'Newsical' has all the stuff fit to spoof

By Frederick M. Winship
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

New York, NY, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Shows critical of the Iraq war and the presidential candidates have swamped New York theaters in recent months, but few have the light satirical touch that makes "Newsical" an off-Broadway delight.

As an antidote to Tim Robbins' "Embedded" and the docudrama "Guantanamo," serious dramas related to the invasion of Iraq, or A.R. Gurney's "Mrs. Armstrong," an anti-Bush political comedy, Rick Crom has come up with a more wide-ranging pop-media musical at Studio 54's intimate upstairs cabaret theater. The show is continually updated to keep up with all the news that's fit to print -- and some that isn't.

With a splendidly versatile and experienced cast of four -- Kim Cea, Todd Alan Johnson, Stephanie Kurtzuba and Jeff Skowron -- the show takes off like a rocket under the no-holds-barred direction of Donna Drake. The tiny stage can hardly contain the energy of the actors as they bounce from role to role with only changes of wigs, costumes and accessories and a lot of mugging to aid them in parodying the characters they are playing.

There's nothing intellectually challenging or subtle about this show, which moves at a breakneck pace for a little more than 90 minutes and leaves its audience wishing for more.

You only have to lie back on one of the theater's comfortably pillowed banquettes, feet up on a hassock, and laugh along with its one-liner humor and patter songs by the very talented Crom. Laughing at the news, with a cold drink at hand, is a lot nicer than crying over it. Maybe that's why "Newsical" has become a favorite of private party-givers and corporate events in these troubled times.

Crom is a stand-up comic and actor ("Urinetown") turned composer who has written many topical cabaret reviews and is now working on a musical about Bonnie and Clyde. His clever lyrics lampoon the usual celebrity suspects with deft aim in the general area of the jugular without being fatal because Crom's brand of humor is never mean-spirited or in bad taste.

For instance, the only reference to President George W. Bush's language problems is his observation that the government report on the Sept. 11 tragedy has "too many big words." Sen. John Kerry's attempt to picture himself as in-touch with the common man is summed up in his remark about Botox: "I prefer spackle."

With material picked carefully from a wealth of current events, the show skewers such headliners as Martha Stewart (in prison stripes), Michael Jackson, Dr. Phil, Anna Nicole Smith, Rush Limbaugh, Liza Minnelli, Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, and even Siegfried and Roy's tiger ("I'm an animal, a vicious animal!"). Queer Eyes, the ones who remake straight guys, come in for a ribbing from a wife whose husband they transformed into a metrosexual.

"Last year he never heard for Versace," she says. "Now he looks like Liberace."

In the realm of political personalities, the show focuses mainly on Bush vs. Kerry ("You're in denial if you think we'll have a fair election") but has fun with the egotism of President Bill Clinton, whose whining refrain is "But what about me?" There is outrageous but very funny material dealing with New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey's coming out and his wife's reaction to it and Arnold Schwarzenegger's relations with Kennedy in-laws Rose, JFK and Jackie.

Other topics that come in for scathing attention are the American family's reliance on Prozac and Botox, color-coded security alerts, TV personalities on drugs, chat-room love affairs and psychotherapy and mental health. It pointedly avoids spoofing Broadway and the foibles of theater denizens, leaving that to that other wickedly funny, long-running revue "Forbidden Broadway."

The show's production staff, in addition to director-choreographer Drake, who made a name for herself with the original production of "A Chorus Line," include scenic designer Peter P. Allburn, costume designer David Kaley, and wig designer Jason P. Hayes of "Hairspray" fame. Ed Goldschneider, fresh from "Urinetown," is the musical director.