guys for Gay Marriage - and this is a show no musical theater queen or Queer Nation activist should miss. —Jonathan Warman

Newsical, 8pm Mon & Wed–Sat, 2pm Wed & Sat and 3pm Sun at Upstairs at Studio 54 (254 W 54th St), $20–$60, 212-307-4100, newsicalthemusical.com.